Cathy Jordan introduces The Crankie Island Song Project

Dervish’s lead singer Cathy Jordan is launching The Crankie Island Song Project in collaboration with Sligo artist Peter Crann, an audio-visual collection capturing traditional songs from every county in Ireland.

The 32 songs will be available to purchase as a download or stream, and accompanied by an Irish October tour.

Each recording comes with illustrations provided by a collective of Irish artists chosen from across the country.

The project involves collaborations with over 50 musicians in 8 studios around Ireland. Duets include Jordan with Lisa O’Neill on the Cavan song ‘The Rocks Of Bawn’, Donal Clancy on the Monaghan song ‘The Patriot Game’ and The Mary Wallopers' Andrew Hendy on the Armagh track ‘Tanderagee’.

The illustrations were created with a Crankie box, a story-telling device dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries involving an original illustrated scroll, which 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.

“Our songs are a part of our folklore,” Jordan said about the project. “They ignite our memory and give us a sense of place. They are messages from our ancestors that evoke powerful imagery of landscape, mythology and connect us with the strife and struggles of generations who have walked our common paths.”

The project is supported by the Arts Council and involves 32 archived songs chosen from the traditional canon, as well as two original songs - one from John Spillane and one from Jordan herself. Find the song list county by county here.

For more information about the project, as well as access to the accompanying illustrations for each track, click here.

Find the dates for The Crankie Island Song Project tour below:

October 10: Roscommon Arts Centre
October 17: The Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo
October 18: The Dock, Leitrim
October 19: An Droichead, Drogheda
October 21: RCC, Letterkenny
October 23: Riverbank, Newbridge