Áine Tyrrell's version of 'The Rising of the Moon' launches the new 'Irish Australian Online Song Library'. The video was recorded at Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney and features Áine Tyrrell and Nick Martin on uileann pipes.
The song is a re-working of the traditional song, "The Rising of the Moon" in which poets Padraig Stevens and Siobhan O'Higgins were inspired to add a few new lyrics to the original version of Rising of the Moon, which Áine's father, Seán Tyrrell recorded in 1999.
Filmaker, Enda Murray says, " first heard Seán Tyrrell from Clare sing this song at a concert in Slane, County Meath in 2007. The tune is an arrangement of an old tune, The Rising of the Moon, that commemorates the failed rebellion in Ireland in 1798 but I much prefer the new lyrics in Seán's version. The words were composed by Padraig Stevens and Siobhán O Higgins and, apparently, were in response to a proposal in the 1980's to mine gold at Croagh Patrick, a sacred mountain overlooking Westport in County Mayo. Thankfully the mine did not go ahead."
When Seán's daughter Áine passed through Sydney in 2015 Enda proposed the idea of performing the song in Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney and 'singing to the spirits' of the 4,000 Irish orphan girls who passed through that atmospheric building between the years of 1848 and 1852 in the wake of the Irish Famine. The video was shot in July 2016 and Áine is accompanied on uileann pipes by Nick Martin. As the last notes of Áine's song rang through the Barracks the bells on the tower began to chime. This sound, which is on the soundtrack, seemed to us to be the spirits of the Orphan Girls answering our call back through the generations. The video was shot and edited by Miguel Valuenzela. Audio recording by Tim Dennis.
More about the 'Irish Australian Online Song Library' project...
The 'Irish Australian Online Song Library' is a cultural and educational project which provides a central location where Irish-Australian songs, lyrics and histories can be found. The site is at:
irishaustraliansonglibrary.irishassociation.org.au