Pupils at a Clonakilty school are shooting for the stars with an inspirational song they released for Clonakilty International Guitar Festival, writes Martin Steinmetz.

The young talent at Scoil na mBuachaillí on O’Rahilly Street have written and recorded their own track, We Can Be Stars, which has made waves on social media.

The song was created with the help of teacher Karen O’Regan who has been at the school for 18 years. Ms O’Regan said the song was inspired by a visit from well-known guitar maker George Lowden who gifted the school one of his unique guitars, named after Ed Sheeran.

She said: ‘I started writing the song and brought some of the boys in to help out with the lyrics and it grew from there. We are very grateful to George Lowden for giving us this beautiful guitar, so we recorded this song as a way of saying thank you. It was also a good opportunity to teach the children about being kind and politeness.

‘The song is meant to be uplifting and inspirational. The message is, like it says in the lyrics, go live your best life.’

Principal Norma Harte said: ‘Every lyric and melody is a reflection of the creativity, heart and teamwork that make our school such a special place.’

We Can Be Stars is a heartfelt anthem celebrating hope, dreams and the strength of community.

It was recorded by musician and sound engineer John Fitzgerald who is a friend of Scoil na mBuachaillí.

The school’s Facebook page has seen lots of positive comments and likes for the song, which could become the next smash hit from West Cork.

Mary O’Reilly commented, ‘Well done all, absolutely brilliant.’, with Norah Keohane writing: ‘Congratulations, outstanding… yet again.’

Norma Harte, principal, George Lowden and Noreen Collins, secretary and SNB Guitar Festival coordinator.

In recent years, the school has been used as a venue for Clonakilty International Guitar Festival because of its well-equipped stage with state-of-the-art sound and lighting equipment.

Scoil na mBuachaillí has a long-standing tradition of teaching music on different instruments such as guitar, cajon and tin whistle. The school even offers a guitar hire service at an affordable price to allow every child access to music.

The creativity and musicality of staff and pupils also attracted guitar maker George Lowden to visit the school during last year’s guitar festival.

The Belfast-born luthier founded Lowden Guitars in 1974 in Northern Ireland, starting his first workshop in Bangor, County Down.

Among the famous artists using his guitars are Ed Sheeran, Mark Knopfler, Alex Lifeson of Rush, Snow Patrol, David Gray and Niall Horan.

School secretary Noreen Collins said Lowden’s visit was still on everyone’s lips. And the song was already taking off around West Cork, especially in Clonakilty where the pupils officially released their song with two well-attended performances at Astna Square on Friday (September 19th), with George Lowden clapping in the crowd.

Noreen said: ‘We Can Be Stars is a real earworm and Karen O’Regan is fantastic for writing it. You hear the song around the school. I’ll be going out to lunch and the boys will be whistling or singing it as they head out to basketball.

‘Who knows, maybe Ed Sheeran will hear it and come to visit us.’

She added the song was testament to the music focus at the school for many decades, thanks to the hard work and initiatives by current principal Norma Harte and vice-principal Regina Fitzsimmons, as well as former school heads Barth Harrington and Dave O’Brien.

To hear We Can Be Stars, visit the school’s Facebook page.