AFTER a couple of years of a hiatus, local rapper Godknows returned with a new song, The Art of Alienation, about some of his early experiences in Shannon.
While the title might not necessarily sound very positive, he says it is a celebration of the town, along with dealing with some of the difficult aspects of having come to Ireland from Zimbabwe via England, back in 2001.
He says it was a bit of a jolt to find that a religious divide was in the minds of some of his contemporaries at the time.
“It was a bit of a challenge, there were some peculiar things that I wasn’t attuned to or aware of. Prior to moving to Shannon I had been in Sheffield for two years,” he says.
“When I came I thought we’d be talking about normal kids stuff, maybe about Stone Cold Steve Austin or the Rock, but I was being asked was I Catholic or Protestant. I wasn’t expecting that. Then I realised about the history of Shannon, Brendan O’Regan, people moving from Belfast to Shannon and locals having a bit of apprehension about people from the North coming in.
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Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.