Sounds from a Safe Harbour has added ‘Heartship’ a new project featuring the music and presence of singer Lisa Hannigan, celebrating the Irish Naval services contribution to the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean; addressing the rescuing and disappearance of so many hearts within that ocean.

On Saturday 14th September, the L.É. James Joyce will sail up the River Lee in Cork from Haulbowline Island with Lisa Hannigan the lone occupant visible on deck – with recorded sound of her beautiful, ethereal, voice emanating from the ship.

Lisa Hannigan live at Turning Pirate’s NYE Mixtape. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owenhumphreys.com

The recordings of Lisa singing songs about the heart, together with the extraordinary sound of the glass armonica, played by Alasdair Malloy. The music of a glass armonica is formed by fingers running water over glass. These beautiful sounds will emanate from the ship and float out over the city. The L.É. James Joyce will dock where an audience will be able to hear a live performance by Lisa from from a vantage point on the riverside.

The presence of a human heart is integral to the project devised by Dorothy Cross; the Navy vessel will contain the relic of a human heart that was discovered in a crypt in Cork in 1863. It was acquired by ethnologist and archaeologist General Pitt Rivers, who was stationed in Cork. It later became part of the extraordinary collection of artefacts which are housed in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. For Heartship, the borrowed heart will make its return to Cork and will be on display in The Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork, until the 23rd September.

Heartship has been haunting me for the past three years… wishing to honour the many hearts of migrant people who disappear below the ocean surface and lie unnamed on the sea-bed.”  says Dorothy Cross.

Admission to Hearthship is free.

Sounds from a Safe Harbour is curated by Bryce and Aaron Dessner of The National, Mary Hickson, Cillian Murphy and Enda Walsh; 6 days of music, dance, visual art, and conversation, with a special focus on collaboration and shared experiences, so audiences can expect the unexpected in intimate venues across Cork city. See a rundown of events below.

At Cork Opera House:

Feist *SOLD OUT* // Damien Rice *SOLD OUT* // // Tea? Da?sa’s Loch na hEala (Swan Lake) // Lhasa – a live tribute to Lhasa de Sela by Andrew Barr (The Barr Brothers), Bryce Dessner (The National), Clarice Jensen, Dustin O’Halloran, Emma Broughton, Joel Shearer, Leslie Feist (Feist), Mélissa Laveaux, Pauline DeLassus (Mina Tindle) & Todd Dahlhof // Don’t Fear the Light by Minimalist Dreamhouse Quartet // Don’t Fear the Light

At Live at St Luke’s:

Efterklang // Grandbrothers // Sam Amidon // Caoimhín O’Raghallaigh with Thomas Bartlett

At The Everyman:

Richard Reed Parry’s Quiet River

At CIT Cork School of Music:

Spiritual America by William Brittelle 

At Coughlan’s Live:

Rosie Carney // La Force (Broken Social Scene) // Mélissa Laveaux

At Dali:

Jon Hopkins *SOLD OUT* // Romare (live) // Pariah

All tickets for Sounds from a Safe Harbour festival are sold individually – www.soundsfromasafeharbour.com