THE BUSK - IN AID DUBLIN SIMON COMMUNITY

The Busk has been a Christmas tradition in Ireland for some time. Our favourite Irish singers home for the family season get together on Grafton Street. They sing a few carols and other songs, gather a very chuffed crowd and raise a stack of money for the homeless.

At the heart of it was Glen Hansard, a man who started his career as a busker, starred in Once as a busker and has this ability to make it feel like he is still busking when he is actually in a large venue with a finely tuned band. 

This unique vinyl record is a more compered version of the Busk. For it the artists entered Dublin’s St Patrick’s Cathedral  over two evenings, the 19th & 20th of December 2021.

The set list is a wee treasure trove of rarities. Bono does an emotionally raw version of Running To Stand Still. Liam O’Maonlai is joined by Glen Hansard, Damian Rice and the Busk Choir in a rousing yet hymnal version of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young. The Frames give Fitzcaraldo another lash. Damian Rice puts his arms around Glen Hansard & Rónan O’Snodaigh for Astronaut.

If these are the stars that might tease you to buy then let me encourage you that the new artists are as vital players here. Lisa O’Neill gives us a pre release lullaby on Goodnight World, Big Love give a buskers band feel to Lily and Laura Quirke, half of Lemoncello shows us why she is a natural to collaborate with Belfast’s Joshua Burnside, equally quirky on In The Half Light.

There’s even more. The spoken word adds a lovely tone and a sense of weightiness in both the art and the content. Adam Mohammed and Manchán Magan bring their spoken word power before in the closing meander Tá’n t’Ádh Liom our street poet laureate Stephen James Smith brings us right up to Christmas with a personal, societal and indeed even Biblical reflection, sharp and prophetic.

These must have been great nights. They make for a great record. Beyond that it is not just good but good for something as profits go to the Simon Community!

 

Get the record here - https://www.thebuskrecord.com