Spoken ode to ‘good old Nenagh’

Local wordsmith makes video tribute to hometown

Spoken word artist Gary Scully of Nenagh has paid homage to his hometown in an online video.

A secondary school teacher at Nenagh CBS, Gary has been involved in several local music projects over the years, including My Corduroy and Wolf Kids. His latest venture involves a mixture of music and spoken word musings under the monicker Butterfly in the Storm.

Earlier this month, Gary released a video titled ‘Nenagh, mo stór’ (‘Nenagh, my love’), a tribute to his town. “The older that I get, the more that I love good old Nenagh,” he wrote in introducing the video on Facebook. “Its people, its buildings, its history, its sports, etc.

“I am very proud of our famous sons and daughters who have taken Nenagh out into the world... This is a tribute to them and Nenagh, the town that punches above its weight.”

In it, Gary mentions Nenagh's many well-known people, its history, architecture, arts, industry, music and sport, against a backdrop of film and photos of the town and its people over recent decades. “We are Nenagh,” he says; “Nenagh is us.”

This is one of a long series of themes that Gary explores through the spoken word medium. Among others are religion, Einstein's Theory of Relativity, and tributes to his parents. He also discusses the poetic-like athletic success brought to Nenagh CBS under the stewardship of Sean Finn, and he talks about himself and his brothers running around the town. He even penned a spoken word to highlight the plight of Nenagh's firefighters following their recent strike action.

Gary has an album out on Spotify called ‘Bleeding Words’, which was mixed, produced and recorded by Nenagh's Owen Geaney of Atlas White Studios, and featured cinematography by Tommy Moyles, Avalanche Multi-Media Studios. All of the music, lyrics, poetry and artwork are Gary's own original compositions and designs.

His videos can be watched on his Facebook page and the YouTube channel, Butterfly in the Storm.