Sinead O'Connor - Molly Malone

Who was St Patrick?

Ding Dong Denny's History of Ireland

A tourist walks into a Dublin pub looking for directions and encounters Ding Dong Denny O'Reilly at the bar. Ding Dong insists on telling him the "real" history of Ireland over a number of pints. From the Normans to the Famine to 1916 and the sex shops of O'Connell Street, we hear Ding Dong Denny's delusional take of events that shaped Ireland. Ding Dong is a comic creation of comedian Paul Woodful, and is his first adventure into animation. 

Winner Best Digital Film Digital Media Awards 2008, Winner Grand Prix Award, Digital Media Awards 2008. 
Produced by Brian Gilmore 
Directed by Cathal Gaffney 
Written and narrated by Paul Woodful

Tourist: Excuse me; is this the rendezvous point for the Heritage Tour?

Ding Dong Denny: Ah, tourists. How’s it going?

‘Suppose you’ve been traipsing around old local areas of interest. Well you wouldn’t want to be mindin’ any of the shite that they be talking in them places. Propaganda’s all that stuff is. Now park your arse there, I’ll tell you the real history of Dublin.

Ah, fair play to you.

Well it all more or less started in the 9th century when the Vikings arrived. They used Dublin as a place to chill out after they’d raped and pillaged the cultures of the surrounding areas. They had these horny helmets, longboats, battle axes and blondie hair. Course, these blondes had too much fun and were buttered out by a shower called Normans. Scared? Well it’s not exactly the scariest name for an invading army is it? But it turned out the Normans were well hard and gave everybody an awful kicking. See, they had these longbows, which made shite of the Danes’ battle axes and the Irish hands. The Normans though build grand wooden walls around the city; then the English arrived, didn’t like them and rebuilt them in stone, you know, just to show off. You know, everything with them was in stone. Except, of course, the agreements they had with us, which they broke whenever they bloody well felt like it.

Anyway, I know we can laugh at the famine now, but it was dreadful at the time; so many of our beautiful buildings and books were eaten during the famine. Ah, but that was years ago.

Now, the 20th century, in 1916, we had a rising, where we took over a post office and a biscuit factory. If we had taken over the breweries, we would have controlled the whole country. And least when we were caught the next morning, we’d have had the excuse of ‘we did what?’. Eventually, the English did a legger in 1922. It was ours, what are we going to do with it?

The church set up concentration camps for unmarried mothers known as Magdalene laundries. Mind you, our dream of not having to work was realised when industry after industry collapsed. I’m afraid the swinging ‘60s deborturous lifestyle in Ireland was mainly confined to church institutions and so, today, would you look at the place. I tell you, once you’d have woken up in Dublin in a drunken stupor and thought you’d had died and gone to heaven. But now, the English have bought us over. A fancy sex shop overlooks where the declaration of independence was read out. There was no sex in 1916, I’ll tell you. We were only interested in getting out of bondage in them days.

So there you are.

Hey, where d’ya think you’re going? Sit down there and I’ll tell you the real story of the Middle East.

Better make that a double, it’ll take a while.

Well we start way back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and his pet dinosaur were going for a nice stroll…

Stephen Fry: Irish Language

There are around 7,000 languages spoken on this planet and many more thousands of dialects, but it's estimated by some that by the end of the century there'll barely be a thousand left. I would argue that linguicide, the death of language, poses as great a threat to our culture and history as species extinction. And why is this rich linguistic stew of ours being threatened? Well, it's to do with globalisation and the rise of the lingua franca, those national and transnational languages like English and Mandarin Chinese, which gobble up every language in their path. 


The fortunes of small and struggling languages ebb and flow with the tides of history. I'm off now to find out about one that survives not far from our own shores.

