Eamonn Sweeney: No one with sporting blood in their veins could fail to be moved by camogie final thriller
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RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Ambient Orbit: exploring ambient sound in Irish sacred spaces
Peter Curtin, the producer of Ambient Orbit, gives an overview and insight into their upcoming events in Kilkenny, Cork, and Limerick. Ambient Orbit began broadcasting on RTÉ lyric fm in the winter of 2022. Around this time, we were beginning to hear the fruits of music that had been recorded in new and curious ways during the second wave of the pandemic. Artists looking to overcome the logistical challenges of recording in an era of restrictions had innovatively set-up recording spaces outdoors. Suddenly, environmental ambience was an intrinsic part of jazz and electronic music with cicadas transporting us to a back garden in Chicago or resonant bird song bringing us to a leafy park in Berlin. Music welcomed the sound of the natural world and there was a perfect synchronicity to it. My colleague Áine Gallagher and I recognised the potential for occupying this space on RTÉ lyric where field recordings from the Irish landscape could be captured and mixed with ambient music; creating an immersive and meditative experience that would allow listeners to reset and escape the noise of everyday life. Since the first episode on October 10th 2022, the non-presenter led programme - now entering its seventh series this October - has collaborated with field recordists, sound designers and ornithologists such as Seán Ronayne, Tadhg O'Sullivan, Fintan O'Brien and Aoife O'Neill in addition to broadcasting field recordings submitted by listeners. Towards the end of the second series, we explored the idea of bringing the programme to a live setting. It seemed fitting that ancient Irish neolithic sites of mythical and sacred significance would be the setting, and solstice celebrations which mark the Gaelic calendar, would be the occasion. Through sound and music, we would attempt to channel how our ancestors would have celebrated the solstice in ancient times. For the summer solstice in June 2023, we invited musicians Larissa O'Grady (violin), Ryan Hargadon (saxophone) and Rachael Lavelle (vocal) to Lough Gur, the oldest standing stone circle in Ireland. With two directional mics pointing towards the lake and the surrounding woods, the musicians responded live to the unfolding dawn chorus and the rising sun. We have marked every winter and summer solstice since then; visiting the Céide Fields, the Hill of Uisneach and Loughcrew along the way, soundtracked by the unique surrounding environment and music from Dan Walsh, Méabh McKenna, RÓIS, Neil Ó'Lochlainn, Niamh Dalton, Gareth Quinn Redmond, Elaine Howley, David Kitt, Elaine Malone and Clara Webster. The show has also been performed live at Another Love Story, Gleo Festival in Limerick, Open Ear on Sherkin Island and Culture Night 2024 in collaboration with the Douglas Hyde Gallery from Trinity College. On 14th August, Ambient Orbit partners with Kilkenny Arts Festival to broadcast from one of the chambers of Dunmore Cave, which were formed over millions of years. Kate Ellis, Nick Roth, Adam Buttimer and RÓIS will join us and we're excited to hear their experimental sounds reverberate around the historical chambers of the cave. Before returning for a new season on RTÉ lyric fm in October, we will be heading to Cork City on September 10th to broadcast from St Anne's Church, with the Shandon Bells providing the backdrop to our programme in collaboration with Sounds from a Safe Harbour. In this hectic contemporary world of digital distraction, we strive to create a peaceful programme of beautiful sounds and music to help the listener to relax, rewind and focus.
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish history is rich with kings but what about ordinary folk?
My debut novel, The Foreshore, is set on a fictionalised version of the islands in the first half of the 18th century, a critical era of Scottish history and one of both enlightenment and violent conflict. I had always been fascinated by this era, and writing historical fiction was always going to be the natural path I took as a novelist, but it was the marginalised people of St Kilda who lit the spark. Scottish history has always been rich with sagas of kings, queens and warriors, but what about those forgotten people who existed on the fringes of these narratives? There are no grand statues to these people, nor do they feature on any shortbread tins, but their presence still haunts the loneliest corners of this country. Author Samantha York's debut The Foreshore (Image: free) Beginning my journey as a published author, I devoured any records I could find of the populations of our farthest flung islands. Their way of life became the backdrop, and their folk tales and ballads became the soundtrack to every page I typed. Listening to the waulking songs of the women (Gaelic folk songs sung to the rhythmic beat of fulling cloth) and reading the early 18th-century records of the first Church missionaries on the island, made it possible to capture a fleeting murmur of lost voices. I learned of the hardships of remote island life and used them as a backdrop to the human tragedies within my story. For instance, in 1727, the year The Foreshore is set, an outbreak of smallpox reduced St Kilda's population by more than half. It is moments like this that are often lost to history: the tolls taken by poor, working people reduced to dry statistics. Even in those larger moments in Scottish history, true tragedies are often forgotten or romanticised. When we think of the Jacobite uprisings, which were somewhat dormant, but certainly simmering during the year in which The Foreshore is set, we often forget the shameful legacy of a corrupt class system, extreme religious divisions and the cultural displacement embroiled in them. The British Isles in their entirety and a large portion of continental Europe took part, but it was poor Highlanders who paid the price. Undervalued and bound by fealty to those who would eventually evict them in favour of more profitable livestock, they were dragged into a dynastic conflict which brought no benefit to them, purely to appease the lairds and landowners who owned their homes, and who tactically shifted from one side to another in an attempt to garner the most political favour. It is a tale of class exploitation as old as stories themselves, but one that is often overshadowed in favour of a