This article is from page 8 of the 2011-08-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THE MUSIC at the Feakle trad festival will be silenced for a time this week, as a mark of respect for a visiting group from Olso who put aside the trauma of mass murder to come and play in Clare.
An organised silence is planned during the festival and Clare County Council will open its offices on Saturday to allow the visiting musicians to see the book of condolences.
And it has emerged that a group of young East Clare musicians narrowly avoided beiung at the heart of the dreadful massacre.
The East Clare youth traditional music group and their leaders and helpers were just back from an exchange visit to Oslo when Anders Behring Breivik went on his killing rampage.
Speaking from Oslo as the group of young people prepared for their trip to Ireland last night, leader, Thor Hauknes, said that they have been deeply shocked and traumatised by the events, but were dertermined to come to Clare nonetheless.
“It is terrible and everyone is very shocked. Thankfully, none of the group were directly involved but one of them works very close to the building that was bombed but she was not there at the time. My daughter, Solveig, her friend was killed. She was a fiddle player and they had played fiddle since she was nine years old.”
Thor said that the long-planned trip to Clare will be part of the healing process for the youngsters.
“This youth exchange, getting to know other young people in Europe and learning about the music of Clare, that is so important. That is what it is about,” he told The Clare People.
The exchange between the young people from Norway and the music students from Clare is funded by the Leargas Youth In Action prgramme. 28 Clare youngsters and twenty leaders and helpers had just returned from a trip to Oslo when atrocity struck.
Music Teacher, Mary McNamara, said that everyone involved “was so shocked when we heard about it. (the murders). I can’t tell how wonderful the people in Oslo were to us and what a fantastic trip it was. It’s chilling to think of what happened and to think that but for the timing, our students could have been there.”
A period of silence is planned during the festival as a mark of respect and Mayor of Clare, Pat Hayes has organised to be at thecouncil offices to welcome the Oslo musicians and show them the book.
The young musicians, who are aged between 15 and 21, will learn about the East Clare style at classes during the week and will take part in a joint youth concert with Clare musicians on Thursday night.
“They will stay with the Clare musicians in a group as we did in Oslo. That’s the point of the exchange. As well as learning music, they live together, eat together and get to know each other,” Mary explained.