It is always nice to go back to the Stendhal Music Festival. Even though it is on the same island it feels a bit exotic because I am going to a different country. The North of Ireland is part of Britain, a remnant left over from colonial times. Of course, There have been differences over the years, with sectarian violence leading to many killings in a war we romantically called The Troubles. I remember visiting back in those days and thinking it was quite surreal to have the British army pointing guns at me as they patrolled the city streets of Belfast. It was like we had our very own warzone tourist attraction just an hour up the road. Happily, those days are over now, peace has broken out, as they realised that violence only begot violence and an eye for an eye left many people blind. Better to let diplomacy and economics figure things out and interestingly, they have. It will take a few generations to breed out the last of the war mongers but for now the people are just getting on with their lives and there is even a growing feeling that there will be unification with the Republic.
Religion was used as a dividing line: the Protestants versus the Catholics. Fighting over which team was better. A very sad state of affairs. But underlying it all was the apartheid state of the Catholics being treated as second-class citizens. I was raised as a catholic in the Republic of Ireland and never really got the concept of killing someone because they followed a different religion. Interestingly, I am the son of a refugee, as my father's family was burned out of the north when he was a child.
The Stendhal festival is in a predominantly Protestant area and I, as some sort of interloper, go right into the den of the hethtans.
I was surprised to find that the people are lovely and don't ask to see my passport or ask if I like the Monarch.
The facilitators are the usual Carny people you find around festivals. All with their jobs to do but wanting to party as well. They joked with me that the only reason they have me there is because they get a grant from the government for outreach to downtrodden Catholics. It's so nice to be a DEI hire.
It's a lovely family-friendly festival and I get stuck in preparing my little stall. I am there to make a sculpture, but I have made it into a chill-out area and some would be forgiven for thinking a creche. I have kids around me all weekend with parents watching from a safe distance at the bar. I set up a place for the childers to play and even give workshops. It's all about fun and I find the children very respectful and excited that they get to do their own little performance at the festival.
In the evening, I stayed in Shane's house. He is the main organiser of the festival and one of the nicest people you could meet. We have a lot in common, philosophically speaking. At this point of the festival, he has done all his work and can be more relaxed as he watches what he created play out. I am usually too tired after my day of performing to party at the festival and so the two of us just chill out, have a joint and talk till the wee small hours. When the sun comes up, I usually grab a few hours' sleep, ready for more child minding.
This year, I just carved these Dinosaurs hatching from eggs. Time flies with all the public interactions, so my sculpture is usually simple enough. Nothing much to say about it, really. Just something I threw together between workshops and having fun with my audience.
