Fundraiser for Gaza and IAWM packs out Vicar Street

Unoccupied Minds was an eclectic and spectacular event held on16th March at Vicar St as a fundraising gig for Irish Medical Aid for Palestine & Irish Anti-War Movement. The venue was packed out with an equally diverse audience, a very healthy sign.

Music, poetry and theatre were on the cards and there was a little something for everyone, for a very reasonable €25, all for a very good cause.

Joyce opened up the evening with their Turkish influenced sounds ( their last album had a number of Turkish percussionists performiming in it). A haunting fusion of Sephardic music combined with Judith Mok's Soprano voice (http://www.judithmok.com/) truly tantalisedthe audience. Mick Pyro [Republic of Loose] calmed a boistrous heckler ( or three) with an admission he'd never played solo and that he couldn't play the guitar. He went on to play a pretty good rendition of Randy Newman's God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind), proving he'd a mastery of the guitar. Sean Nós aficionados were enthralled with Roisin Elsafty's exquisite singing while Stephen Rea and Sinead Cusack did a poetry reading. The Abbey Theatre actors stole the show with a part of Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza by Caryl Churchill, which if it's on in your area go to see it. And everyone loved Christy Moore and he finished on Only Our Rivers Run Free- lyrics below.

Richard Boyd Barrett, Chair of the Iriah Anti-War Movement thanked the packed venue for supporting the cause to raise money formediacal aid to Gaza, reminding briefly of the recent war on Gazans. He also urged people to support Maura Harrington, currently incarcerated in Mountjoy Prison, in her caimpaign against the rip off of our natural resources by the multinational Shellwith the collusion of Fianna Fail.

With the fake Oirishness alround the following day, it was refreshing and reassuring that a good amount of people put their money where their mouth is and show that Irishness also means solidarity with Gaza.

Lyrics of Only Our Rivers Run Free.

When apples still grow in November
When Blossoms still bloom from each tree
When leaves are still green in December
It's then that our land will be free
I wander her hills and her valleys
And still through my sorrow I see
A land that has never known freedom
And only her rivers run free

I drink to the death of her manhood
Those men who'd rather have died
Than to live in the cold chains of bondage
To bring back their rights were denied
Oh where are you now when we need you
What burns where the flame used to be
Are ye gone like the snows of last winter
And will only our rivers run free?

How sweet is life but we're crying
How mellow the wine but it's dry
How fragrant the rose but it's dying
How gentle the breeze but it sighs
What good is in youth when it's aging
What joy is in eyes that can't see
When there's sorrow in sunshine and flowers
And still only our rivers run free

Images C

Abbey Theatre presents Seven Jewish Children

Richard Boyd Barret, Chair of the Irish Anti-War Movement

Mick Pyro [Republic of Loose]

Roisin Elsafty [Sean Nos Singer]