A sound and music research project based in West Clare focusing on the complex legacy of immigration and assimilation has been commissioned by Clare County Council Arts Office under Gaining Ground, a major new Public Art programme for County Clare.
The ‘Gangani Legacy’ project is being undertaken by composer Ian Wilson and will begin in the coming weeks.
The project includes the creation of a 40-minute sound work featuring spoken and musical contributions from people of all backgrounds throughout West Clare and a score for two musicians; Dublin based Japanese pianist Izumi Kimura and the renowned, Joe O’Callaghan, a Clare-born guitarist.
The project will explore the possible or conceivable influences of immigration and assimilation on people living in Clare, both from an indigenous and outsider perspective; and how these might be found in certain place names, aspects of language or dialect, customs and idioms, heritage and culture, employment, sport and local attitudes.
The outcome of the project will be two performances in West Clare and the availability of a high quality CD recording of the work.
Curated by Sally O’Leary of Asprey Arts, in collaboration with Clare County Council Arts Office, Gaining Ground has been developed using funds allocated from the pooled resources of the Per Cent For Art Scheme. The programme has been designed to take place over the next 2 years, and will culminate in an International Rural Arts Symposium in 2020. As part of the programme, projects will be selected to take place in North and West Clare and Shannon Town. There will also be a programme titled Reflections, which will be integral to the whole project and will involve research, evaluation and critical writing which will be reflected at the Symposium in 2020.
The first of the commissions was announced last month. ‘Folk Radio’, curated by Anne Mullee, with artist Tom Flanagan and curatorial advisor, Deirdre O’Mahony, is a concept for a new artists-led, online radio station and digital sound archive, based at X-PO in Kilnaboy.