It was a case of bringing it all back home for The Spark, the rap track produced and performed by young people from counties Cork and Clare, as they used the occasion of Cruinniú na nÓg youth creativity festival to perform the song live for first time.
The Spark began life at The Kabin in Knocknaheeny in Cork city, where young people who use the creative space came up with lyrics, joined with Garry McCarthy of GMCBeats and The Kabin Studio, and subsequently brought in residents of direct provision in Lisdoonvarna in Co Clare to add their lyrics and performance.
Filmed by Seán Downey and recorded in various locations around Co Cork, including on top of a double decker bus, the video for song has become an internet sensation.
So far, it has attracted more than 350 million online views across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms. It has been name checked by many well known international music figures.
Last night, British dance pop star Becky Hill brought some of the performers on stage at her concert in Musgrave Park underlining how famous the track has become.
"We were tasked with creating an anthem for this [Cruinniú na nÓg's Rhyme Island] so The Spark became that anthem," Mr McCarthy said.
He said: "We just intended doing a music video, we had Seán Downey doing a music video for us and we had a group of our kids we work with at The Kabin and we linked up with a group of kids from Lisdoonvarna who we worked with last year as well.
"You know, we just expected to put it out on YouTube and Instagram as well and we thought it might create a bit of a buzz locally, nationally… but we were not expecting this.
"We were not expecting how completely viral it went. This is something that we’ve never seen before."
Mr McCarthy said the main focus of The Kabin is "young people and the community and the creativity and making sure we can continue".
"We’re operating from project fund to project fund and we’re running out of space here, so we’re just making sure we can keep going," he said.
The Spark has become "one of the biggest things online at the moment," he added.
Mr McCarthy said a lot had been learned over the last few weeks with "enquiries from big labels and big people in the media all around the world, we’ve had to make sure we stay to our roots".
"We’re sticking with our plan and our plan is to continue working with young people in the community and do more outreach work and we just hope that the exposure from this video will help with that and just make sure that the cabin is there for many years to come," he said.
The song has been released as a single on various music streaming platforms, such as Apple Music and Spotify, and is reported to be "doing very well".
One of the performers, Sophia McNamara, said that The Kabin is a place to go to play, sing music and to make friends.
She said: "We were at an Easter camp and we made the lyrics and then we started to record them.
"Then Garry and his pal in Rhyme Island, he went up to the Lisdoonvarna crew in Clare and they made lyrics as well.
"Then then we put it out it started to get a lot of views and stuff because everyone loves a drum and bass beat."
On the agenda are some music festivals, "and hopefully there’s more to come as well," Sophia added.
Kada Rrudhani, who is originally from Kosovo but living in Lisdoonvarna for some time, said she and some friends were invited to get involved in making the rap song.
"Yes, why not, all of the friends together," she said of their reaction at the time.
"Then we did the song, The Spark, and I never thought it would go that famous, the song, and then we got to perform for Becky Hill," she said.
"Actually making the song and the video was fun and nice because the people were very kind, they helped us," she added.
