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International - Event Notice
Thursday January 01 1970

World Monuments Fund to Issue Bold tara Statement This Weekend

category international | history and heritage | event notice author Thursday September 20, 2007 17:54author by TaraWatchauthor email info at tarawatch dot org

A number fo events this weekend will be punctuated by a call for preservation of Lismullin by WMF

HILL OF tara /M3 MOTORWAY EVENTS SAT & SUN (22 & 23 September)

1. - Trinity College Dublin, between 12.00 and 2.00PM on Saturday, for a tara Update.

2. - Dáil Éireann - The Harpers of Ireland protest at 3.00PM on Saturday.

3.- The Hill of tara - Aerial photographer, John Quigley, who will be taking a photograph of demonstrators making a human harp on tara. 3.00PM on Sunday 23rd. Wear white and bring rain gear.
wmf.gif

World Monuments Fund (WMF) put the Hill of tara on the 100 Most Endangered Sites List 2008, before the national monument at Lismullin was declared.

They will particiapte in a series of events in Ireland and the US this weekend, in a final effort to get Irish and European authorities to take decisive action.

tara UPDATE - TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
Mairtin ui Chadhain Theatre
12.00 - 2.00pm, Saturday, 22nd September.
Admission free. Presentations by:

- tara Harpers, featuring Laoise Kelly
- World Monuments Fund (WMF)
- Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, TCD
- Union of Students of Ireland, (USI)
- TaraWatch
- Kathy Sinnott, MEP
- Dáithí Ó hÓgáin - UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies, Irish Folklore & Linguistics

Contact:

- Dr Sarah Alyn Stacey, Trinity College Dublin email salynsta@tcd.ie
Tel: +353-1-6082686
http://www.tcd.ie/Medieval_Renaissance

- Vincent Salafia, TaraWatch info@tarawatch.org
Tel: +353-87-132-3365
http://www.tarawatch.org

- Will Black, World Monuments Fund Britain
Tel: (44) 20 7730 5344, fax (44) 20 7730 5355
http://www.wmf.org enquiries@wmf.org.uk

tara HARPERS TO GATHER AT DÁIL TO SAVE tara
3.00 PM Saturday, 22nd September, 2007

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.

Harpers will also be joined by Hothouse Flowers singer, Liam O Maonlai, who recently recorded a save tara song.

Harper events will also take place in NY, Chicago, and Los Angeles outside Irish Consulates at the same time as the Dublin protest. In New York, Irish Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Paul Muldoon will join Irish Grammy Award-winning singer Susan McKeown, along with many other artists.

Contact:

- tara Harpers Dublin - Laoise Kelly laoise.kelly@face.ie
Tel: +353-86-260-3405
http://www.myspace.com/taraharpers
http://www.myspace.com/taraharpersny

New York City
11:00AM Consulate General of Ireland 345 Park Avenue / 51st & 52nd St
Susan McKeown - savetarany@yahoo.com
http://www.myspace.com/TaraHarpersNY
* Irish Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Paul Muldoon, will attend.

Los Angeles
This demonstration will take place at 2.30-5.30pm Martin Luther King
Auditorium, Santa Monica.
Karin Wilson - kw@cmh2.com
(310) 828-3873
http://www.cmh2.com/savetara-la

Chicago
12 Noon-2pm Irish Embassy, Wrigley Building, 400 N.Michigan Avenue at
the Chicago River
Contact: Richard Wallace 312-855-1300 ricoworld@ameritech.net -
http://www.myspace.com/32fields

HUMAN HARP AERIAL PHOTO OF HILL OF tara
3.00PM, Sunday, 23 September

Irish actor/director, Stuart Townsend will join his friend John Quigley in taking an aerial photograph of the Hill of tara, with hundreds of demonstrators making a harp symbol on Sunday 23rd.

People are required to help create this aerial art event at tara and those who wish to participate are asked to meet at the car park at 3pm. Participants are requested to wear white or a very light colour to contrast with the green grass. It is advisable to bring rain gear to sit or lie on. Between 500-1000 people are needed to spell out the words SAVE tara VALLEY and also the outline of a harp on the hill.

John Quigley is internationally renowned for his environmental messages and images spelt out by human bodies and photographed from the air. The Sunday Times said: "Political protest has come a long way from banners and megaphones. These days if people have a message for the world, they form huge patterns that can be seen from the air - using human beings".

Among his striking images are SOS spelt by 35 people on an iceberg in Antarctica to bring attention to rising sea levels. Another photograph shows 600 people beside London's Eye spelling out STOP CLIMATE CHAOS.

This is a unique opportunity for members of the public to participate in the making of an iconic historical image of tara, and express their opposition to the M3 route.

