Sounds of Cork echo on our city streets

The mood was solemn on the streets of Cork on Monday. Following the disappointing loss of the Cork hurlers in the All-Ireland Hurling Final the previous evening you could feel that the city had lost its spark that it glowed with so brightly just a few days before.

As if Shakespeare himself had penned the tragedy of Cork’s loss, the pathetic fallacy of the gloomy weather reflected the atmosphere.

Standing on Patrick Street at lunchtime, no music filled the quiet streets as the occasional shopper or office worker on their lunch hour shuffled along Pana.

The silence on the main street was softened only by the murmur of pop music from the nearby shops and by a distant voice that echoed down Winthrop street.

Walking towards the source of the sound, outside the GPO on Oliver Plunkett street, there was no call of ‘Echooo’ from the city’s well known paper seller, in his place instead was Andy Wilson.

Acoustic guitar in hand and bells at his feet, the musician’s voice rang out while shopkeepers around him lowered their Cork flags from store windows.

It is the bells that first catch your attention when you near Andy, then it is the realisation that he is making them chime with his feet while he simultaneously plays the guitar and sings.

What strikes you next is that while it is not the typical Ed Sheeran or Dermot Kennedy type of songs that you would usually expect to hear when you see a man with a guitar busking on the streets.

Instead, Andy’s song choices are a celebration of the Cork music scene. Not of those who pack out the Marquee but of the ones playing in small pubs and on the side streets, ones that have a message to share that don’t fit into the status quo.

Unlike some performers, his music is not at a jarring juxtaposition of pop songs to the melancholy mood of the city, instead it adds to it and provides a gentle backing track to the city’s emotions.

When I catch Andy’s performance, it is ‘Fags’ by city-based five-piece band, I Dreamed I Dream, that he sings.

“I’m a I’m a songwriter, artist and music maker,” Andy tells me.

“I mainly sing other people’s songs. The songs I like to sing a lot are songs by local songwriters like commonly David Nelligan and them. These are guys that I’ve played with over the years and “I don’t play any popular songs. I play some well-known songs but well known to only a subset of the city. Usually I play alternative, folk and rock.”

While he is not one to listen to the charts, Wilson recognised the rising Cobh act The Mary Wallopers for their success: “I have no interest in anything that is trendy. The Mary Wallopers are really blowing the roof off the thing at the moment because they are kind of a mix between The Dubliners and The Wolfe Tones. There is a revival there and they are really good because they are bringing back songs that were lost and are digging a bit deeper.

“It is great that we still appreciate our own. Like if you take for example the Willie Clancy weekend, all of the young rockers around Cork are going out to it.

“My stuff is the stuff I grew up on. The 90s stuff. That off kilter kind of stuff resonates with me the most. I sing a lot of Daniel Johnston and Wilko. The bands that people don’t really know that well. I don’t even sing their biggest hits. I sing a lot of local songs as well.”

For the artist, music was a means for him to share his message and those of the Cork songwriters that penned them, highlighting that a song can create powerful political and societal movements:

“Being out here is a big thing for me both physically and emotionally. I am out here singing and playing essentially two instruments at the same time and giving it my all.

“Especially at the moment when I am playing the song a Child is A Child and the songs that I feel that I have to sing. I’m appalled by the situation in Gaza at the minute, and I had a bunch of songs that are therapeutic and protest songs,” he explained.

At a young age, Wilson previously busked on the streets of Cork but found himself returning to it following covid.

“I always had a kind of a job until covid hit and then I got the opportunity to make the time for music just at a time when I kind of felt it had been really kind of crying out to me.

“I never managed to get around to it and things always got in the way and then it came to a stage when covid kicked in where I just kind of like I had a bit of momentum going to do it.

“I was writing music and I was kind of playing the gigs with a couple of old friends that kind of dragged me out to play support gigs for their bands and then yeah, one thing led to another.

“Shout out to Maureen’s bar, where we did a Daniel Johnson tribute. That’s kind of something, or one of the projects that I have continued. We did two gigs at Maureen’s and she invited me to do my own music as well. She was really supportive during covid and afterwards when I started trying to get back on the horse again.”

“I set up a little independent label called Fuzzy Pockets about three years ago because there were so many of us here in Cork that were doing interesting things. I have to give a shout out to Fred Zeppelins and The Roundy because they gave us the space to do our work.

“I put my time into creating music and helping to create a platform for friends doing the same thing. We have done loads of great work and bands like Canned Pineapple that came out of it and are flying it now.”

If you want to check out Andy’s music or work you can follow him on @MisterAndyWilson or @Fuzzy_Pockets on Instagram.

As a group of Spanish tourists circled around the musician to watch his trifecta of musical talents, I leave him and am drawn towards Grand Parade.

On my journey, I hear a familiar melody being played in an unusual way.

What I didn’t expect to see today was a young family of siblings performing Are You With Me by Lost Frequencies, with classical instruments.

By the time that I arrive, the four young musicians have amassed a large number of spectators as they perform at the junction of Oliver Plunkett Street and Marlboro Street, enthralled at the group’s talent while sitting outside Here’s Health Café and Dulce Bun House.

Siblings Kacper on the saxophone, Pawel on guitar, Renata on cello and Zuzuanna on the violin took a break from their passing fans to chat to me about their love of music from an early age.

In typical brother and sister fashion the four bickered over how long they have been busking together with Pawel guessing seven years, Kacper denying that and assuming it was five years and Renata eventually settling on six years.

The tell me that their mother was a big influence on their shared love of music: “Our mom was big into music. She plays guitar and piano, and she also played the organ back to the day. So, she was a big encouragement for us to play music.”

It was a day of multitasking musicians, with Kacper informing me that as well as the saxophone he is also a drummer and a pianist.

“I think mainly we play and stick to kind of pop music in our classical covers, but it could also be a mix. We might do a small bit of maybe rock and jazz but mainly pop for the street when we are out busking anyway.

“I mean, I myself, I’m also a pianist and a drummer, so I’m kind of stuck between pop, jazz and rock. I wouldn’t really have a favourite there.For the siblings, music was a way of expressing themselves:

 Kacper said: “I personally like how we can turn words and sounds into emotions and then pass it on to other people. So, it’s kind of like a communication converter. You use your instrument as a tool to speak to the other people. That’s kind of how I see it anyway, as communication without saying anything.”