more glorified interpretation of history. Fifty years after the final rebellion, Scotland's most famous bard would pen the protest poem, Ye Jacobites By Name, which includes the words, 'your doctrines I maun blame', and 'what makes heroic strife … to hunt a parent's life wi bluidy war?'; yet today, Burns' clear cry of outrage is often sung in a sentimentalised, pro-Jacobite context. To ground the lives of my characters, it was important for me to weave these ominous early signs of national upheaval into my narrative, to show how the lives of Scotland's oldest communities became blighted by events which often held no advantage to their own existence. Read more These two worlds are embodied in The Foreshore by the two main characters: aging islander and matriarch Flora McKinnon, and dogmatic outsider Reverend Thomas Murray. Flora's concerns reflect those of her fellow islanders. Grief and famine are natural occurrences in her community's daily struggles to survive and uphold their traditional way of life. In the novel, Reverend Murray's dedication to spreading new religious doctrines and ideas of a more 'enlightened' society, hold little sway over the lives of those he is sent to convert, reflecting the conflict between the culture of the Highlands and islands when confronted with the new ideologies which would pave the way for a modern, industrialised Scotland. The mystery at the heart of The Foreshore, the sudden appearance of a young girl on the island, without giving anything away, is itself grounded in historical narratives of a fear of outside influences and exploitation of the vulnerable. As a novelist, one can never claim to be a chronicler of history, merely someone who uses its influence as a canvas. To capture this inspiration for yourself, I would recommend seeking it out: next time you take a hike in our mountains, glens and coastlines, look out for those ruins of former black houses, those crooked drystone walls turned green with age, nature reclaiming what was lost by humans. See if you can catch a long-lost scent of peat smoke, the warmth of livestock breathing in the byre. Manifesting such stories keeps the voices of marginalised and working people alive. We may bring our own interpretations to their lives, but in conjuring their existence, I hope we can bring some honour to them. The Foreshore by Samantha York is out now on Salt Publishing at £10.99
The Irish Sun
4 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
11-year League of Ireland referee is set for history-making career change as he takes advantage of new rules
Michael Connolly will live out the dream of his late-grandfather when he joins the guards 'IN FAMILY DNA' 11-year League of Ireland referee is set for history-making career change as he takes advantage of new rules A LEAGUE of Ireland referee is set to become the oldest ever Garda College graduate at Templemore. Michael Connolly is set to be sworn in as a full member of An Garda Síochána on August 22. 2 Michael claims he can take a lot of skills from refereeing into the police force 2 The Donegal-based referee will make history within the gardai Credit: @gardainsta_college The Tyrone man has been on the League of Ireland panel for 11 years, mainly refereeing in the First Division and Women's Premier Division. The 50-year-old will become the oldest to ever become a member of An garda Síochána with the age limit recently allowing him to do so. In 2023, the garda age limit rose from 35 to 50 years old, having been set at 26 back in 2004. With the gardai now accepting people up to 50 years old to join, it gives an opportunity for people like Michael to join. Michael would encourage anyone in his age bracket to take the plunge and also join the police force. When speaking to the Limerick Leader, the Aghyayn native said: 'I encourage anybody in our age group to go for it. "I would like to think that one thing that I can bring to the guards is the ability to remain calm no matter how much pressure is in the situation. 'Refereeing probably has trained me to a great extent on that level and in the class we have a discussion where we talk about the number one rule of garda school - stay calm. And rule number two, if in doubt, see rule one.' 'I've been a referee for 20 odd years, did a bit of Gaelic but mainly soccer. I've been 11 years on the League of Ireland panel after transferring into Donegal - First Division mainly, and the last couple of seasons have been in the Women's National League.' A lot of Michael's refereeing skills can easily be transferred into the Guards. Fuming former Premier League manager, 42, gives team talk on PITCH after embarrassing loss in first game in charge Michael shared: 'In terms of the guards, I came down here in December and there are just so many things that can naturally transfer in refereeing into the guards. 'Fitness, obviously, as referees, we did tests three or four times a season, so we have to maintain our fitness. It's just habit for us - just the way it is. "That transferred in really well so in terms of fitness tests, those aspects transferred in really well down here and just didn't have to worry about those sorts of things. 'In laws, soccer is governed by the 17 laws - the laws of the game, they're called so again, it's a similar situation for the guards, with your sanctions and your penalties. I would like to think that that's workable.' FAMILY AFFAIR Michael will live out the dream of his grandfather - who he is named after - when he joins the police force. The future garda added: "I've always had a grá to join the guards. It's in the family DNA. We were told as children that my grandfather - he was called Mickey - in the 1960s had applied to join the guards, but unfortunately, at the time his mother took sick. "He had to stay at home and become a farmer for the rest of his days. That's always been niggling me, and the fact that I'm called after him as well. That's why I'm here. 'So in terms of the 35 to 50 year old bracket that have been brought into the guards, Templemore is a fabulous place. Your accommodation is laid on, your foot is laid on. It just sets you up. "You can focus on your classes, look after your studies, tick your boxes and do it needs to be done. 'The one thing I would say is that you do need a supportive environment. If you have my wife and children at home, it's tough some days. "My wife has been absolutely fabulous. She's basically been a single parent of three very busy girls for the past nine months odd. Apart from one day when there was an emotional wee lassie, it's been all good.'