See also:

John Quigley Web Site
http://www.spectralq.com/

Battle in Seattle - The new move directed by Stuart Townsend
http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com/

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FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE MAIL info@tarawatch.org

http://www.tarawatch.org
http://www.myspace.com/hilloftara

+(353) 87-132-3365

POSTERS:

A3 Colour
http://frdcsa.org/tara/Tara_Harpers%20A3%20Colour.pdf

A4 Colour
http://frdcsa.org/tara/Tara_Harpers_A4.pdf

A4 Black and White
http://frdcsa.org/tara/Tara_Harpers_white.pdf

400 wide JPG
http://tarawatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/harpers...m.jpg

520 wide JPG
http://tarawatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/harpers...1.jpg

Related Link: http://www.wmf.org

harperswhitej.jpg

harpersny.jpg

savetaralaj.jpg

Comments (2 of 2)

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author by Horslippublication date Fri Sep 21, 2007 03:29author address author phone

Pulling Strings to Save Valley

Harpers of Ireland are using their musical talents to stop a motorway being built.

Evening Herald
Thur, 20 September 2007

By Eamon Carr

It must have been a monster jam! The place was Tara and the date was 1792 when thousands of harpers gathered because of a crisis. Back then they were worried that harp music was on the decline and so convened a summit to save the day.

More than 200 years later the Harpers of Ireland again feel it's necessary to meet in protest.

This time their concern is destruction of the Tara valley by the Government who stubbornly insist on putting a motorway through a landscape that's now on the endangered sites list of the international World Monuments Fund.

PROTEST

On Saturday, in what is a unique misical and cultural event, the harpers of Ireland will gather at the Dail and make their musical protest.

"What's great is that, while we all wouldn't necessarily agree on harp styles and how the harp tradition should be passed on, everyone is unanimous on this," says harpist Laoise Kelly. "Everyone disagrees with the motorway."

Laoise, a recording artist who's worked with Kate Bush, The Chieftans, Mary Black and others, became active in the campaign earlier this year.

"I knew that this awful thing was going on at Tara but like everyone else in Ireland I put my head in the sand," she says. "I realised I should be doing more.#

"My friend Ann-Marie O'Farrell, a really well-known harpist who has a high standing in the harp world said, "we should bring our harps and surround the Dail with harps, explains Laoise.

SUPPORT

"We're getting huge support from mjusicians all around the world."

"The harp has been used in the coat of arms of Ireland since 1270 and is the symbol of the Irish State today," says Laoise.

"We object to the continued destruction of cultural sites in the Tara/Skryne Valley."

"Turlough O'Carolan went to Tara and composed Planxty Wilkinson," says Laoise. "For centuries Baronstown at Tara was the place for thousands of harpers to meet at the large circular enclosure that they (the developers) destroyed under cover of darkness at 4am on July 4.

"But the power of the harp is incredible," she adds.

Assembly of the Harpers of Ireland at Kildare Streeton Saturday at 3.00pm

Hollywood actor joins Tara protest

Stuart Townsend is protesting about the route of a motorway

Press Association Ltd.
Last Updated: 20 September 2007 6:30 PM

Actor Stuart Townsend is to take time out from Hollywood to protest against the routing of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara, campaigners said.

The Irish star, who recently sparked speculation he had married his girlfriend actress Charlize Theron, is expected to join demonstrators at the Dail.

Hothouse Flowers singer Liam O'Maonlai will also turn out in Dublin to back the show of opposition to the destruction of parts of the archaeologically-rich Tara valley.

Harpists will play outside Leinster House, in a symbolic gesture of Irish heritage, as a petition to Environment Minister John Gormley demanding an alternative to the current plans is handed over.

The 36-year-old Townsend, from Howth, in north Co Dublin, will also join his friend aerial photographer John Quigley for another demonstration at the Hill of Tara.

The pair are to fly over the ancient Co Meath landmark to take photographs of hundreds of campaigners forming a "human harp".

"Ireland is unique in having a musical instrument, the harp, as its national emblem," said a spokesman for campaigners TaraWatch.

"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."

Other harpist events are to take place outside Irish consulates in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles at the same time as the Dublin protest, according to protesters.

Irish Pulitzer prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon and Irish Grammy award-winning singer Susan McKeown are expected to be among other artists at an event in New York.

Related Link: http://www.rugbytoday.co.uk/latest-entertainment-news/Hollywood-actor-joins-Tara-protest.3218635.jp
author by Etain - Green Partypublication date Sat Sep 22, 2007 17:43author address author phone

The meeting time to form the harp on Tara, has changed, check with the organisers

Related Link: http://www.tarawatch.org

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