|
Tracey 'honoured' with moving
commission
17.10.08
AN INISHOWEN musician
has been invited by the Last Post Association in
Belgium to compose a special piece of harp music to
mark the 90th anniversary of the Armistice 1918.
Tracey McRory has also have been asked to perform as
a violin soloist with the Royal Navy Belgian
Orchestra at a special concert in Ypres (leper) on
November 11 in front of between 3,000 and 4,000
people. Tracey has a long association with
commemorating Ireland's Great War dead and plays
annually at Fort Dunree to remember the fallen from
Inishowen.
A four times All Ireland fiddle champion and noted
harp player, she worked with her late partner Sam
Starrett and local musician Richard Laird, writing
new music and songs about the sacrifice of all the
Irish soldiers. |
|
She recounted the
following line ‘In the Shamrock Dugout, at the
trenches where Ypres once was'. These were the first
words of a diary kept by her grand uncle Fr James
McRory who was an Inishowen Chaplin during World War
One.
Fr McRory was one of three Derry Diocesan priests
who acted as WW1 chaplains the others being Fr Hugh
Smith of Moville and Fr William Devine of Castlederg.
Now 91 years on, Fr James’s grandniece has been
asked to compose and perform a special piece to
commemorate 90 years since the Armistice 1918. |
"I feel that it is such
an honour to be asked to compose a special piece
that I will perform with the Royal Navy Orchestra to
remember all the soldiers, especially those from the
Island of Ireland who died during that horrible
conflict," she told InishowenNews.com .
The piece is called ‘Bernard’ and describes the
story of Bernard McGeehan from Derry who was shot at
dawn on November 1916. |
|