If a key-note for these first weeks of Cork's term as European Capital of Culture were to be identified, perhaps it would be the reception to mark the involvement of Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Arts Council in the local programme.

This little prologue to the opening ceremonies earlier this month was introduced by Tom Elkin, Lord Mayor of Belfast, which is about to celebrate its centenary as a local authority in 2006. It has committed a budget of €150,000 to a programme of shared cultural involvement under the title "From the Lagan to the Lee". (Cork City Council has agreed to a similar commitment, although an official hurriedly assured me this would be in kind rather than in cash.)

Orchestras, art exhibitions, and a presence in Cork's Patrick's Day parade are all swinging into step; on this occasion, tokens of engagement were signified first by harpist Maighread Bracken singing My Lagan Love and then by Cara O'Sullivan leaning against the balcony railings of the Council Chamber to sing, unaccompanied, The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee. Not an aria, but making a legend out of the ordinary.