bandon intergenerational music project 
SONGS FOR OUR TIMES

Songs For Our Times was an intergenerational, intercultural music and song-writing project that took place in Bandon, Co. Cork. It involved a series of workshops over 4 weeks with a performance at the end. Children from sixth class of Bandonbridge National School met with elderly participants from the Bandon Daycare Centre. The project focussed on the experience of people coming to live in Ireland from other places. The Cork Jewish community was used as an example. Each group learned new songs and wrote an original song - the children wrote "Possibilities" and the adults wrote "Welcome Here". They also played various instruments, sang a Yiddish song, and learned some klezmer dance steps. They had discussions with each other and with the facilitator, Ruti Lachs, about travelling to different places, and about the adults’ childhood experiences. The high point for all involved was the meetings of the two groups in the Daycare Centre, and again at the school on the day of the concert. The concert programme included one of Ruti's original songs (In My Town, from the Stomping In The Woods CD), the new songs written by the groups during the project, a local song (Bandon Town by John Larkin), a Yiddish song (Ale Brider) and a performance by Pop-Up Klezmer, a group of four professional musicians, including Ruti. This was a lively event, with the head teacher and many pupils up and dancing to klezmer tunes. The intergenerational project was supported by Cork County Arts and Library Service.