Singer and acoustic guitarist Patrick Dennan tells NearFM’s John Connell about his method of composing a song. Patrick has worked on many projects with community groups around Ballymun. These projects have included everyone who are involved with community groups in tackling issues such as mental health, addiction and other life challenges . As Patrick says, everybody has a story and working together as a group can be useful and liberating for people who deal with real life situations that are difficult to tackle without support from others. In the course of his work, Patrick has participated in long-term ongoing workshops where various community groups work on composing a song together. Patrick writes down everything that is discussed in the workshops and then goes about harvesting the salient factors that confront many people’s lives. By dedicating many hours and staying up until the early hours, Patrick composes songs that result in the groups participating in public concerts for the local community to witness. In this podcast, Patrick talks about and performs three songs that he has brought to fruition over the recent past. The songs are Recovery Road, Reach Out and Strange War.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:01 — 46.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS