My Grandfather was taken by the Fairies

[ënagualí ~ Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ ኔጡ።]

My Grandfather was taken by the Fairies

My Grandfather was taken by the Fairies is the title of a six part recording that centres on Michael Fortune's late mother (Nan Fortune), along with six different members of his family, as they relate superstitious accounts concerning other family members and neighbours.

These are the stories which Michael  Fortune  grew up with as a child and involve accounts of his own family members and neighbours in the coastal village of Ballygarrett on the east coast of Wexford.

The village is part of larger Gaelic stronghold called The Macamore's which ran from Kilmuckridge right up to 'The Arklow Rock' on the Wexford/Wicklow border.

The stories in this collection are from the immediate vicinity of the Ballygarrett and Kilmuckridge area and are as much private beliefs and superstitions as they are public. The deliberate recording of his mother re-telling the same stories with his sisters and nieces, highlights how the stories and the oral culture in which they come from, is highly structured in many regards but yet contains an element of fluidity which is brought by the personality of the teller.

Michael regards the stories as being related to traditional tunes which have been passed on orally. Many of the stories will have the same repeated lines, the same meter, rising and falling, the same warnings and consequences. Each of the recordings were recorded around his mother’s kitchen table between October 2005 and August 2006.

In each recording the camera moves clockwise around the table capturing not only the imaginary world of the stories but also the physical space of the small kitchen. Although intangible, these stories are used to map out a physical world around the family household.

My Grandfather Was Taken By The Fairies (Mammy and Ben)

My Grandfather Was Taken By The Fairies (Mammy and Jenny)

My Grandfather Was Taken By The Fairies (Mammy and Ann)