Cathy Jordan’s Crankie Island

‘The Crankie Island Project’ artistically presents and archives the songs of those gone before us. Combining music, sound and visuals to share musical traditions with a new generation. Featuring - Cathy Jordan on Vocal, Bodhrán and Ukulele, Seamie O’Dowd on Guitar and Vocals, Rick Epping on Harmonica and Concertina, Claudia Schwab on Fiddle and Vocals, Anna Housten on Cello and Banjo and Peter Crann on Projections.

Ireland’s music and storytelling are cherished and celebrated worldwide. Traditional songs have captured the heartbreak, treachery, eviction, rebellion, emigration, murder, loss, longing, as well as drinking, revelry and hilarity and spaces of the otherworld deeply connected to identity, place and history in Ireland. Many of these songs have never been recorded and survive as they are passed from generation to generation. In the Crankie Island Project, Irish singer Cathy Jordan has made it her mission to preserve songs from every county on the island. Renowned for her stirring performances and expressive voice, Cathy is the lead singer and percussion player with traditional powerhouse Dervish. Her deep understanding and love of traditional Irish songs and singing have inspired her over the years to collect hundreds of songs which may have been otherwise forgotten.

The Crankie box is a quirky storytelling device dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries, where an original illustrated scroll is wound onto two spools in a specially made box with a viewing screen. While the song is playing, the long scroll is hand-cranked and stretched across the viewing platform, providing an evolving visual depiction of the song. Inspired by the mix of visual and audio narratives, and with support from the Arts Council, Cathy began archiving songs from the four provinces and selected 32, one for every county on the island, that best represented traditional song types and would also lend themselves to illustration. For each recording, an accompanying video was created using the Crankie box. The illustrations for the Crankie Island Songs have been beautifully drawn by a collective of Irish artists chosen from across the country who were tasked with making their own crankie box with a visual story for the song.