Music, Memory and Migration — Oregon Humanities

This is a free event for all ages. Advance registration is required. Participants are asked to join us half an hour before the event between 12:30pm and 1pm for optional conversation and networking.

Click here to register.

We all have a certain lineage, an ongoing story that connects us to ancestors, land and traditions across centuries. Yet in our modern lives, that story is often little more than a list of names and places. What does it really mean to come from a place, a heritage? And what do we want to take with us into the future from our distant past?

Join musician Corey Murphy on an exciting journey of discovery as he combines research, music and storytelling to revive and reinterpret traditional folk songs of Irish immigrants who settled in Lake and Klamath Counties. He will show us how stories and songs provide valuable access to our cultural heritage and orient us not only to our past, but also to our present and future. We will map our own migration routes, considering the ways in which they converge and differ from those of others in our community.

This workshop is for anyone who wants to awaken or deepen their sense of their cultural heritage and/or identity while engaging in in-depth dialogue about how this might impact our roles and responsibilities as residents of our communities today.

After the workshop, participants are invited to join Corey for an intimate concert experience: “Irish Songs of Oregon and the West” at the Brevada Brewhouse from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Corey will perform a selection of the songs he has collected, written and arranged that relate to the Irish diaspora in Oregon, including many that have not been performed in decades. All ages are welcome and there is no admission charge.

Venue and workshop details

• The Shaw Historical Library is a fully ADA accessible venue.
• Parking is available at the venue and nearby on the street.
• This venue has separate ADA accessible restrooms for men and women.
• Participants will spend most of the workshop seated. Comfortable seating will be provided.
• There will be 1-2 breaks during the workshop. Participants are encouraged to take breaks as needed to ensure they feel comfortable.
• Free drinks and light snacks are provided.
• Please contact r.medina@oregonhumanities if you have special accommodation requests or concerns about any aspect of attending this workshop.

About the moderator

Corey Murphy sings songs from his father’s birthplace, Newmarket, County Cork. He collects and plays music from and for the Irish diaspora, with a particular focus on Lake County, Oregon. From the mid-1800s to the 1960s, thousands of Irish people – mostly young men – left their homes in Duhallow, near the Cork-Kerry-Limerick border. Almost all of them came to Lake County in southeast Oregon to work as sheepherders and cowboys. Corey carries on the tunes, songs and stories of Sliabh Luachra, who made the journey to this remote part of Oregon to strengthen the connection between Ireland and Oregon and to shine a light on these two small but beloved places and their community.