Over the last few months Ballyshannon Folk and Traditional Music Festival held a competition to find a winning ‘Song for Ballyshannon’ which portrayed our rich historical and cultural history and we were delighted to reveal the winning song at our launch on Thursday night last. Here is a recording of the song for you all to enjoy. Congratulations to Mick Blake Music

Mick Blake is a singer/songwriter originally from Letterkenny, now based in County Leitrim. His songs have a strong message, covering topics such as social injustice, inequality and war. He also writes historical ballads, many of which draw comparisons between the past and present.

His song “Oblivious” was covered by Christy Moore, who described him as a “true modern day bard”. “Oblivious” appears on Moore’s album “Lily”.

In 2017, Mick launched his first solo album, “Oblivious”, at the Balor Arts Centre in his native Donegal, with sleeve notes contributions from Christy Moore, Paul Brady and Steve Wall. Following the concert, one critic declared “If the purpose of art is to hold a mirror to society then this Letterkenny-born, Leitrim based singer is in my opinion, the most important artist recording in Ireland today. His songs are beautiful things in and of themselves. For many, however, it’s the lyrics and the subject matter he tackles that raises Micks work to another level.”

Mick performed alongside Christy Moore, Declan Sinnott and Damien Dempsey at concerts in Vicar Street, and at the highly-publicised Centenary Celebration Concert in Dublin in 2016. He was also commissioned to write a song about Sean MacDiarmada, the Leitrim signatory of the 1916 proclamation.

He is currently working on a solo piano album, and a second album of original songs.