THEY SPEAK IRISH 

I'm here in the beautiful, bracing and chilly Connemara on the west coast of Ireland. This is what they call the, um, I'll try and get this right... the Gaeltacht Curraghrua, one of the central areas for the speaking of the ancient language of Ireland - Irish. They don't call it Gaelic very often - just Irish. About 80,000 people still speak this language. It's taught in school and they have very proud Irish speakers all around us and in Donegal and in Cork. But it's here in Connemara, Galway, that we find probably the majority of Irish speakers.

Irish, being a very old language, it doesn't have as many words as the English language, but its descriptions are very good. There's a thing called a smugairle roin. A smugairle roin is a jellyfish. And jellyfish is, direct translation smugairle roin into English, is a seal's spit. 

Oh, very good. 

So you can imagine somebody comes... "What are these things all "over the...they must be seal spits." You know, "We'll call them smugairle roins," and that is one of the beauties of the Irish language is that it has this. And it would be such a shame to lose. 

Would you say you're optimistic for his future as an Irish speaker? 

I would be very optimistic for the future of the Irish language. There was a spell there where it fell out of favour mainly due to the way it was taught in schools. It wasn't given the excitement. Yeah. And nowadays, it's become much more fashionable to speak Irish. You'll hear, especially if you go to the pubs, you'll hear people speaking Irish, young people on the streets speaking Irish, and it's very important as well because it is our heritage. 

SHE SPEAKS IRISH 

The English ruled Ireland for centuries. At the height of their colonial ambitions, they attempted to suppress Irish culture and identity entirely. An 1831 act forbade the teaching of Irish in schools. 'This coincided with An Gorta Mor, the Irish potato famine 'of the mid-19th century that killed over a million of the population.' It was very nearly the death knell of the Irish language. Thankfully, all that has changed now. The schools that were the site of linguistic oppression in Ireland are now the place of the language's revival. 

THEY SING IN IRISH 

Nowadays at the Connemara Golf Course, every one of the golfers speaks Irish... 

HE SPEAKS IRISH 

As well as negotiating the perilous task of keeping their language alive, they are also dealing with what must be one of the world's hardest courses... the holes are literally on different islands! This is a heck of a place to have a golf course, isn't it? Incredible. You must just blink your eyes on long June days when you can be playing till ten at night... 

'Imperialist Brit that I am, 'they are kind enough to speak English to me, 'which, given the history, is quite an ask. 'This part of Connemara suffered as much as any, 'but its utter remoteness helped preserve the language. 'History is never forgotten in Ireland 'and this sense of storytelling, be it national or personal, 'the gift of the gab, I suppose you could say, 'is one of the things I love about the country.' 

Are there things you could say in Irish that you couldn't really say in English and vice versa? 

Absolutely. I think everybody here thinks through Irish. 

And do you find Irish more accurate? It hits the nail on the head more often, you use fewer words, it's cleaner, more poetic? Is there some qualities to it that... 

Far more ways of saying the same thing. 

There are more ways? 

It depends who you're addressing... Oh, so it has a social... Oh, it has. Your interlocutor... ..Or undressing. 

Oh, right! 

Because you can say it's a fine day in about four different ways depending on who you're... Four? ..even more. Depending on whether you're like, "I hope to God it rains on that fucker." You know. Or, "she's a lovely girl". You know, "I hope the sun shines". You know? But it depends totally on who you're addressing. 

So you find when you switch to English, you're slightly more... 

Oh, you have to say, "Well, it's raining. "It's going to rain," or, you know, "there's rain on the way". That's about the three way... You know, if it's raining, it's raining. You know? But there's rain on the way as well. 

But there's 50 different types of rain, John, and you can describe every one of them. And that description, that wealth of description, that descriptive quality of the language is something that we would treasure here particularly. 

On behalf of the club here and its manager and director of the company, we offer you life membership in this golf club. 

Oh, what an honour! Thank you so... You haven't seen me play! You've seen me swing or try to! That's so kind. You offer me... Oh, that is a fabulous thing. Thank you so much. This is a truly great honour. This is one of the most remarkable golf clubs in the world.

It is, it's an amazing place. 

