Too often, and more often than not without justification, the Fountain is a community that makes the headlines for all the wrong reasons. But, in a packed assembly hall of the Fountain Primary School the launch of the album showed that not only is this a community proud of their past, looking forward to it's future, it is also definitely a place that knows how to celebrate.
'Songs of the Fountain', a history of the area utilizing past and present, the cultural sounds of the district in a moving but also a highly informative way.
It illustrates that long before the Troubles, this was a vibrant community, part of this city with it's own culture and identity that has come through a lot, is still standing and will continue to do so.
Neither does it shy away from the violence down within it's narrow streets. They all knew him on the street", for example, is a powerful brooding song about the life and times and finally murder of twenty two years old shirt –cutter, and part time soldier, Bobby Stott shot dead by the Provisional IRA on November 25th 1975, his killers emerging from the dark corners of the Fountain playground.
But the record was primarily designed to show the children of the area that previous generations had their methods of entertainment it harnesses the great musical and vocal talents of the kids of the Fountain Primary School.
The evening began with a display of drumming from the children they had learned during the production of the record. In a display of talent that far outweighed tender years, young hands mastered perfect rhythm.
In truth, the vastly experienced musicians on stage always played a secondary role to the children of the Fountain Primary School Choir who struck a chord with all present as they sang 'What was this place like before I was born'?.
However, this was only the beginning as the children bedecked in 1950's Rock and Roll outfits began a fantastic display of jiving as the band played 'Dancing Down the Street'.
A highlight of the evening came from this when two of the district's older ladies began an expert jiving display of their own in the aisles of the assembly hall, with just a little prompting from school principal, Mrs Isobel McNally.
Heads strained to capture all aspects of the performance as Fountain residents, past and present stamped their feet and clapped their hands in time with the performances, which included contributions from the William King Memorial Flute Band, themselves leaders in their own field.
On stage the band which only assembled to record 'Songs of the Fountain', displayed a degree of togetherness that far exceeded the time they have spent together. They were joined on stage by Tom Newman, the musical innovator responsible for the production of Mike Oldfield's legendary album 'Tubular Bells'. .
For those who were not there, the evening can be perpetually relived, by buying a copy of 'Songs of the Fountain', from the offices of the Londonderry Sentinel.