Saturday, July 05, 2008

Ulster-Scot(s) light & On Eagle's Wing

Sitting in a cafe in Portstewart, flicking through the papers on the window-sill and wondering ...

Why is "The Ulster-Scot" weekly paper (possibly distributed with Saturday's Newsletter) completely devoid of anything actually written in Ulster-Scots?

I'd have hoped that the Ulster-Scots Agency would have been promoting the language, as well as the culture.

But interesting to read that John Anderson's On Eagle's Wing musical is being revived in the Grand Opera House from Sep 29 to Oct 4 this autumn. (Also playing in Derry's Millennium Forum Oct 14-20 and Dublin's Helix Theatre 0ct 11-12.)

We went along to the (free) filming of the musical in the Odyssey back in May 2004. An amazing evening, with many foot-tapping tunes. But the show struggled financially to gain traction in the US.

It tells the story of 18th century emigration from NI shores (including Groomsport) across to America, building communities that would have a long-lasting influence on the US, and struggling with cutting family ties and persecution.

Well worth getting a ticket.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Why is "The Ulster-Scot" weekly paper completely devoid of anything actually written in Ulster-Scots? " - because it is an invented dialect, not a real one. The whole notion of Ulster-Scots [language, culture, etc] is one big wheeze, pulled off by the onionists.