Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon, believes her late husband would be "very satisfied" with the music education bus that has been named in his honour.
Now, the novel music bus project, which has been touring the world since 1998 to inspire a new generation of musicians, has scheduled a stop-off in Westport in August and will offer Mayo teens a musical opportunity unlike any other.
The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is a state-of-the-art recording studio on wheels, backed by Yoko Ono and Apple, among others. It also comes fully staffed with a world-class crew of music engineers.
Sixteen lucky teenagers from Mayo will be getting the chance next month to hop onboard the Lennon Bus for a day and experience first hand what is involved in recording and producing original songs and music videos.
The bus is coming to Westport through a partnership between a group called Music Generation Mayo and the Lennon Bus.
Coordinator of Music Education Mayo, Kate McKeon, said she sees the bus as bringing a "real sense of excitement" to music education in Mayo this summer.
"It is wonderful to see the young people having the opportunity to put their musical skills into practice on the John Lennon Bus," she said.
"I can’t think of anything that would capture their imagination more.”
The bus was first launched in the US in 1998. Then, Yoko Ono travelled to Liverpool in May 2013 to unveil a Lennon Bus for Europe.
At that time, Ono described the bus as “precisely the kind of project John would have loved”.
There are 16 places available aboard the bus for its stop-off at the Fairgreen, Westport, on August 25 and 26.
The deadline to apply for a place, which costs €20, is next Wednesday, July 29.
For an application form, visit www.musicgenerationmayo.ie
