James Cooke

No justice. Utterly disgusted for the Bloody Sunday families. An obscene decision and a dark day.

23.10.2025 11:46 — 👍 820    🔁 221    💬 14    📌 2

As we await a verdict in the trial of Soldier F, another reminder that in 2010 the Bloody Sunday inquiry found

- the killings were unjustified
- none of the 14 dead (7 of whom were children) had guns
- no warnings were given
- no soldiers were under threat
- the troops were the first to open fire

23.10.2025 10:52 — 👍 890    🔁 334    💬 12    📌 17

They are big fans of avant-garde music up in Derry, if you can believe it!😜

23.10.2025 08:07 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

“We Shall Overcome” and Ireland | 6 | The Transatlantic Politics of a How did an American Protestant gospel song best associated with the African American Freedom Struggle become the anthem of the Northern Irish civil rights

I suppose as a Derry man, 'We Shall Overcome' always had a special relevance. I wanted to write a cultural history of it from about the age of 14. I don't begrudge Daniel Geary for beating me to it.
www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

13.09.2025 11:38 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Many congrats to @nicoleegrimes.bsky.social and Denise Neary for organising 'The Expansive Canvas'. The plurality of perspectives - from formenlehre to music education - was incredible!

I didn't expect to hear MAGA invoked at the conference, but I wholeheartedly endorse Making Editing Great Again!

28.08.2025 19:51 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

El Hambo Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, Philip Brunelle · From the Land of Sky Blue Waters · Song · 2012

I spent a great week in Estonia for their Song Festival, and there was lots of reverent listening to folk chorales...
However Mantyjarvi's deeply irreverent parody of Tormis' Forgotten People reduced me to fits of laughter when it appeared in my shuffle in the gym!

open.spotify.com/track/2TGDSO...

22.08.2025 20:17 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Alma has been a fascinating character to journey with the last few months as I've been thinking about this topic. Biographies of her have tended to objectify her, revisionist scholarship has then denied her agency.
I don't know if I've struck the right balance, but I hope to spark a discussion.

19.08.2025 19:52 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

This neglects the fact that the social circumstances which mean that Alma's work have survived and have continued to attract attention is one enmeshed in her privilege.

19.08.2025 19:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Alma's compositional output was promising juvenilia, but nevertheless minor works. By transforming these songs into orchestral a genre defined by Gustav - the man who killed her creative urge - are we inviting unfair comparisons? Are we unduly projecting these minor works onto the expansive canvas?

19.08.2025 19:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

- Alma reorchestrated: When her work has been transcribed, it is often by dedicated Mahlerists. When her work is performed, it is often preceding one of her husband's symphonies.
Therefore, I'll conclude by questioning the ethics of including orchestrations of her lied in programmes.

19.08.2025 19:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

My paper on Alma Mahler and ethics of re-orchestration will cover:
- Alma's reception history: Alma fetishised and Alma problematised.
- Alma's interest in large scale form. While only 17 songs survive, there are 3 distinct sets, some of which have properties we'd associate with song cycles.

19.08.2025 19:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Extract from Susan McClary's Feminine Endings.

I'm amazed by how much I'm enjoying Feminine Endings by Susan McClary!

This is preparatory reading for me as I'm presenting at 'The Expansive Canvas: Large Scale Form in the Music of 19thC Women Composers' next week in @tlrhub.bsky.social.

19.08.2025 19:52 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0