Join us for a special screening and live score performance ‘Achill Island, Basking Shark Fishermen’ from The Achill Sound.
A beautiful film, managing to sensitively impart Achill’s shark fishing history through oral accounts, music and song and describing the battle for economic survival, all amidst the stunning sea, land and mountains of the island.
Achill Island Basking Shark Fishermen, seeks to preserve oral history, culture, and stories of the island’s basking shark industry during the 20th century. It combines interviews with traditional and newly composed Irish music against an audio-visual backdrop for a live audience.
This unique approach by The Achill Sound weaves traditional art forms into an immersive live performance exploring an important historical chapter on Achill Island and Ireland’s marine industry.
Admission: €15 includes one free drink (alcohol or non-alcohol options available)
Location – Gallery 18
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New work ‘Achill Island, Basking Shark Fishermen’ from The Achill Sound
Achill Island, Basking Shark Fishermen is a musical response to Achill Island’s basking shark fishing industry, preserving this history for future generations.
Following the release of their first album Isle of the Eagle in August 2023, The Achill Sound presents its latest project focused on preserving the oral history and stories of the basking shark industry on Achill Island during the 20th century. This unique and immersive performance includes recordings, archival footage, and original visuals combined with traditional and newly composed Irish music.
Locations like Keem Bay on Achill Island, Co. Mayo are now world-famous through Oscar-nominated films such as ‘Banshees of Inisheerin’. Keem Bay is widely known for its scenic beauty and breathtaking views. However, it holds a different weight for locals. Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, Keem was a place of hard graft, work and living conditions. Here local men hunted basking sharks and wild salmon. The house above Keem Beach, which now sits derelict, was used to house fishermen who worked in the bay decades ago. There are very few first-hand survivors left as many fishermen have died in the past decade.
Achill-based musician Graham Sweeney and Glasgow-based producer John Michael Berry, whose family also hails from the island, are the duo behind The Achill Sound. Their aim with this project is to continue their shared objective of keeping Achill’s history and culture alive.
Graham Sweeney said,“My family had a large involvement in the industry, which is why I viewed it with a heavy heart and anger. It is only in recent years that I see both sides of the story; on a quiet island with little industry, forcing many people to leave home for work, you cannot blame them for wanting to survive and support their families. There was not a great understanding of damaging a species towards extinction. All that the local people knew was survival. I want to shine a light on the days gone by by recording as many first-hand accounts and stories as possible. While some community members recall ‘the glory days of the shark fishing’, others mourn the loss of these magnificent, harmless giants of the ocean.”
Proudly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, the live presentation of the Achill Island, Basking Shark Fishermen project will include audio-visuals by producer John Michael Berry, and traditional and newly composed Irish music by Graham Sweeney (guitar and vocals), Lisa Fukuda (fiddle) and Johnny Butler (uilleann pipes). These musicians are part of The Achill Sound collective and have a personal connection to keeping history and culture alive. This unique approach will be a woven piece of traditional art forms into immersive live musical performances.
Achill Island, Basking Shark Fishermen will be presented in October at the following:
