Fil Campbell performing at The Corner House, Rostrevor.
The Corner House in Rostrevor, County Down, Northern Ireland, is a postage-stamp sized pub in a particularly musical corner of the Mourne Mountains—home to folk singer/activist Tommy Sands, singer Fil Campbell and her husband, percussionist Tom McFarland, and the Fiddler’s Green International Festival, held every July, the highlight of which is 20 Singers, 20 Songs, a performance by local talent. That they can find 20 local singers worth listening to in a town so small you couldn’t finish humming an entire song while driving through it is nothing short of miraculous.
I’d like to think that it’s the magic of the Mournes. Rostrevor is snuggled between these heather-covered granite mountains that sweep dramatically down to sea and are the subject of an 19th century folk song called, “Mountains O’ Mourne,” recorded by Donegal balladeer Daniel O’Donnell, the Kingston Trio and Don McLean. The Mournes also inspired C.S. Lewis to write “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and, on a recent visit, resurrected for me the lines of a poem called “The Fairy Folk” that I was forced to memorize in grade school: “Up the airy mountain, down the rushing glen, we daren’t go a-hunting, for fear of little men.”
There’s definitely something mystical there. There’s also Spring Records, the Sands’ family’s independent record label and studio, which is one reason Fil Campbell (a Fermanagh native) and Tom McFarland (Belfast-born) live there. “We were always here recording anyway,” Fil told me.
But even the natives think “there’s something in the water.” Whatever it is, it makes the Friday night session at the Corner House a rare treat.
I brought a little of it home with me, thanks to my little Kodak HD recorder, to share with you. Come with me to the virtual session:
And a little comedy from James, an estate agent who, when he’s not selling condos in Bulgaria, pens funny ditties.