Going to cost me a lot of balls, because not many of them will hit land, but it's still fantastic! We'll follow you closely to see if we can pick up a few! 

Thank you so much! 

Oh, dear!

I think I've lost my moment now! I don't want to waste any more balls! 

Agus, action! 

How better to get inside a language than to act in its favourite soap opera? 

Action! 

THEY SPEAK IRISH 

Like the Welsh, Ireland has a TV station in its own language. The most popular soap is called Ros na Run, a Connemara version of Coronation Street. 

'So I'm about to embark on a daunting task... 'speaking in Irish...' 

HE SPEAKS IRISH 

Erm...you look hungry. 

HE CONTINUES IN IRISH 

It's here, it's here somewhere. Nil aon ocras orm! Er...racaigh me go Gallimh. Huh? Go raibh maith agat agus slan go fail... 

Go foil! 

That's right! I always get that bit wrong! 

THEY ALL TALK AT ONCE 

'Our brief is to be as popular as possible.' We are probably quite important in terms of drawing in the hesitant Irish speaker as well as the fluent Irish speaker. 

THEY SPEAK IRISH 

To some people, the creation of TG4 was a kind of a white elephant. A sop to the Irish language community. But if you can imagine that when I was growing up, the only cultural resources in the Irish language that were available to me was Victorian literature which was about peasant life on the Aran Islands. 

Yes, quite. 

Now for my children, they tune in and they can watch cartoons dubbed into Irish, they can grow up and watch a variety of programmes, which are about Ireland today. And we've embraced the internet as a way of trying to draw in a new audience. That's why we've created a Facebook site and a Twitter site, and we're going to do webisodes next season, which will be all about a younger generation in the town of Ros na Run and they will gradually interact in the broadcast programme and try to draw them across. 

Irish might well survive here, but these children and their children will always need a global language. 

So you just change between the two very happily? Yes. But you think of yourself as an Irish speaker first? Yeah. Is that true of everybody? 

ALL: Yes. Goodness. If you erm, if you text each other, do... do you do it in Irish or in English? 

ALL: English. 

Ah, that's interesting, so things like the internet or whatever, are you on Facebook and things like that? 

ALL: Yes. And do you do that in English? 

ALL: Yes. 

So do you think of English as the language of the internet, but Irish the language of the playground and talking and friendship and things, when you're with people? 

ALL: Yes. 

You couldn't imagine yourselves only speaking Irish? 

ALL: No. 

You wouldn't cope in the world if you didn't speak English? 

ALL: Yes. Yeah. 

Thank goodness you do speak English, or we would be having an embarrassing time when I... 

Well, thank you very much. Mustn't disturb any more of your lessons, thank you. Was that...go raibh... thank you? 

ALL: Go raibh maith agat. 

I can't get the pronunciation right! Thank you very much.

How To Do An Irish Accent

Hello, I am Gareth Jameson. I am an actor and a voice coach from www.londonvoicelessons.com

Here are some tips for working on your voice. The key to any accent is to isolate sound that is specific to that accent.

Now for me the most important one in an Irish accent is the "i" sound. The "i" that we get in "like" or "height", or even at the beginning of the word Irish. It becomes like an "oi", almost like the "oi" in oil.

So that is why you sometimes hear people say "oirish" and "oireland". It is not quite "oi" really, it is slightly less than that, it is "oii". So that we have "I will be fine with all this oil", there is a difference "I will be fine with all this oil, I will be fine".

That introduces another feature as well, the "th", "I will be fine with all this oil". The "th" is usually removed from Irish speakers, especially with more casual speakers so that you get more d's and t's instead. So have a listen to this.

"What do you think of this, what do you think of this?" That is "think" and "this". Our next feature is the letter "r". Now for most Irish speakers the "r" is always pronounced.

So, instead of saying words like "park", we will have "paark", with a "err". It is right at the front of the mouth, unless you are from Dublin where your right at the back of your mouth. You are right at the front, "park" and "garden".

