Song of Granite.

I watched a wonderful Irish film yesterday called Song of Granite. It is a film that I have been meaning to see ever since it was released in 2017, but it was only yesterday after a Facebook friend reminded me of it that I looked online and found you could rent it on the BFI website for £3.50, which is a bargain. The film is directed by Pat Collins and tells the story of Joe Heaney who was a singer from Connemara in the West of Ireland who sang in the Sean-Nos tradition. Sean-Nos simply means ‘in the old way’ and is unaccompanied and usually sung in Irish. The film is in monochrome which I think perfectly suits the melancholy atmosphere of the story. Joe Heaney was born in Carna, County Galway in 1919 and began learning songs from the age of five, but he was so shy that he didn’t sing in public until the age of twenty. He is portrayed at different stages of his life by three actors, Colm Seoighe, Mícheál Ó Confhaola, and Macdara Ó Fátharta.

Colm Seoighe who plays Joe as a child is a very promising young actor, and  a talented musician, singer, and songwriter. In the past whenever I wrote a review on this blog page of a Christy Moore album or concert Colm would correct any mistakes I made. He seems to be an expert on Christy’s music. I think we will hear a lot more about him in the future. The opening scenes of the film show the young barefoot Joe looking for birds’ nests in the long grass, sitting around a turf fire listening to folk stories being told, fishing for lobsters, and planting potatoes with his dad. At school after learning the catechism he is made to sing for the class. In one memorable scene a musicologist visits the village and records Joe’s father singing into a primitive recording machine while Joe watches intently, although he is too shy to sing himself. The cinematography of this film is very artistic, particularly of the landscape scenes. The sight of empty wild birds egg shells and a car in the distance tells us that Joe is intending to fly from the nest.

Joe Heaney.

As well as Colm, Mícheál Ó Confhaola is also an excellent singer. Joe moves to Glasgow and then London, working on building sites. He was a restless spirit, always with his eye on the horizon. He gains a reputation singing in pubs and folk clubs. One of the highlights of the film is a pub scene where Lisa O’Neill sings The Galway Shawl. I wonder if she was meant to represent Margaret Barry. For me it was also great to see two people I recognised from performances at Glastonbury, Damian Dempsey singing The Rocky Road To Dublin, and also Radie Peat from Lankum. I also spotted Cathal Hayden who I have seen playing with Christy Moore. Joe sings a long Sean-nos song which I’m pleased the director didn’t edit, but I wish sub-titles had been provided so that I could understand the song. Also, it is never explained why he walked out on his wife and children. You get the feeling that it was something he lived to regret. 

In the mid-1960s Joe is invited to perform at the famous Newport Folk Festival and he decides to move to New York where he works as a hotel doorman for twenty years. He is befriended by the likes of the Clancy Brothers who help him become known on the folk music scene. Although the story is dramatized, it also contains interesting archive newsreel footage and the real Joe Heaney singing. Towards the end of the film there is a scene where Joe touches the stone facing of a building in New York. It is very poignant because you know he is homesick for the dry stone walls of home and wants to return. This is common with Irish people who emigrate. They may leave Ireland physically, but they never leave spiritually. As Van Morrison once said, ‘The world is so cold, don't care nothing 'bout your soul, you share with your own ones’. 

There is one very moving imaginary scene where the old Joe meets the young Joe, and they talk about life and poetry. Joe died in Seattle USA in 1984 aged 62. He had become an artist in residence at Washington University where there is an ethno-musicology archive in his memory. This film struck a chord with me because my family came from the west of Ireland, but I think if you like music, beautiful scenery, and a great story then I highly recommend that you watch Song of Granite. I have shared a trailer below if you want to see it.