In the early hours of this morning (Tuesday 25th July), the welcome news began to slowly filter out that 24 year old Siobhan Brady from Castletroy in County Limerick, had successfully completed her quest to reach the 5,895 metre summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Siobhan’s ambitious and imaginative challenge is part of a Guinness World Record attempt to host a unique concert on Africa’s highest peak titled, the ‘Highest Harp Concert’. The current Guinness World Record for the highest altitude harp performance was set by her in 2018.

The concert of 20 minutes consisted of an array of traditional and more recent compositions from Ireland and also included a Tanzanian jig which means ‘Thank You Tanzania’ in Swahili. Also part of the high-altitude concert, was a rendition of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Little Bird’, a song which has a special place in the hearts of the Cystic Fibrosis community, and the poem, ‘The Prophets Are Weeping’, by Irish President, Michael D. Higgins, which was read by well-known CF Advocate, Caroline Heffernan.

Leading them up Mount Kilimanjaro - the world’s largest free-standing mountain rise – is renowned Irish mountaineer and adventurer, Pat Falvey, who oversaw the complex and expansive logistics involved which included a team of local people from Tanzania consisting of 60 people.

Before departing to Mount Kilimanjaro National Park, the team were given a send-off from Irish Ambassador for Tanzania, Mary O’Neill, who presented Siobhan with an Irish flag to take to the summit and a reception was hosted by Dr. Hassan Abbasi, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, who had made the journey to personally see the team off.

One of the first to offer their congratulations to the entire team was CEO of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, Philip Watt, who along with his colleagues and many members of the Cystic Fibrosis community in Ireland and further afield, have been closely following their progress.

“We are so proud that the Highest Harp Concert team have had a successful ascent and reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa’.

“We know this has been a supreme effort for all the team and with many months of planning, including for our colleague Caroline Heffernan who has cystic fibrosis. We are very respectful of the fact that Kilimanjaro is not only the highest mountain in Africa but is also a sacred mountain for many in Tanzania and we pay tribute to the many who assisted the team in reaching the summit and pray for their safe return’.

“Many congratulations to Siobhan Brady and her team for this fundraising initiative and for topping her own world record in playing the ‘highest harp’ at such a high altitude and many thanks to the leader of the climb, Pat Falvey the renowned Irish climber. We do not underestimate how difficult this challenge is and we wish all the team a safe descent and we are looking forward to welcoming them back to Dublin. With much respect and gratitude to the Highest Harp Concert Challenge for organising this initiative. Funding from this challenge will support the key work of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland”.

The team are currently descending to the Mweka Gate, with most members  expected back on Irish shores over the next week. Siobhan is performing at a special reception at the residence of the Irish Ambassador to Tanzania in Dar es Salaam before making the return journey.

The Highest Harp Concert has also been supported by the online fundraising platform, Just Giving: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Highest-Harp

 For Further information contact the Highest Harp Concert Challenge at media@highestharpconcert.com