Irish lives are inextricably intertwined with music, in all its forms – from the sense of history and heritage embodied in traditional tunes, to the innovative, barrier-transcending nature of some of our most brilliant contemporary acts.

An Post have celebrated this unique relationship in numerous ways over the years, honouring a remarkably diverse selection of musicians with their own postage stamps. Now, they’re launching one of their most visually striking, and powerfully poignant, sets yet – starring the era-defining Irish heroes who we sadly lost last year: Aslan’s Christy Dignam, traditional musician and singer Séamus Begley, genre-defying star Sinéad O’Connor, and The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan.

Yeshua Bonadio, Victoria Mary Clarke, An Post CEO David McRedmond, Kiera Dignam and Máire Uí Beaglaoich. Photo: Miguel Ruiz

Helming the project is stamp designer Shaughn McGrath, a Dublin creative known for marrying the worlds of music and graphic design in captivating ways. For over three decades, he’s worked closely with U2, among other acts, designing albums sleeves, packaging, logos, merchandise and more.

In recent years, he’s joined forces with An Post to help them embrace “a more modern, unique and outward-looking vision of Ireland”, through stamp series – with Shaughn working on notable collections like Great Irish Songs, Urban Art, Irish Singer-Songwriters at Glastonbury, and a special set celebrating U2’s remarkable career.

But the newly launched Iconic Irish Voices set proved to be “the most difficult commission” that Shaughn’s ever received from An Post.

“There’s an awareness that these were such culturally significant people who’ve recently passed – and who were so adored by the Irish, and all over the world,” he remarks. “They absolutely lived their lives large, and very much in the public eye – as performers, but also as voices within Ireland. How do you honour people like that, in a real way? How do you approach that?”

As Shaughn notes, the “Irish have a high bar, in terms of who we like.”

“What does it mean to be admired in Ireland?” he reflects. “ A big one is definitely: ‘Is this somebody you’d like to sit down with in a pub?’ And these are four people that you’d absolutely have loved to sit down with, to chat and reminisce and learn – and maybe join in on a song.

“Because Ireland doesn’t have any formal honour system, appearing on an Irish stamp is considered a great prestige,” he continues. “And these four people represent music, but they also represent what it means to be Irish. They are very much one of us.”

Shaughn McGrath. Credit: Maria Kane

The stamps are centred around simple but striking black-and-white photographs of Christy, Séamus, Sinéad and Shane – along with their names, printed in gold.

“There was no need to tell their life story in this medium,” Shaughn says of the inspiration behind the approach. “When we think of those artists, it immediately conjures up images and songs, and memories of our favourite moments.

“So with that in mind, I felt the best way to do it would be to find four unadorned – but very special and unique – photographs,” he continues. “Photographs that, when we look at them, we’re captured by their eyes – but we’re also somehow brought behind their eyes. Photographs that help us remember and reminisce, and keep their memories fresh and vivid.”

It was also important to find four individual photographs that felt like they “matched somehow”, and had “that strength, calibre and emotion” Shaughn and An Post wanted to capture.

“My role here, really, was not to be a designer, but to be some sort of cultural curator,” he says. “To find these photographs, and make them work together.”

When he found the final four, he knew that these, “and no others”, were “the only photographs to use”.

“Black-and-white photography is absolutely the medium to use,” he notes. “When you see something in black-and-white, it immediately elevates the moment to that of art, and something of cultural significance. It just worked so well for this project.

“And it felt like an obvious choice that their names would appear in gold,” he adds. “Humanity has admired the lustre and beauty of gold for as long as we’ve been around – it’s important to us. So having their names in shiny gold is like a plaque in remembrance to these people.”

Iconic Irish Voices stamps launch. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

Does he feel it says something about Ireland, and the Irish people – that so much thought and creativity goes into something as small and functional as a stamp?

“We can go back through our recorded history – back to when we were carving in stone, for no other reason than we needed to, for artistic expression,” he reflects. “To create something unique, that talks to us.

“Unfortunately, we’re also quite capable of going from the sacred to the profane,” he continues. “If you’re lucky enough to be allowed to create something, then it’s your job to make it as good as it should be, and deserves to be. And as a designer, I feel a sort of connection with an artisan from another age – being allowed to work on this special, tiny little medium, and make sure that it’s as good as it can possibly be.”

The Iconic Irish Voices stamps – and the special First Day Cover – are available to purchase from anpost.com now.

Watch a video interview with Shaughn McGrath below: