Help Cormac find his Casio keyboard lost in Electric Picnic carpark
Piano man asking for help to find his beloved keyboard that was taken from an Electric Picnic carpark in Stradbally.
A Cavan musician is hoping social media can work its magic to trace his retro Casio keyboard that vanished at Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Laois.
Known as KeyboardCormac, Cormac McCann from Belturbet is just Cormac these days, after his beloved instrument was swiped.
Cormac brings the keyboard around to festivals to play for the craic, singing and playing amongst the crowds.
“It’s become a source of joy for a lot of people. Even though it looks like a child’s keyboard it’s brought a lot of joy. It’s not manufactured any more so they’re hard enough to come by,” he told Laois Live / The Leinster Express.
“It all started at All Together Now, I just brought my keyboard for the fun. I was just playing beside my own tent and next thing people started gathering round. That’s how Keyboard Cormac was born. I started being hired for festivals. It’s part of my livelihood now.
“There was a whole bunch of songs written on the back of the keyboard.
He realised it was lost at 1pm exactly on Sunday, in the Yellow Carpark, Zone 9.
“It’s the shock of thinking someone else has it,” Cormac said.
The good humoured musician is not too cross, as he gained a lot more fans and publicity singing hopeful songs on his instagram asking the public to help him find it.
“A part of me feels that maybe if it’s been taken and given to a child and the child is learning to play it, maybe I’m happy about that. If it’s gone to a good place I’m happy.
It’s a Casio CA110, last manufactured in the 1990’s. It has a guitar belt attached and Cormac had sourced it online in Italy. The keyboard was in a black keyboard case.
“I used it because it was easy to carry, and I think people are attracted to the sentimentality of something from the ‘90s.
“People tell me that things sometimes take weeks at Electric Picnic to be gathered. I still see things online about keys and stuff. It’s going around social media so maybe the person that has it might see it and decide to return it.
“I will, I’d have to but it’s difficult to get, it might take a month to find another one. I was going to go to the Monaghan Jazz and Blues festival this weekend, and after that Fuinneamh festival in Louth.
He has a message to who has it.
“I’m a very generous person. If it was being used by a child and gone to a good home, but I don’t think it’s of any value otherwise, but it’s very valuable to me and I can bring a lot of entertainment to people with it.
Cormac both plays and teaches piano. It’s not Cormac’s first picnic, he has played in a band, a theatre and as Keyboard Cormac last year.
“It was very enjoyable. These festivals are a learning experience, if something bad happens to you, you have to keep going and enjoy it as best you can, It was a brilliant lineup, the weather could have been a lot worse,” an upbeat Cormac said.
The Electric Picnic Lost & Found team have opened their September depot, but they rely on people to pick things up that appear lost at the festival and drop them in. The festival fields are now closed to the public.
If anyone has any information, Cormac would appreciate a call, 086 2459192.