Leitrim Rock School raises €3000 at Gig for Gaza

The Manorhamilton Rock School has raised around €3000 for people in Gaza during a gig at the Bee Centre in Manorhamilton on Saturday night.

“The Rock School has done a couple of fundraisers for Gaza already, and people were talking about it. A couple of the kids had actually written songs, you know, to do with what's going on there. It's so horrendous,” says Dee Armstrong, organiser of the Manorhamilton Rock School and member of the band Kíla.

“We just wanted to do something because everybody feels so helpless and so appalled and so heartbroken that this has actually been allowed to happen.”

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The gig for Gaza saw around 10 bands from the Rock School perform at the gig, with the proceeds going to Ahmed Muin’s music school in Gaza and Medical aid for Palestine. Dee found Ahmed through a clip online of him and his students harmonising with drones flying over their school.

“There's a beautiful clip of him. The drones are going 24/7 to torture the poor people and with the sound even alone, he started singing along with the drones, using it as a note, a musical note. And then all the kids joined in singing harmonies. And absolutely stunning, and in every way, and just the fact of using that tool of oppression, you know, to turn it into actual music. Just a beautiful thing. And we want to send some of the money to him, if we can. To his music school and to his students.”

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A bake sale was held before the gig and contributed to the collection.

The Manorhamilton rock school runs camps throughout the year for teenagers and kids, and will be starting a rock symphony later this month.