New RTÉ series delves into Ireland's favourite love ballads

Irish Daily Mirror

2 days ago

A new RTÉ series will delve into the fascinating stories behind some of Ireland's most adored love ballads.
The four-part programme, Aistear an Amhráin, delves into the meaning of four tracks cemented in Irish history.
This includes the heartbreaking Grace, Cork's favourite song After All by The Frank and Walters, Spandau Ballet's Through the Barricades and Irish-language stomper An Poc Ar Buile. Singers, songwriters and historians will appear in the series to give viewers an insight into the fascinating tales behind these hit tracks.
Episode one will focus on one of Ireland's most loved and well-known songs - Grace. Written in 1985 by brothers Frank and Seán O'Meara, the song was inspired by the tragic love story of Grace Gifford, who married Joseph Mary Plunkett in the chapel at Kilmainham Gaol just hours before his execution in 1916.
Appearing in the series, the O'Meara brothers say the song came about after they were asked to write a big hit by a music producer. As he was driving to Kilmainham in 1984, Sean says one of the most famous lines of the song came to him as he imagined the final words of Ireland's founding fathers.
'As we gather in the chapel here in Old Kilmainham jail, I think about these last few weeks, oh will they say we failed'. Grace was released by Jim McCann in 1986 and has since been covered by several artists including the Dubliners and Rod Stewart.
The song was also made popular after boxer Kellie Harrington sang it following her Olympic gold medal win last year. While many are aware of the story as the Dubliners' version has become a pub classic, Aistear an Amhráin tells Grace's life story.
Born in Dublin, she is one of the few women of the Easter Rising that is remembered. A talented illustrator, Grace converted to Catholicism to marry an Irish Republican.
She joined in the struggle at the inception of the Irish state and ended up as a prisoner in Kilmainham jail during the Civil War, seven years after her husband's execution. In the episode, Fair City star Roxanna Nic Liam shows viewers some of the landmarks associated with Grace.
This includes St Enda's Park in Rathfarnham, where she first met Joseph Plunkett, University Church in St Stephen's Green, where she converted to Catholicism, and Grafton Street, where she bought their wedding rings. Aoife Scott also discusses the haunting version of Grace she performed with Róisín O and Danny O'Reilly on the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising at Kilmainham Gaol.
Domhnall Ó Bric, an acclaimed Kerry illustrator, explores Grace Gifford's work, much of which is housed in NIVAL, the National Irish Visual Arts Library at NCAD, Dublin.
The series will also delve into Cork's favourite song, After All by The Frank and Walters.
Formed in 1989, the band originally consisted of brothers Paul and Niall Linehan and Ashley Keating. However, Niall left the group as a guitarist in 2004, Cian Corbett joined as a keyboardist a year later, and Rory Murphy joined in 2010.
The musicians created history when they became the first from the Rebel county to appear on the BBC's Top of the Pops with the hit. The upbeat tune, which featured on The Young Offenders, has been described by Paul as a 'celebration of life and value of relationships, even when they have their ups and downs'.
Aistear an Amhráin will also tell the devastating tale behind English band Spandau Ballet's Through the Barricades. Released in 1986, it's the second single from their studio album of the same name.
The song is inspired by the murder of a member of the band's road crew in Belfast during the troubles. It tells a Romeo and Juliet tale of the impossibility of a relationship with two people from divided communities.
The final tune that the RTÉ show will delve into is the Irish language foot stomper An Poc Ar Buile. From an original poem by Dónal Ó Mulláin in the early 20th century, the song was made famous in the early 1960s when recorded by Seán Ó Sé.
Translated into English as 'The Mad Puck Goat', it's a patriotic fighting song, and has become the anthem of the Puck Fair held in Killorgin, Co Kerry, every summer.
Aistear an Amhráin returns for a second series on June 3 at 7pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.