John Quigley aerial event at tara/ Harpists at the Dáil

international | miscellaneous | news report Saturday September 15, 2007 00:09 by Muireann Ni Bhrolchain - Campaign to Save Tara

Stuart Townsend at Hill of tara 23rd September

The Campaign to Save tara would like to officially announce that John Quigley, an internationally renowned aerial artist, as well as Stuart Townsend will be creating a piece of human aerial art on the Hill of tara on Sunday 23rd September.

A poster for Harp event in America

People wanted to help create an aerial art event at tara on that day - meeting at 3pm in the car park.
Wear white
Bring rain gear to sit on.
Join us in creating a striking human aerial image to tell the world about the destruction of the Gabhra Valley.
Photo will be created by internationally renowned aerial artist John Quigley.

We need between 500-1000 people to spell out the words SAVE tara VALLEY and the outline of a harp on the hill.
To see John Quigley's work visit his website: http://www.spectralq.com/

To give you some background - the first suggestion of this event arose in March of this year when Stuart approached me. Then John Quigley and himself came back with a firmer suggestion in August.
The original date was to be the 22nd Sept but that clashed with the Harpists event that is taking shape at present and spreading to America. We tried to change the date to 29th Sept but there were flight complications for those involved.
A number of phone conversations took place between the co-ordinator of CST and John Quigley over the past week. Then we had a phone conferencing call last night with Stuart John and myself and filled the co-ordinator in on the result.
We had a meeting tonight to iron out the details.
We will need about 30 volunteers to help shape the people into letters as well.
A press release will go out in the next few days.

We would also like to draw attention to the Harpists event at the Dail on Saturday 22nd September - this is their press release.
On Saturday 22nd September 2007 at 3 p.m. the harpers of Ireland will gather at Dáil Éireann to demonstrate publicly the strength of their opposition to the destruction of historic cultural sites at the tara/Skryne Valley as a result of the current route of the M3 motorway. The harpers will assemble with their harps along Kildare Street, and will submit a petition to Minister John Gormley insisting he implement alternatives to the continued destruction which is taking place.
Ireland is unique in having a musical instrument, the harp, as its national emblem. This indicates the primacy of the harp in Irish culture. The sites currently under threat are inextricably linked with the harping and bardic traditions for more than 2,500 years.
tara was the gathering place for thousands of harpers to 142 kings, and the harp was an integral part of the ancient Irish parliament at tara. The harp has been used in the coat of arms of Ireland since 1270 and is the symbol of the Irish State today. It is found in the seals of the President, Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Government Ministers, on State currency and is the insignia of the Irish Law Courts.
It is an outrage that the Irish people should be forced to choose between infrastructure and heritage. As a country we are embarrassed internationally by profit-driven, shortsighted planning as exemplified by the fact that World Monument Fund has placed tara on its list of 100 most endangered sites worldwide.
Many can rightly point out that it would be an archaeological loss, and a historical one. It is also a spiritual loss, since even before the conversion by St Patrick of Ireland’s High Kings it was a place where the Irish sought to express their spirituality. And significantly for us as a nation, it was the place of birth of Christianity in Ireland. The gathering of harpers says that it is also a musical and cultural loss and asserts that the sound of tara’s harp will not be drowned by traffic jams and the cash registers of toll plazas.
Further information from www.myspace.com/TaraHarpers
Laoise Kelly Tel. 086 2603405 or laoise.kelly@face.ie
Anne-Marie O’Farrell 01-2966222 or 087-2348964 or amofharp@iol.ie
www.myspace.com/TaraHarpers)

Sat 22nd Sep 2007:
New York tara demo is at 11am Consulate General of Ireland 345 Park Avenue between 51st and 52nd (Susan McKeown 2122602302 sumckeown@yahoo.com – www.myspace.com/TaraHarpersNY)
LA tara demo is at 2.30-5.30pm Martin Luther King Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA (Karin Wilson (310) 828-3873 kw@cmh2.com)
Chicago tara demo is at 12 Noon-2pm Irish Embassy, Wrigley Building, 400 N.Michigan Avenue at the Chicago River (Richard Wallace 312-855-1300 ricoworld@ameritech.net – www.myspace.com/32fields)
Dublin Harpers for tara demo at 3pm Dáil Éireann Kildare st.