Matt McGinn - Lessons of War (2020)

'LESSONS OF WAR' is the 4th studio album from Irish songwriter Matt McGinn. The album has Matt collaborating with musicians from war affected areas across the world for a stunning collection of songs that explore the futility of war, its horrors, its affects, and after affects.
“I didn’t mean to write an album of anti-war songs, it just kind of happened. The first time I saw the image of the young refugee washed up on the shore, it triggered something in me. I felt I had to do something, and writing was all I could do.”

In 2016, with help from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Matt set about reaching out to musicians from areas across the world that had been scarred by conflict. It was to be the beginning of an incredible three-year journey that took Matt, from his home in the Mourne Mountains, to working with some of the most incredible individuals.

One of the key collaborators on the album is Yazan Ibrahim, a young virtuosi Flamenco Guitarist from the Golan Heights, occupied territory that borders Syria who Matt found through friend and ex-Energy Orchard member, Joby Fox, and brought to Ireland. Over five days they wrote and recorded anti-war songs, designed to try and show mistakes of the past in the hope they might never be repeated.

Other contributions on the album came from Citizens of the World, a London based choir of refugees from all over the world; Seydu a percussionist and philanthropist from Sierra Leone; Richard Moore a guitarist and producer from Derry who was blinded by a plastic bullet, aged 11 and Mark Kelly, a band manager and music engineer who lost his legs in a bomb blast.
Belfast filmmaker Colm Laverty was on hand to capture much of what happened over these years and has created a documentary, also titled 'Lessons of War', soon to be released.

To get as many different perspectives as possible, Matt brought in some of Ireland's finest songwriters, namely Mick Flannery, Ciaran Lavery, Ben Glover, Stephen Scullion, Brigid O'Neill & Grainne Holland.