Armenians and Libraries

Some things I have been writing recently have made me think about libraries...

And I found myself sharing notes with Khachig Tölölyan, historian of the Armenian Diaspora, founder and editor of the journal DIASPORA...

A web search will find much stuff, including a video of a conversation with Robin Cohen...

http://vimeo.com/25020401

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/diaspora_a_journal_of_transnational_studies/

When we shared notes, Khachig was in Venice.  And I remarked that I must be one of the few people in the world who has visited both the library at San Lazzaro degli Armeni, in the lagoon of Venice, AND the Matenadaran in Yerevan, Armenia.  Maybe the only non-Armenian...?

Khachig emailed back, 'Colour me impressed...'

San Lazzaro degli Armeni has its own Wikipedia entry...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Lazzaro_degli_Armeni

In 1717 the Republic of Venice gave the island to the Catholic Armenian Mechitarist religious order - the monks had fled westwards after the Ottoman invasion of the Morea (the Peleponnese).  The most famous visitor to the island was most probably Byron - though the present day monks seem a little puzzled that fewer and fewer people have heard of Byron.  I was especially interested in the place of Venice, and the island, in the development of Armenian printed books.  All in all, a fascinating example of the vagaries of diaspora, and struggle for the survival of culture and knowledge...

This is the Wikipedia entry for the Matenadaran...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matenadaran

As all the world knows, I am not a happy traveller.  But whenever I do travel, and wherever I travel, I make pilgrimage to the libraries...

As a further example...  A long time ago I was travelling in the Scottish Borders. And I came across a sign, pointing sharply up a minor road:  Library.  And so, in that bleak upland place, I found the Leadhills Miners' Library...
http://www.leadhillslibrary.co.uk/

The Leadhills Miners Reading Society was founded in 1741, and is the oldest subscription library in the British Isles.  The miners bought books with their own money - the rules of the society are really worth reading.  Working class self-organisation.  Again, poignant, significant, the struggle for knowledge...

Patrick O'Sullivan
January 2015

Song: Autobiography of a Navvy

The lyric of this song can be found in my song lyric book, Love Death and Whiskey...

See, for example...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Death-Whiskey-Patrick-OSullivan/dp/095678240X

I made it my contribution to TradConnect's Songwriter Showcase with Christy Moore...

http://tradconnect.com/profiles/blogs/songs-61-65-songwriter-showcase-with-christy-moore

http://tradconnect.com/profiles/blogs/songs-56-60-songwriter-showcase-with-christy-moore?xg_source=msg_mes_network

I wanted to show support for TradConnect and Tony Lawless - this was a nice, straightforward project, clearly meant to be a service to TradConnect's members, making no attempt to exploit us.

My lyric seemed to fit within the rules of the Songwriter Showcase, as they were at the beginning of the project, or as I understood them.  We were required to put a sung version of the song on Soundcloud.  So, I did.  But I also persuaded Stephanie Hladowski to put an austere version of the song out there...

https://soundcloud.com/saltduck-1

The lyric connects with various projects to do with my development of Irish Diaspora Studies.

The title of the song is a kind of homage to Patrick MacGill (1889-1963), 'The Navvy Poet'. There is a hint, too, of the grimmer songs of work and diaspora, like An Spailpin Fanach.  It is a grim lyric

The lyric also connects with a small research project conducted by the charity, Leeds Irish Health and Homes, which looked at precisely where in Ireland the Leeds Irish come from. Mostly the Irish of Leeds come from Mayo, and have well-established links and networks.

But the charity also found a number of elderly men, from many different parts of Ireland, living isolated lives in bedsits in Leeds. These were the navvies, still living where they happened to be when the last contract ended, and when the body could no longer do the work.

My lyric uses some 1970s navvy words, like 'lump' and 'subby'.

The lyric will go to the tune that in Ireland is known as 'The Croppy Boy', and in England is known as 'Lord Franklin' - and is very like the tune used by Bob Dylan in 'Bob Dylan's Dream'. But the lyric has a very simple, strong structure, and could be set in any number of ways.

Tony Lawless's and TradConnect's Songwriter Showcase has now closed...

Patrick O'Sullivan

January 2015