The Folk Bards of Ulster

Robert Huddleston was an Ulster-Scots farmer, poet and songwriter from Moneyrea, County Down. Thousands of manuscript pages written by Huddleston, including Ulster-Scots poems, songs, letters and even an unpublished novel, are held in the National Museums NI Library and Archives.

Known as The Bard of Moneyrea, Huddleston’s vast and prolific body of work touched on the religious, ethical, political and social matters of his era. His writing captures the rich fusion of Scotch, English and Irish elements in local speech, illuminating the linguistic diversity of this place and revealing how central language is to exploring heritage and identity, and to enabling cultural expression.

To celebrate these archives and bring Huddleston’s work to a contemporary audience, we invited musician Joshua Burnside into our archives to produce two new songs based on Huddleston’s writing.

Joshua Burnside is an acclaimed experimental folk singer, songwriter, producer and performer from Comber, County Down - just a few miles down the road from Moneyrea. His music incorporates elements of Irish and Scottish folk, alongside influences from Americana, world music, sound collage and electronica. Burnside is known for his considered and honest songwriting, which, like Huddleston’s, touches on subjects pertinent to the time we live in.

Joshua selected stanzas from two poems from the archives to compose music for: Mary on the Brain and A Wee Drap o' Auld Comber, Tam.

Mary on the Brain

'Mary on the Brain' is a powerful study of grief, written by Huddleston after the death of his daughter. Joshua selected this poem as the grief “jumped out of the page” at him, and being able to relate to someone writing about grief over 200 years ago was of deep meaning to him.

A Wee Drap o' Auld Comber, Tam

Joshua chose 'A Wee Drap o' Auld Comber, Tam' to counterpoint Mary on the Brain with something more joyous. Partly a light-hearted song about the best places to find Whiskey, this song connected Joshua to his hometown and encouraged him to discover that it has a rich cultural bedrock.

Two videos of Joshua performing the songs in our exhibit buildings were produced by Nightstaff Productions, with funding from the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund. Shot on location in one day in Nightstaff’s signature poetic style, the videos beautifully capture the atmosphere and spirit of the songs, intersecting live performances from Joshua with archive film from Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive.

The commission was celebrated at 'The Last Folk Bards of Ulster' event in the Ulster Folk Museum, where Joshua performed the songs for an audience. There were readings of Huddleston and from contemporary poets inspired by Huddleston’s work. This event was supported by Ards and North Down Borough Council and was part of Leid and Lairn – their celebration of Ulster Scots Language and Heritage.

Through The Last Folk Bards of Ulster, two folk bards from County Down, separated by over 150 years, have been connected. Burnside and Huddleston, while from vastly different times and contexts, are both rooted in the places they call home and use songwriting to understand and comment on the world around them.

This project demonstrates that our archives are more than historical documents. They are resources that continue to move us and help us learn from the past - inspiring creativity in modern artists and thinkers, while also teaching us about language, cultural identity and our place in a fast-paced modern world.

Thanks/Credits

Nightstaff team
Director: Ross McClean
Producer: Conal Clapper
Editor: Stuart Sloan
Director of Photography: Ronnie McQuillan
Sound recordist: Matthew Weir
Additional Camera: Rebekah Davis & Ross McClean

Lead image: Nightstaff Productions 

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