For six weeks in 1980 the biggest and most comprehensive festival of the Irish Arts ever held, before or since, took place in London. A Sense Of Ireland was the culmination of the first wave of change which Irish artists and arts workers in every medium had achieved for ourselves since the Sixties.
We had emerged from the darkness, and there would be no going back. The Sense Of Ireland Festival, as it became known, was a foolhardy declaration by the many hundreds of us involved, that Irish art and artists could take their place alongside the best in the world without deference, and were of central importance to the future of Ireland. At the time many within the Irish establishment thought that the Festival would never happen.
"London won't be interested, we're not good enough." Even those who supported the project failed to recognise what was involved. But we were young, and reckless, and we were proven right. A Sense Of Ireland took London by storm, but Dublin even more so. Never again would we doubt our own worth.
The Festival ended with a week of New Irish Rock, organised by the intrepid Billy Magra, featuring young unsigned bands like U2. And on the final night of forty-six mad nights which had featured the Abbey, the Project, the RTE Symphony and Ulster Orchestras, the Irish Ballet Company, Seamus Heaney, Neil Jordan, Seamus Ennis, Dolores Keane, Mary Black, The Chieftains, Planxty, De Danann, The Dubliners and dozens of other great Irish performers, for the finale on 17th March, Paddy's Night, in pride of place stood Rory Gallagher, astride the stage of a seething Lyceum, rocking us into the 21st Century. It was a blinder of a performance, and one which I'll cherish always in my memory.
Rory was a unique genius.
Billy and Gentleman Donal couldn't have chosen a better symbol for the whole festival than this angel of the guitar. For who could doubt Ireland's prowess in literature, theatre and song, or in our own traditional arts? The doubts were all about the contemporary arts, film, audio-visual, design, painting, sculpture, architecture, craft, performance, dance and of course rock'n'roll. In these
Ireland deemed itself as second rate as its soccer. We had little to show, they said. But we knew better. We knew that if Ireland could produce one of the greatest rock guitarists of his generation, then Ireland could do anything!
For over a decade, Rory Gallagher was a beacon of pride and inspiration to every rock'n'roll fan in Ireland, and our generation was about to inherit the wind. Without Rory would there have been an Edge?
Each of us has our role to play as we struggle through life. Rory was ahead of his time, and was fated to sow rather than to reap. Like Liam Brady, heroes both: champions through the dark ages of low self esteem, doubt, and begrudgery against which they struggled in their own lives, giving of their gifts for all of our benefit. Look at their fruits now! More power to you in the next life, Rory, and thank you for this one. Thanks a million.