Listening to Ireland

Since I'm experiencing Ireland through my own little neighborhood these days, I thought I'd share the podcasts I take with me on my walks. 

Blindboy Podcast

As he says, it is probably best to start at the beginning of his podcast a few years ago. He started it to promote a best selling book of short stories, and when his publisher told him he wouldn't sell any copies if he read them out for free on the internet, he just started talking about things that interest him: music history, how to achieve good mental health, Irish culture and history. After a few years, he started doing live gigs, and they're gas. I wrote about the one I went to. RTE listed this one first on their top five Irish podcasts, and I agree that the interview he did with Spike Lee is an excellent introduction. 

Blúiríní Béaloidis

Blúiríní Béaloidis / Folklore Fragments, used to be released monthly by the National Folklore Collection at UCD. It publishes less often now. 

History of Ireland

Each week Kevin Dolan releases a very short show telling an episode in the history of Ireland's independence from the UK.  It helps me understand current events and is relevant to other independence movements of the 20th and 21st centuries. I appreciate how he focuses on just one thing at a time. 

Irish History Podcast

This one has been online for more than ten years. Fin Dwyer has done series on the Black Death, Norman Invasion, The Great Hunger—and recently—Irish people who fought on both sides of the Spanish Civil War. He's a historian and you can depend on his well-researched and even-handed analysis. I went on a tour of north Dublin he offered a few years ago. 

Irish Times Women's Podcast

Been on my phone for ages; never listen to it. I think I can't get past the fact that it is sponsored by a chocolate company. Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy. 

The Irish Passport

Absolute favorite. A guide to Irish history, culture, and politics by two every smart and fearless reporters. They covered Brexit better than anybody, also accents, Derry, 1916, Fairies, the Catholic Church, and "the knowledge gap:" the fact that Irish people know British History, and British people don't know that Ireland is a separate country yet. 

Motherfocloir

I don't listen to Motherfocloir as much as I used to, as the hosts started getting a bit too self-righteous. The podcast is about the Irish language and therefore covers so much more. Don't let my lukewarm reaction keep you from it. 

Neil Oliver's Love Letter to the British Isles

This isn't an Irish podcast, and many people are sick of how Ireland is included in "British Isles." But the archipelago has a shared culture for thousands of years, and I learn things on Oliver's show that apply to what I experience here. Oliver is Scottish, and a popular broadcaster on BBC4. On this show, he's unleashed, and able to express his wonder at mystery, without ever leaving the firm ground of science. 

Shite Talk: An Irish History Podcast

It's like listening to two guys telling each other obscure history stories in a pub. They've been doing it for years. Last week I listened to a story from the War of Independence when a man discovered holy statues bleeding in his bedroom. The statues drew such crowds the town needed the IRA to collect tickets. Michael Collins got interested, and you won't believe what he discovered.

Story Archeology

This is another favorite that I've been listening to for years, but I heard they stopped because of illness and lack of technical support. Two geniuses, a storyteller and a linguist, examine Irish mythology and early literature.  Start with their series about Irish goddesses. 

Reasons to be Cheerful

Last October, when I was bald and sick from chemo, I visited "Hill of the Fairies," Crockshee, and wrote about it here. 

On August 2, Lammas, I wanted to climb a mountain, as people do here on that holiday. The only hill I had a hope of getting up was Crockshee. It was a fairly shite day. 

I met this mushroom. I could smell it on the wind before I found it. 

Mostly, I was happy my hair is long enough to get messed up in the wind. 

Auld Ones Telling Stories on TV

These days, I'm living in Ireland like anyone anywhere could:  online. Instead of rambling around the country talking to strangers while mildly inebriated, I'm jacked up on black tea watching the chicken romances outside our window. 

And watching TV. We like several shows on the Irish TV channel, TG4. This channel does more original programming than the flagship channel, RTE1. There's lots of music, documentaries, and performances. They also show US shows dubbed in Irish. Wherever you are in the world, you can watch most of them. 

The online or socially-distanced Fleadh 2020 is available for everyone who wants to sample the best in Irish traditional music. We loved Crain na hÉireann (Trees of Ireland), and there're a few other nature shows there too. I haven't gotten around to An Baille, a documentary series about borderlands. I like the presenter, Síle Nic Chonaonaigh, and would watch anything she did.

There's one show called An Gaván Saor, which I think is the name of the pub it's filmed in. The show is just old men telling funny stories. In the bottom right corner you can turn on subtitles. 

I'll retell a few of them to give you a flavor, but they really are funnier when you hear them told, even in a language you don't understand. 

When I was young, we lived beside a small farmer named Big Breakfast Taidhgín, because he used to eat a massive breakfast. He’d start by drinking a pint of boiled water, then he’d have a pint of orange juice then a huge bowl of porridge with four spoons of honey. And after that he’d have a fry: two fried eggs, sausages, slices of bacon, and four big slices of brown bread, two cups of tea and then he’d be ready to go to the creamery. He’d put the two buckets of milk into the Morris Minor and off he’d go.

One morning as he was on his way to the creamery, he was met on the road by a member of the traveling community who wanted a lift to town. He stopped the car and your man got into the car and they started talking. Your man had an awful urge to fart because of all he ate. But he couldn’t do that in front of the traveller. As he turned around a corner, he saw a load of silage. He put the window down. And when the Morris Minor was full of the smell of the silage, he let the fart rip and immediately felt relieved.

He said to the traveller, “Doesn’t the silage smell terrible this morning?”

The traveller said, “you must have eaten a ton of it, Sir!”

There was a parish priest who was on his deathbed. He asked the housekeeper to ring the local accountant and solicitor so they could be by his side before died. So she did, and the two men were honored to be at the side of a priest's deathbed. They were a long time waiting. No one was talking. The solicitor said to the priest, "why did you ask us to be here?” The priest opened one eye and looked at the solicitor and said, "When our Savior died, he had a thief on each side of him, and I want to die the same."

There was a young lad who went into a barber shop. The barber was working on a customer when the boy walked in. The barber said to the customer, “Do you see that young lad? He’s must be the thickest boy in Ireland.”

“Why,” said the customer, who knew the little boy’s parents well, and they were clever. 

“Wait and see,” said the barber. He put his hand in his pocket and he took out 5€ and 2€. He put €5 in one hand and €2 in the other. He put his hands out towards the little boy. The little boy took the €2 and went out the door with a smile. “I told you so,” said the barber. 

That shocked your man. When he was finished he paid the barber and went outside. Who was outside only the little boy. He called the young boy over. The boy had a big ice cream cone. He had bought it using the €2. “What happened to you earlier? Why didn’t you take the €5?" he asked. “That’s a lot more than €2.” 

“I know well it is," said the young boy. I’ve been going in there every Saturday for the past two months. I look at the sports magazine and so on. He does the same trick every Saturday. I’ve already gotten €20 in total. But the day I take the €5, the jig will be up."