Battle of the Starlings - New Song/Video Release Marks 400 Years.
“instrumental melodies that are haunting but also uplifting … stirring vocals … beautiful.” MusicCrowns.Org
Cork Trad/Folk band The Diviners are back with a dynamic new line-up and a blistering new single and video.
Their latest song is a dark, compelling love story set against the backdrop of a real historical event.
Over the course of three days in October 1621, two vast armies fought in the skies above Cork City. Recorded in a London pamphlet of the time as The Wonderfull Battell of Starlings, witnesses spoke of streets littered with dead and dying birds, beaks and talons impaled in each other. Seen by citizens as a portent of ill things to come, the following year Cork burnt to the ground in a fire caused by a lightning strike.
Ciarán Ruby, member of The Diviners and writer of the song, says:
"I have a grá for the arcane, unearthing lost historical moments. The Battle of the Starlings is one of the strangest. We cannot know how it must have felt to stand in the streets of Cork City, watching the skies above as events unfolded. The song imagines a couple on their wedding day who bear witness to this terrifying battle. As witnesses, they must ultimately face the consequences."
400 years later, for the anniversary of this strange war of the birds, The Diviners are proud to release the powerful and moving Battle of the Starlings.
With low and high whistles, bouzouki, cello, guitar, vocals and shruti box, the song is a rich new work rooted in tradition.
“instrumental melodies that are haunting but also uplifting … stirring vocals … beautiful.” MusicCrowns.Org
Cork Trad/Folk band The Diviners are back with a dynamic new line-up and a blistering new single and video.
Their latest song is a dark, compelling love story set against the backdrop of a real historical event.
Over the course of three days in October 1621, two vast armies fought in the skies above Cork City. Recorded in a London pamphlet of the time as The Wonderfull Battell of Starlings, witnesses spoke of streets littered with dead and dying birds, beaks and talons impaled in each other. Seen by citizens as a portent of ill things to come, the following year Cork burnt to the ground in a fire caused by a lightning strike.
Ciarán Ruby, member of The Diviners and writer of the song, says:
"I have a grá for the arcane, unearthing lost historical moments. The Battle of the Starlings is one of the strangest. We cannot know how it must have felt to stand in the streets of Cork City, watching the skies above as events unfolded. The song imagines a couple on their wedding day who bear witness to this terrifying battle. As witnesses, they must ultimately face the consequences."
400 years later, for the anniversary of this strange war of the birds, The Diviners are proud to release the powerful and moving Battle of the Starlings.
With low and high whistles, bouzouki, cello, guitar, vocals and shruti box, the song is a rich new work rooted in tradition.
