Music, Dance And Chat On The Banks Of The Foyle

Roy McCullough sells Derry-Londonderry to the general public through sights, sounds and interviews

A positively nostalgic and sometimes elegiac tone permeates Roy McCullough's living slideshow of the City Of Culture, a picturesque and musical tribute that fascinates through its interesting anecdotes, personable approach and naturalistic veneer. Like Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist, it both honours and laments a bygone era while simultaneously hinting at the possibilities that still exist within everything it explores, from choirs to landscapes to brass bands. It is, in essence, a very worthy document of the achievements and possibilities present in this now highly publicized corner of the North West of Ireland.

In an interview with McCullough, Londonderry Musical Society (LMS) President Donald Hill dishes out some fascinating trivia – did you know the LMS was originally titled the Londonderry Light Opera Society? – before going on to spill the beans on his favourite role, his favourite show, and the significance of the society in the community. While acknowledging how difficult it is to keep the society going in the current economic climate, he has some great memories; like shaving his head to play the Wazir in Kismet in 1996, recalled in an amiably tongue-in-cheek manner! The bad of the Society – notably, turning up for rehearsals late and being spotted with your "nose in the book" by the musical director! – is contrasted nicely with the good, a rehearsal of "Love Changes Everything" in the City Of Derry Rugby Club which leaves one feeling exceedingly warm. It's a sign that the LMS is truly something to proud of, something that is not due a eulogy, but a rebirth.

It's interesting how one's tastes in music can change over the years. Once a Sinatra buff, Harry Harkin tells McCullough he now prefers chorus material, making him ideal for such a versatile, thematic choir like the Doire Calgach Singers. A cordial choral performance of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" in An Culturlann nicely leads us into imagery from Grainan Fort, where it's clamed you can see five counties on a clear day: Derry, Donegal, Antrim, Tyrone and Sligo.

Cue a shot of Jim Goodman giving the Christ Church organ's keys a thorough work out with the indelible Londonderry Air, before he chats to McCullough about the Britannia Concert Band. And it's a very interesting chat indeed. The band that started playing in 1866 was rather different from the band we know today; it was no more than a flute band back then, before becoming a brass band in the 1880s, and then a brass and reed band even later on. You may also think the name Britannia came from the famous royal yacht that currently lies in a shipyard in Edinburgh, but in truth, no one quite knows where it came from... Goodman believes that the old Derry shipyard inspired it.

Goodman puts the success of the band down to strong family connections (his brother, Ken, is the current band master), team effort, hard work, Tuesday rehearsals and a high standard of musicianship. If he could wish for anything, he says, it would be greater involvement in community events and a consistently high attendance for the Showstoppers concerts, which the band do in conjunction with the LMS. The main challenge, says Goodman, amongst all the music and the fun that the band have had, is maintaining the future of the band by keeping the strong core of musicians that have helped make it what it is today. By the time we hear the band play "Love Changes Everything" alongside a still shot of the band playing at Ebrington Square, we're on his wavelength.

Derry-Londonderry, old and new, then gets showcased on a brief historical tour of St. Columb's Cathedral, the new Riverside walkway, the old railway station and the Millennium Forum. Listening to the LMS and Brittania Band perform "Love Changes Everything" together and later a performance of "Shenandoah" from the Doire Calgach singers creates a pleasantly wistful mood, one that carefully weighs the positives against the negatives while reminding us to never give up. And when we hear how the Showstoppers money has been used to help Long Tower Catholic Church and the First Derry Presbyterian Church, why should we?

Carolyn and Rachel Porter, the charming young teachers of the Porters' School Of Irish Dance, are the subject of McCullough's final interview. We were already treated to some superb dancing from their pupils earlier in the film, but now it’s time to hear more about the school themselves. Being former Irish dancing champions, they appear keen to train the next generation of high quality Irish dancers, and judging by the video footage we've seen, they're doing a great job. To them, the children they teach are like "one big extended family", and their approach and rapport has led to, amongst other things, three of their girls winning Ulster titles. You can only hope they sustain such success.

I'll conclude this piece with a little poetry.

Despite all the music and dance we've seen, most moving of all is the closing scene, where McCullough walks over a bridge full of lights; and I'll leave it to him to sum up the sights.

"Oh I know a wee spot, 'tis a place of great fame,

And it lies to the North, now I'll tell you it's name;

'Tis my own little birthplace, and it's on Irish soil,

Sure they call it lovely Derry... on the banks of the Foyle."

-- Josef Locke