Musicians scale new heights to banish blues

MEET the musicians who are going to new heights to lift the nations’ spirit on budget day.

Harpist Ruth McDonnell and primary teacher, uileann piper and tin whistle player, Máire de Cógáin, will perform a range of uplifting Irish melodies from the roof of the iconic Shandon church tower overlooking Cork city at dawn today to herald the beginning of our new “austerity regime”.

As the sun rises on the day Finance Minister Brian Lenihan delivers the worst budget in our history, the musicians said they hope their “air on a shoestring”, as the event’s been christened, will sound a call to “hope and courage”.

Ms McDonnell said even though the next four years will be painful, she wants to remind the nation that neither bad bankers nor poor governance can snuff out the spirit of the Irish.

“Everyone is affected one way or another,” she said. “We just want to say we are down but we’re not out. We have a wonderful tradition of music, literature and the arts in this country, and when times look somewhat bleak, we should remember how much more there is to us than financial forecasts.”

Ms McDonnell, who works in UCC, dreamt up the idea when it was finally confirmed that the IMF had arrived in Ireland.

“I felt depressed and powerless,” she said. “Then I heard about Positively Cork and I went to their public meeting and it was absolutely buzzing.”

Positively Cork has been set up to improve the city, despite the recession.

“We cannot solve the global or national financial crises,” the group’s founder, Deirdre Seery, said. “We hear so much negativity that we can lose our perspective. Yet, we know there are wonderful things happening locally. That is why we will make 2011 Positively Cork Year.”

A video of the performance will be uploaded onto www.positivelycork.ie later this morning. Ms Seery invited people around the world to respond to the event by posting clips of themselves making music, dancing, reciting a poem, or whatever, on a dedicated public forum space on the group’s website.

* www.positivelycork.ie