Italia loves Limerick - The Cranberries Connection
Tomorrow in Rome something very special is happening. Fans of the Cranberries in Italy will meet to celebrate the life of Delores O'Riordan. They will also be raising money for music programmes here at the Learning Hub in Limerick. What a wonderful story of how music connects people from all over the world to make good things happen. Jennifer describes opening the email from Italy..
“Just after Dolores’ death I received an email from Paolo and Loredana in Italy. It was so amazing to read their message and brought tears to our eyes here in the Learning Hub. They both run the Cranberries Italia fan website and were devastated by the tragic death of Dolores. They said they wanted to hold an event celebrating Dolores’s life but also to make a connection between the fans in Italy and her home city of Limerick by raising funds for a music project here. We were honoured that they had been recommended us by the Cranberries’ Noel Hogan as a partner music education project they could support.”
Since early February, the Learning Hub team and their new Italian friends have been having skype calls and working on a plan to support their event and fundraising efforts but also to build a real social connection between the fans and Limerick.
James Blake is Music Coordinator at the Learning Hub, “We were very lucky to have the support of our Italian friend Giuseppe Torre here in Limerick to help us with our skype calls as a translator. It has been really wonderful to get to know Paolo and Loredana and to see how genuine their love is for the music of the Cranberries but also their interest in building a connection with Limerick too. “
The funds raised will be used to support a series of songwriting workshops in the summer at the Learning Hub and will be launched by the CranberriesItalia fans when they come to Limerick in July for the gig in memory of Dolores in Dolans Warehouse.
James Blake is hopeful that this can be a lasting connection.
“This proves just how powerful the music connection can be.. connecting people from completely different places in a really magical way. We really look forward to welcoming our new Italian friends to Limerick in July and showing them what a great city we have here but also the potential of the kids here in Limerick to realise their musical potential"
To donate to the CranberriesItalia Fanclub fundraising efforts (and directly to the Learning Hub!) please click https://www.produzionidalbasso.com/project/italia-loves-limerick-due-comunita-si-incontrano-in-memoria-di-dolores-oriordan/