Right at the front like that. Now we move onto a "l" sound. Now, for British English speakers we have two versions for the "l" sound.

We have one at the back of the mouth, like in "kettle", "bottle" and "pull", and one at the front in "lovely", "lemon" and "limned". For an Irish speaker, they are all at the front. In fact, it is quite helpful I like to think of the whole accent coming from the front of the mouth.

This phrase might help, "a little bubble at the front of your mouth, a little bubble at the front of your mouth". Finally, that introduces the "ou" sound in mouth. It becomes "ouw", like if starting on a "ou", if you start on "ou", "ouw", "mouth".

So try "how now brown cow, brown cow" with an "our" in it. "How now brown cow, a little bubble at the front of your mouth". Now we have not got time for more features today.

I am Gareth Jameson, thanks very much.

The Cranberries - Dreams

Not There Yet

A short animated film about the Irish transport system. Anyone who has ever been a commuter should totally get this.

Give Up Yer Aul Sins- Death of Jesus

Based on the original recordings taken by Peig Cunningham in Dublin schoolrooms from the 1960's, this film dramatises the event as a TV crew arrive to record the children and we are treated to the story of the death of Jesus told as only children can. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short at the 2001 Oscars.

Ding Dong Denny's History of Ireland

A tourist walks into a Dublin pub looking for directions and encounters Ding Dong Denny O'Reilly at the bar who insists on telling him the "real" history of Ireland over a number of pints. From the Normans to the Famine to 1916 and the sex shops of O'Connell Street, we hear Ding Dong's delusional take of events that shaped our nation. Ding Dong is a comic creation of comedian Paul Woodful and this is his first adventure into animation.

Winner Best Digital Film Digital Media Awards 2008, Winner Grand Prix Award, Digital Media Awards 2008.

Year of Production: 2006-2007
Commissioned by: Frameworks
Producer: Brian Gilmore
Directed by: Cathal Gaffney
Written and narrated by: Paul Woodful

Irish films

Based on Gerry Conlon's autobiography, Jim Sheridan's In the Name of the Father tells the tumultuous and wrenching tale of a man wrongfully imprisoned in 1974 for the bombing of a London pub. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Conlon, a young Irish petty thief who gets falsely accused.

Danny Flynn is released from prison in Belfast after fourteen years for his part in IRA activities. He determines to avoid the bloodshed that was inherent in his political past and to build a new life in his old home. He starts a gym to train young boxers like himself, with no political or sectarian ties, and renews his relationship with the woman he left behind when imprisoned. But his relationship to the past refuses to let him live a life of peace.

Stephen Frears wonderful adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel about a working-class Irish family, and the teenage daughter who finds herself pregnant.

In Neil Jordan's psychological thriller, a reluctant agent of the Irish Republican Army discovers that some people just aren't who you expect them to be. Fergus (Stephen Rea) is an IRA "volunteer" who, despite personal misgivings, takes part in the kidnapping of a black British soldier, Jody (Forest Whitaker), stationed in Northern Ireland. After befriending the soldier, Fergus promises to look after his girlfriend Dil (Jaye Davidson).

Circle Of Friends' is set in 1950's Ireland. The movie focuses on Benny Hogan and her best friend, Eve Malone. The story centers around Benny and Eve as they enter student life at University College, Dublin. Here Benny and Eve reunite with their childhood friend, the ice-cool Nan Mahon, the 'college belle'. They also encounter the handsome and charming Jack Foley, whom Benny quickly falls for.

Neil Jordan's depiction of the controversial life and death of Michael Collins, the 'Lion of Ireland', who led the IRA against British rule and founded the Irish Free State (Eire) in 1921.

When word reaches two elderly best friends that someone in their tiny Irish village has won the national lottery, they go to great lengths to find the winner so they can share the wealth. When they discover the "lucky" winner, Ned Devine, they find he has died of shock upon discovering his win. Not wanting the money to go to waste, the village enters a pact to pretend Ned is still alive by having another man pose as him, and then to divide the money between them.

Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find the situation there even worse. Prejudice against Frankie's Northern Irish father makes his search for employment in the Republic difficult despite his having fought for the IRA, and when he does find money, he spends the money on drink.

"Bull" McCabe's family has farmed a field for generations, sacrificing endlessly for the sake of the land. And when the widow who owns the field decides to sell the field in a public auction, McCabe knows that he must own it. But while no one in the village would dare bid against him, an American with deep pockets decides that he needs the field to build a highway. The Bull and his son decide to convince the American to give up bidding on the field, but things go horribly wrong.

In this true story told through flashbacks, Christy Brown is born with crippling cerebral palsy into a poor, working-class Irish family. Able only to control movement in his left foot and to speak in guttural sounds, he is mistakenly believed to be retarded for the first ten years of his life. Later, through the help of his strong-willed mother, a dedicated teacher, and his own courage and determination, Christy not only learns to grapple with life's simple physical tasks and complex psychological pains, but he also develops into a brilliant painter, poet and author.

A variety of losers in Dublin have harrowingly farcical intersecting stories of love, greed and violence.

The Commitments (1987) is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, and is the first episode in The Barrytown Trilogy. It is a tale about a group of unemployed young people in the north side of Dublin, Ireland, who start a soul band.

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, a six minute film produced in Ireland, has been nominated for best animated short film in the 2010 Academy Awards. The film, online at www.grannyogrimm.com, tells the story of a seemingly sweet old lady who terrifies her little granddaughter at bedtime with her dark version of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. Granny O’Grimm started life as a character in Kathleen O’Rourke’s comedy show. Director Nicky Phelan saw Granny O’Grimm’s potential as an animated character and, working with Brown Bag Films, production began in 2008. Kathleen O’Rourke reprised her role to voice the character in the short film.

St. Patrick's Day History and Traditions

Riverdance

Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish step dancing. A group of dancers perform with rapid leg movements while keeping their bodies and arms mostly still.

It was first performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 featuring Jean Butler and Michael Flatley, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the Celtic choral group Anúna.

Riverdance continues to be performed all over the world, but is currently playing its farewell tour. The show will finish in 2010, 15 years after opening, in Dublin

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Keith Floyd - Irish food

Chef Keith Floyd is in Cork, Ireland to learn how spiced corned beef is prepared and cooked. Includes details on the best method to cook tradtional Irish mash, or colcannon. Great meal ideas from BBC classic cookery show 'Floyd on Britain & Ireland'.

Poteen making

The traditional craft of Poitín making (a.k.a. Poitin, Poteen, Potcheen, Mountain Dew, Moonshine Whisky) and the history of illicit distillation in Ireland

How to Play Gaelic Football

What is Hurling?

Talk on St Patrick's Day by Roisin Tighe at the EOI

Give up yer aul sins: St Patrick

This Oscar nominated short film features 6 episodes. It is based on the 1960s recordings of young children telling Bible stories in a classroom to their schoolteacher. When a film crew arrives at an inner city Dublin National School to record the children, the result is a warm, funny and spontaneous animated documentary, featuring young children telling the story of John the Baptist, the birth of Jesus, the Crucifixion, Saint Patrick and others.

Word of the week 16 - 22 March 2009 JIG

The jig is a Celtic dance which takes its name from the type of music to which it is danced, also called a 'jig.' The music takes its name from the French word 'gigue,' which is an older word for a fiddle (violin). Therefore, an Irish jig is one of many cultural dances that is done to fiddle music, specifically, Celtic fiddle music. There are Irish and Scottish variants of jig music, but the most well known of the jigs is the Irish jig.

A jig is danced with a lot of hopping, making it into a joyful dance; jigs are often danced at weddings and other types of celebrations.

A traditional Irish jig is a series of hops and steps that repeat themselves over and over again. The steps are very simple, either stepping forward or taking steps backwards, but the hops can require some practice in getting the timing and coordination right.