‘The pipes, the pipes’, aren’t calling in Limavady

The proposal made by Sinn Féin councillor Anne Brolly a number of weeks ago, floated the possibility of the world famous song actually being played on a daily basis and appears to be gaining momentum at official level.

Director of Development at Limavady Borough Council Valerie Richmond confirmed at a recent meeting that she is investigating the costs associated with playing the music on a loudspeaker system every day.

Councillor Brolly believes playing a version of the music by a different artist each day basis would draw attention to Limavady as the birth-place of the world famous song.

The music used in Danny Boy, sometimes known as the ‘Londonderry Air’ or the ‘O’Kane’s Lament’, was collected by Jane Ross from Limavady and published in 1855 in ‘The Ancient Music of Ireland.’

But, a section of the the Limavady public, posting on the Sentinel facebook site, a have rejected the idea as “nonsense” and a “silly idea”.

People writing on the Sentinel facebook page, which asked for reader’s views on the proposals, expressed a mixture of bewilderment, disbelief and scorn towards the idea of playing the music on a daily basis, with none of the comments supportive of the proposal.

One respondent said: “Ha ha ha... great story... has the first of April arrived early this year?”, while another commented: “Is this genuine? Of course many people enjoy the song and are proud of its’ link to Limavady but to hear it blasting out everyday - I think it would change from a pleasantry heard occasionally to nothing short of a nuisance that people would get sick of hearing.”

Speaking during the recent meeting at Limavady Borough Council UUP Councillor Edwin Stevenson said Limavady was becoming a “laughing stock.”

Speaking to the Sentinel afterwards, he conjured an image of a call to prayer blasting from loudspeakers in the Middle East to explain his opposition: “A lot of people are talking about it. I don’t think anybody has any opposition to the song - actually I am quite sure that nobody has any objections to the song, Danny Boy or Londonderry Air, whatever you want to call it.

“But, do we want it every day? The first thing that springs to mind when I think about it being played every day is the calls to prayer in the Muslim world. I think we would be ‘scunnered’ with it. “At Christmas time, the carols and things are all very nice, but you can get a wee bit annoyed with them if it is all you are hearing.”

He also said that if the idea would cost any large amount of public money, it should not go ahead: “It would probably take a bit of money, and I know that is being looked into now. I think if it takes any great level of money at all, there are other ways that money could be spent in Limavady.

“It is a bit cheap – a bit tacky. If you go to another city, such as Paris, where I have visited myself – they don’t be playing ‘La Marseillaise’ (French National Anthem) every single day.”

He added: “I don’t think the Director of Development should be spending any great amount of time looking into this thing.”

Other posters on the Sentinel facebook page commented: “Is this genuine? Of course many people enjoy the song and are proud of its’ link to Limavady but to hear it blasting out everyday - I think it would change from a pleasantry heard occasionally to nothing short of a nuisance that people would get sick of hearing.”

Another said: ““How much will this investigation cost us, the rate payers?”

Other opinions stated were: “What makes me laugh is all this Danny Boy nonsense. The tune written down in Limavady is the Londonderry Air. Danny Boy was set to the music and has nothing at all to do with Limavady.”

“I’m against this proposal, our council has far more important issues to deal with and I’m sure it wouldn’t take long for it to be a daily nuisance. It would only cause arguments as per the usual nonsense - Londonderry Air - Derry Air.”

“That’s another silly idea from the towns council. What’s the purpose of Danny Boy?”

Speaking to the Sentinel after the meeting, Anne Brolly defended her idea in the face of such criticism. She said: “The actual proposal is for a different artist to be played each day. Almost every artist out there has performed Danny Boy at some stage. You could have Pavarotti singing Danny Boy one day, Elvis the next and Daniel O’Donnell the day after that.

“It is a way of reminding people that this is something we have, here in Limavady. The fact that the song was composed here in the Borough is something we should be drawing attention to.”

Asked if she believed the song being played on a daily basis was a realistic possibility, she said: “Well, I am hoping that it can be introduced quite soon. It could be similar to the way the Angelus is played every day. It needs capitalised on and I am hoping that we could be seeing it introduced here in the short term.”

American country music star Gretchen Peterslast week played in the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre however endorsed the idea, adding that playing Danny Boy every day would be “awesome.”