Carndonagh woman brings story of relative’s 1916 role to life through song

Carndonagh singer-songwriter Kate O’Callaghan is bringing a musical tribute to her great-grandaunt’s role in the 1916 Rising to the stage on St Brigid’s Day.

The performance at the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny on Monday, February 6 will see her joined by the internationally renowned Donegal Camerata String Quintet.

“This has been a wonderful opportunity for me to engage in a project that has been both personal and commemorative. To sing about my great-grand-aunt on stage on St Brigid’s Day in Donegal will make for a very special tribute to her and other courageous trail-blazing women like her,’’ she said.

Small Behaviours is the second song cycle inspired by Kate O’Callaghan’s great-grandaunt Catherine and her involvement in the 1916 Rising and War of Independence. The first song-cycle, The Girl with The Beret, was a highlight of the 2016 Donegal Bay and Blue Stacks Festival. It drew from the personal stories of Catherine Rooney (nee Byrne), as detailed in her witness statement to the Irish government’s Bureau of Military History.

The new music explores Catherine’s experiences following the Rising in Dublin, including gun-running from Scotland, encounters with British Army troops heading off to war, prison breaks, ambushes and the burning of love letters in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday.

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Kate said the music, which involves creative facilitator Seamus Devenny,  has been a wonderful opportunity for her to engage in a process that has been both personal and commemorative.  The work, she says,  is very much a reflection on the seemingly “small behaviours” of ordinary women, which ultimately affected far-reaching social change over time.

The Donegal Camerata String Quintet is led by cellist Victor Yélamo a longtime member of the award-winning Concerto Malaga orchestra and Director of the annual Donegal Chamber Music Festival. The Camerata also includes violinists Orsolya Szabó-Yélamo (also of Concerto Malaga) and Maureen McGranaghan, with Robert Peoples on viola and Micheal McGinty on double bass.

In addition to her own extensive solo work, Kate O’Callaghan has collaborated with various artists and ensembles including Mary Black, The Henry Girls and the Inishowen Gospel Choir. Prior to embarking on the current Witness Statement projects, Kate released a well-received solo album, The Still Beyond, in 2013.

The project has been supported by Donegal County Council, Creative Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland.