Irish singer songwriters, Christy Moore, Hozier, Lisa Hannigan and Sinead O’Connor are celebrated on a new set of Irish stamps released from An Post.
Ireland is renowned worldwide for its songwriting and performing traditions and the new An Post stamps honour four of the many Irish artists who have graced stages at the famous Glastonbury Music and Arts Festival.
Designed by Dublin-based Shaughn McGrath Creative, the colourful large format stamps are available in a booklet of four national stamps (€4.40), at anpost.com/artists and all post offices, while stocks last.
A donation will be made for every stamp booklet sold to the Irish Music Industry Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund, created to assist Irish music creators experiencing financial need.
A virtual ‘festival’ featuring unique performances by the featured singer songwriters was held to launch the new stamps in Dublin’s GPO on Thursday, July 15th.
The virtual gig can be viewed for the next four weeks – visit anpost.com/festival.
‘IT’S BEEN DIFFICULT’
Speaking during launch at the GPO, artist Hozier said “To be on an Irish stamp is such an honour and in such incredible company too.”
Asked by presenter MayKay how he coped with the Covid-19 Lockdowns he said: “By re-connecting with the sense of local community, people around me, walking, swimming in the sea, applying a sense of gratefulness to what I could engage with and what I could achieve, and I hope to take a lot of that with me.”
Also speaking at the GPO before performing in the main Post Office hall, Christy Moore said he wished his grandparents were around to see him on a stamp and performing in the GPO.
“To be invited here to sing is one of the great privileges of my working life.”
Describing how he got through the pandemic, he said: “It’s been difficult, we never really appreciated how well off we all were, in the work that we to do. There are good sides, I’ve had a full year at home which is something I’ve never had before. We won’t forget it in a hurry, this year that we’ve had”.
The new stamps are among the largest format stamps ever issued by An Post.
“Big stamps for big names, quite fitting for these giants of the Singer Songwriter world”, a spokesperson said.
“We expect strong interest in them from fans of the artists and of music in general, all over the world. We hope they will help spread a little joy at home and abroad.”
The new stamps and a special First Day Cover envelope are available at all post offices and online at anpost.com/artists.
