'Sounds of the Slaney' Youth Audio Trail Launches September 12th

Over the past eight weeks, local 12–18-year-olds have been collaborating to transform the environmental sounds of Baltinglass into an original musical audio trail. The completed "Living Soundmap" will officially launch with a public listening event this month.

Led by music producers Niall Hughes and Gary O'Reilly, the summer residency brought together young people from the Baltinglass IPAS centre and Scoil Chonglais. Participants spent the summer conducting acoustic listening walks, capturing field recordings of the town's ambient noises—from the splashing of the river to morning traffic—and composing original tracks using these environmental samples.

The public is invited to attend the premiere of the finalized audio pieces:

• Date: Saturday, September 12th

• Time: 10:00 AM

• Location: Baltinglass Library

The launch event will feature the first public playback of the completed tracks, alongside a short presentation detailing the field recording techniques and music production methods utilized by the young creators. Following the launch, the tracks will be available to the public via a QR-coded sound trail located throughout Baltinglass.

This project is supported by the Creative Community Activation Fund, Wicklow County Council, Creative Places Baltinglass, and KWETB. All are welcome to attend the library launch and support the work of these young local artists.