Friday, February 13, 2015
Kilkelly
Background notes:
This heart-rending song is based on ten letters found in an attic in Bethesda, Maryland by the Jones family. They were written to Peter Jones' great, great grandfather, John Hunt who left Kilkelly, Co. Mayo, Ireland in 1855, during the potato famine.
The letters were penned on behalf of Byran and Elizabeth Hunt by the local school master, Pat McNamara, to their emigrant son in America. It is a poignant song dealing with the effects of Famine, poverty and emigration in one Irish family. However its universal appeal comes from the fact that this could be the saga of countless thousands of other families in the latter part of the 19th century.
You may read the original letters and learn more about the origins of the song at the County Mayo web site: http://towns.mayo-ireland.ie/WebX?14@@.ee8809f
Monday, October 28, 2013
Monday, February 21, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
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