I’m sure many of you developed a good appreciation for traditional Irish Music by listening to RTE radio on Sunday mornings to Ciaran Mac Mathúna. Thats where I first heard of names like Seamus Ennis and Willy Clancy. Only 2 more shows left:
Ciarán Mac Mathúna to retire
Ciarán Mac Mathúna, who for 50 years has collected traditional music and presented it on radio and television, is to retire in two weeks time. For decades Ireland has woken on Sunday mornings to the Limerick man’s gentle voice presenting his “Mo Ceol Thu” programme on RTÉ Radio One. The broadcaster formally retired 15 years ago, when he reached the age of 65, but retained his Sunday morning slot.
You can hear it online at http://www.rte.ie/radio1/mocheolthu/
Click on “Hear the latest show” The show begins about 12 minutes into the file (after the news). The latest show has some Chieftains music at 25minutes and some nice piping from Mickey Dunne accompanied by his daughters at 46minutes.
Liam
We were so lucky to have had his involvement in RTE over the years. Hopefully, he’ll be enjoying many more years of health and prosperity.
I think Ciarán Mac Mathúna has done more than almost any other individual to keep Irish Traditional music alive - especially during the barren years of the 1950s. Growing up in Ireland in the 1950s, I vividly remember his “Job of Journeywork” program at 2.45 on Sunday afternoons on Radio Éireann (now RTE). I remember the time very well - my father would not budge to drive us to the Sunday matinee at the local movie theatre (‘picture house’) until it finished, so we were ALWAYS late for the first movie.
So, at a time when the only other music on Radio Eireann was pseudo country and western music, showbands, etc, he kept the flame alive until the revivals of the 1960s and later. I, and many like me, owe my lifelong love of Irish music to him.
Sunday mornings won’t be the same. His somnolent voice provided the perfect accompaniment to a very gradual transition from the sleeping to the waking state. And then there was the music.
Very well said Roger.
Here is a clip from his final show. It is a poem about a blind piper read by Benedict Kiely followed by Liam O’Flynn playing “The wind that shakes the barley”. The file is in MP3 format and is 4.31MB.
http://home.hvc.rr.com/liamo/BKiely,LOFlynn-BlindPiper.mp3
Liam
This is turning into Proustorama.
Benedict Kiely also used to contribute his somnolently sonorous voice to another Sunday morning programme called Sunday Miscellany. Suddenly I’m back in Dublin, my nose just above the duvet cover, with just possibly a touch of a hangover and not quite sure whether I’m awake or asleep.