August 25, 2019August 25, 2019

Meáchan Rudaí/ The Shape of Things a poem by Liam Ó Muirthile set to music by The Gloaming

The Gloaming are something of a traditional Irish music supergroup, infused with something of a post-classical/Indie sensibility. They comprise fiddler Martin Hayes, guitarist Dennis Cahill, veteran Sean Nos singer, Iarla Ó Lionáird, fiddler Caoimhín…

July 21, 2018July 28, 2018

Every gravestone tells a story: from Drangan, Co Tipperary

Graveyards are full of stories. Thomas Grey’s Elegy in a Country Churchyard captured this decisively in poetic form – so much so that any subsequent poem seems a pale shadow.…

March 7, 2016

Putting obscure places on the YouTube map

For a while, I have made artlessly shakey phone videos in a range of obscure, mainly Irish locations, and uploaded them to YouTube. There’s the “jumping church” of Ardee :…