The international Tipperary Song of Peace contest 2014 has been won by Scottish songwriter Kenny Grant with his song “A Child in a War”. Kenny, who now lives in Malahide, Co. Dublin, joined finalists from Ireland, the UK, USA and Canada performing in the final held on 10th July as part of this year’s Tipperary Festival.
A Child in a War was inspired by news reports of the war in Syria, and the many other devastating conflicts around the world. Introducing his song, Kenny said, “I have a 3-year-old daughter, who is at that stage of constantly asking ‘Why? Why? Why?’ When I see the news from around the world, what we do to each other, what we do to our children, I find myself asking the same question.”
On receiving the first prize of the Tipperary Song of Peace Crystal Trophy along with a cash prize of €1,500, Kenny announced that he would donate the cash prize to the international development charity Goal and the Tipperary Peace Convention. Kenny said, “After singing a song like that, about children in war zones, it’s just the right thing to do. I like to put my money where my mouth is.”
After studying music at Glasgow University, Kenny played music professionally for ten years in Germany, England and France before settling in Dublin in 2001.
After a career change and a long break from the music scene, Kenny is currently engaged in a writing partnership with a major UK act, and is recording a new solo album for release in 2014.
Much of Kenny’s recent writing addresses social issues, with childhood and war being recurrent themes. Bethlehem, a song about the war-torn Middle East, made the top 3 in the Christmas FM Song Contest 2012. The Old Concrete Mattress, a ballad about homelessness, was a finalist in both A Song For Simon 2013 and the UK Songwriting Contest 2013.
The Tipperary Song of Peace was formed as part of the annual Tipperary Peace Convention in 1983.
The Tipperary Peace Convention is known for the internationally recognised “Tipperary Peace Award”, whose past recipients include Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Bob Geldof, the late Senator Gordon Wilson, Senator George Mitchell and Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Further information: kenny@nullisland.ie
