Choir notes its Irish roots

AN impromptu performance from a Caribbean island choir impressed rail commuters in Cork who were probably totally unaware of their Irish roots.

The 25-strong choir hail from Montserrat where some of the most popular surnames are Reilly, Ryan, Allen, Meade, Moloney, Roche and Sweeney.

The island was populated by Irish settlers escaping religious persecution in the early 1600s and their descendents haven’t forgotten their heritage.

Next Saturday, they will be honoured with a civic reception in Kinsale, the reason being that the islanders used to have a village called Kinsale — which was unfortunately buried by ash when a volcano erupted in Montserrat in 1995.

Geraldine Mason was one of those who escaped. “Fortunately we got ample warning. I can’t wait to see the real Kinsale,” she said.

Montserrat and Ireland are the only countries in the world where St Patrick’s Day is a national holiday.

The parish priest of the island, who is accompanying the choir on the Cork tour, is Fr George Agger, a Divine World Missionary who comes from Cobh.

“The flag has a Union Jack in the top corner, as it is a British protectorate. But the main body of the flag depicts the Maid of Erin with a cross and a harp. There are a lot of Irish place names on the island such as Cork Hill, Roche’s Yard, Carr’s Bay and there was St Patrick’s village, which also got wiped out by the volcano,” Fr Agger said.

Prior to the eruption, there were 12,000 people living on the island but now there are less than 5,000.

“Around two-thirds of the island is in an exclusion zone. We have permanent monitoring of the volcano and the last big eruption was in February 2010. It is still active and fuming gases. If the wind is blowing the wrong way you get a very strong smell of sulphur dioxide.”

The Emerald Community Singers of Montserrat are celebrating their 40th anniversary with an Irish tour. All funds raised are ploughed back into the community, or go to funding the group’s tours, musical instruments and costumes. Their repertoire includes over 1,000 Caribbean folk songs. They also perform gospel music, calypso, reggae, sea shanties and songs from Broadway.

The group will perform tomorrow at 7.30pm in Loreto Secondary School in Fermoy. On Saturday at 7.30pm they will perform at St Multose Church, Kinsale, and the following day at noon they will be at St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh.