Waysong - new musical anthem for Callan is launched

A musical video produced as part of a series of arts projects to enriched a Kilkenny town has gone live.
The film, created by Áít Productions, highlights the a new ‘Waysong’ which was commissioned for Callan. The work was part of the Wayfinders project, which is curated by Etaoin Holahan.

Wayfinders 2023 is an arts participation project that Etaoin Holahan and Eilish Lavelle pitched to the Arts Council. The project included commissioning different artists to respond to the town in their own way. One of these artists was Sinead Fahey, who put together a mural of flying birds.

“We were looking at wayfinding between the two green spaces in Callan, the Moatfield and Abbey Meadow,” said Etaoin.
Another commissioned artist group was the musicians Landless, who did a musical residency in Fennelly’s in Callan.

“We told Landless loads of stories about Callan and got them to meet up with different people,” said Etaoin. “They composed a song in response to that and performed this song in Fennelly’s.”
The song, called ‘Waysong, is a new four-part harmony that was launched in Fennelly’s courtyard. You can watch it below.

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Another part of Wayfinders 2023 saw visual artist and designer Paul Bokslag work with students from Coláiste Abhainn Rí and pupils from Bunscoil McAuley Rice to create paper-cut designs that explored the student’s reimagining of Bridge Street as a lively place for people to live and the things they loved about it now. The work was carried out in collaboration with Callan Tidy Towns.
“It was important for us to collaborate with other local organisations to bring more people into it,” said Etaoin.