Once in a Blue Moon Band gets standing ovation in City of Culture

Father and daughter, Paul and Laura Colgan

The Once in a Blue Moon band brought adult amateur musicians together to make a creative contribution to the City of Culture programme. Participants wrote new music and arranged tunes over a period of 2 weeks. The final performance took place on Sunday 8th September in the Playhouse Theatre, Derry/Londonderry and received a standing ovation from an enthusiastic audience.

The band included people from all walks of life aged 20-85, a number of whom who were playing instruments they had never had the opportunity to play before. The band also encouraged people who had played when they were younger to take their dusty instrument down from the shelf and get involved.

One participant was 85 year old Frank McLaughlin a violinist and singer who had professional experience when he was younger. Frank, a real local character, opened the show on the voice and took the lead on the violin throughout. Another Eddie Campbell, a retiree, wrote songs, played accordion and led the group in whistling his mash up of “Blue Moon” and “Always look on the bright side of life” as part of one of the songs.

Frank McLaughlin

Wall2Wall Music Artistic Director, Sarah Murphy says:

“All of the participants brought their ideas, talents and positive energy which made the project a real highlight of my City of Culture. It was wonderful to see the packed audience cheering on their loved ones and moved to both laughter and tears by the emotional and comedic personal stories told through a journey of 10 musical moments”

The project was made possible by funds from the Big Lottery programme, Culture for All. It has been a very successful part of Wall2Wall Music’s contribution to the 2013 celebrations. Earlier in the year the company led the community engagement programme of the At Sixes and Sevens project. Future projects include Stoke Odyssey which gives stroke survivors and their family and carers a voice through music and film.