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For Immediate Release

Island Lecture Series January Lecture: “Music-making and the experience of community life on an Irish island” with Rory McCabe

Charlottetown, PEI (January 6, 2021)—
The Island Lecture Series January session will feature Irish researcher Rory McCabe (Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway) joining us live from Clare Island, Ireland, to discuss the role and importance of music-making in island community life and vitality. Following his presentation, Rory will be joined in conversation by Dr. Laurie Brinklow (Institute of Island Studies, UPEI), with an opportunity for questions from the audience. This session will be held virtually via Zoom on January 19, 2021, at 1 p.m. AST.

This lecture presents an ethnographic account of music and social life on Clare Island (pop. 159), a small community off the west coast of Ireland. The details of music-making on Clare Island in the twenty-first century suggest that, against a changing social, economic, and technological environment, the universal themes of social bonding persist as core values in the island experience. Through this presentation, Rory McCabe will describe how music-making is a fundamental process in island community life and an important measure of island health or vitality.
Rory McCabe recently completed his PhD at the Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway. His doctoral research examined music-making and islandness within his home community of Clare Island. In March 2020, Rory was an Ireland Canada University Foundation visiting scholar at the Institute of Island Studies at UPEI.

This virtual event is free and everyone is welcome to attend. The event will be hosted on Zoom, and advance registration is required – please visit bit.ly/islandlectureseries to reserve your spot.
For more information about the Island Lecture Series, please visit islandstudies.com/islandlectureseries or contact Maggie Henry (Interim Coordinator, Institute of Island Studies) at mjhenry@upei.ca.

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