Araby is based on the short story of the same name from James Joyce’s 'Dubliners'.  The song tells the story of a young boy who longs for the attention of his friend’s sister. Through vivid lyrics and haunting music, it follows Joyce’s storyline … capturing the boy’s turmoil as he grapples with adolescent unrequited love, the elation he feels when the girl finally speaks to him, his vow to buy her a gift from the visiting Araby Bazaar and ultimately his despair and disillusionment when he arrives at the bazaar too late to buy anything.

Araby

Araby By Hibsen

'The Stern Task of Living' is an album of original songs based on James Joyce's book of short stories 'Dubliners'. Our goal in writing it was to capture the essence of each story in the lyrics of the songs and to reflect each story’s sentiment in the music that we wrote for it. We hope that you enjoy the journey of listening to this album as much as we enjoyed the journey of writing and recording the songs.

Jim Murphy & Gráinne Hunt
May 2023

Hibsen Music

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