Sound Links celebrates the past, present and future of Townsend Street

On Saturday 21 September, Townsend Street was a bustling and colourful hive of live music, street performance, food and craft markets, kids’ activities and more. The Sound Links Block Party was a celebration of the street and its people, taking place on International Peace Day 2024. Part of the Belfast 2024 programme and a partnership between the Ulster Orchestra, Townsend Enterprise Park and Zeppo Arts Management, the day saw over 2,500 people visit the street for the celebrations.

The Block Party featured live performances by Winnie Ama, Boom Strutt Brass and members of Diamontes Dance and Drama School and St Louise’s Dance group. There was also a cross-community céilí, street art and visual art workshops, and history tours.
 

The day concluded with the premiere of three newly-commissioned works by local composers Úna Monaghan, Rory Friers and Jamie Thompson, which were performed by the Ulster Orchestra in the Foyle Foundation Hall at Ulster Orchestra at Townsend – formerly Townsend Street Church and the Orchestra’s new home.

Over the past few months, several consultation workshops were held in the local area where members of the public came to share their memories and stories of Townsend Street and offer their hopes and aspirations for the future. Visits were also made to local schools, care homes, day centres and community groups, where our facilitators – writers Natasha Geary, Emily DeDakis, Fionnuala Kennedy, Maria McManus and the Ulster Orchestra’s own Jonathan Simmance and Stephanie Elliott – worked with pupils, residents and attendees over several weeks to talk about their memories and ideas.
 

These stories and ideas were gathered together and given to the three composers to inform the music they wrote – and the results were stunning, moving and uplifting. Visuals relating to the past, present and future of the street were projected during the performance, creating an atmospheric, immersive experience. 

Úna Monaghan’s piece, ‘Townsend Street’ focuses on the history of the area. “It is impossible to capture a street and a community in one type of representation,” Úna writes in her programme note accompanying the concert, “But my approach was to try and convey a sense of what I had understood about Townsend Street, after hearing the conversations and descriptions from the workshops and seeing photographs.”

Úna incorporated the kinds of sounds that would have been heard on the street in years past, such as boat and factory horns. “Towards the end the orchestra pass around a single note accompaniment and melody between them – a community and a life is made up of countless individual contributions and happenings. I see the piece as an amalgamation of many elements, sometimes understood, sometimes obscure, with moments of definite clarity; much like the street, and our lives.”

‘101 False Starts’ by Jamie Thompson deals with present day Townsend Street, the title reflecting the area being somewhat forgotten about in recent years. The small Romanian church by the Orchestra’s new home provided inspiration for the music: Jamie says that he “decided to base the tonality of the piece on a major Romanian scale in C, which to my ears contains a beautiful major/minor tension, conferring a melodic slipperiness.”

As befits a piece about the present, the music ends with a sense of a story unfinished. “Like many of the recollections from the area, the piece ends in a place of hesitancy and apprehension. There is a sense of incompleteness. It is unsure, slightly wounded.”

The future is the theme of Rory Friers’ piece, ‘When the Westlink Goes.’ Inspiration for the work came out of the ideas local schoolchildren gave for what the future of the area might look like. “Their ideas were full of colour, hope, and imagination,” says Rory, whose piece is structured in three sections.

“The first reflects the peace and calm the children felt was so important in creating a brighter future—a quiet space that makes everything else possible. The second section dives into their excitement about progress and development, picturing a city alive with new ideas, innovation and energy. And the final section reflects hope and optimism, imagining a future full of connection, joy, and endless possibilities.”
 

Thank you to everyone who came along and shared their memories, hopes and dreams for the area with us – Bradley Manor Care Home, City Way Day Centre, Glenwood Primary School, Francis Higgins, Rev. Jack Lamb, Robert McClenaghan, New Life City Church, Ruth Petticrew, Raidió Fáilte, Shankill Area Social History Group, St Comgall’s, St Mary’s Primary School, St Stephen’s & St Michael’s Young @ Heart Group, Townsend Enterprise Park businesses, Townsend Social Outreach Centre youth group and everyone in the community members and residents who took time to attend one of our drop-in sessions.