This musical performance has emerged through a collaboration between Gamelan Spreacha Geala (GSG), a Skibbereen-based community music group under the direction of Kevin McNally, and Soli Levi, a Cork-based marine scientist. The performance is a work in progress, and will showcase the work that we have created together so far.
Soli's research focuses on human-ocean connections, particularly in the context of the Bantry Bay kelp campaign, which sought to prevent the large-scale mechanical harvesting of wild kelp forests. For her project, she interviewed several campaign members to better understand their connections to seaweed and to the marine environment, and what motivated them to become part of the campaign. She then used interview excerpts to create poems that reflect people's love of the sea, their hopes and concerns for it, and their visions for its future. One voice was missing, however: the voice of seaweed.
Soli approached the GSG with an idea: can we channel the voice of seaweed through music? Over several jam sessions, GSG members listened and responded to the poetry in an improvised manner, creating their own interpretations of the poems in musical form and putting their own spin on what seaweed might sound like.
In this performance, we invite you to join us underwater: listen to the waves, breathe in the salt smell, sway with the music of seaweed.
Free but donations to GSG welcome!
