Hello Hello Hello, what do we have going on here then? Well, over the past few weeks, it’s seems like there’s been a lot of chat on the show. That’s not saying anything bad, at all, about my wonderful guests. But since I only get an hour each Saturday, I really wanted to have the opportunity to catch up with some music I haven’t yet had the chance to play on The London Ear.
And boy! There’s some great bloody music out at the moment.
The London Ear Show 231 // Feb 2 2019 Playlist
Here’s what I played on this week’s show
1. Sweet Harmony: Born Stranger
2. Glen Hansard: I’ll Be You, Be Me
3. Munky: You’ve Got Male
4. Daniel John Paxton: Railway Line
5. Barry Jay Hughes: Diving In
6. Soak: Knock Me Off My Feet
7. Tanjier: Crave
8. Sibeal: Human
9. Exiles: Rearview Mirror
10. Empire Circus: Salt
11. Talos: The Light Upon Us
12. The Murder Capitals: Feeling Fades
13. Empire Circus: Salt
14. Thanks Brother: We Caught It
15. At Pavillion: Believers
Listen On Demand to The London Ear
Thanks for listening, The London Ear broadcast on DAB radio, Saorview and outside Ireland you can listen online. You can listen to the show again on the RTE player. The show is broadcast every Saturday at 1300.
Don’t forget, if you’re Irish, outside Ireland and involved in music, arts and culture, get in touch. The London Ear is for you, it’s my job to get your voice heard.
A Big P.S.
Last week, there were some changes by the Advertising Standards Authority in the United Kingdom in relation to gifts and adverts sent to bloggers and then shared on social media. As I live in London, this technically includes me as a blogger. Bands, record companies and PRs send me music to play on the radio, often before release day. The music would not be available to purchase by the general public before release day. I receive music from artists with no expectation of play (obviously they’d like me to play it). There are often tracks that I want to play that I do not receive from bands or their representatives. I pay for these myself.
There are more than a couple of reasons for choosing Thanks Brother’s new single ‘We Caught It’ as a Nessy Recommends.
First off this dynamic duo consist of Róisín O and John Broe, both fantastic musicians and songwriters in their own right but together are creating something really special.
The pair started off writing together for what was intended to be some Róisín O solo material but upon realising their was an extra creative spark, ‘Thanks Brother’ was born. I’m very glad it was too.
‘We Caught It’ is the follow up to ‘We Are Different’, which I played on The London Ear in 2018, and was mixed and co-produced by Ruadhri Cushnan. Ruadhri has worked with Ed Sheeran, Mumford and Sons, The Maccabees and Eleanor McEvoy amongst others. But around my house, he’s known for working with George Michael on the vastly underrated Freeek!
The track beautifully ebbs and flows, reflective and euphoric at the same time. The production on ‘We Caught It’ highlights Róisín’s voice and there are some hints throughout that herald back to John Broe’s days in Miracle Bell, who, holding my hands up, I genuinely loved. Check out Love Sounds.
I’ll be honest, I’m a sucker for a good pop song but this is a great one and these two have a serious knack for bringing the best out of each other. They’ve also been writing for television and ad campaigns and co-writing with The Coronas on a bunch of singles.
I’ve another reason to choose this track. These pair went rogue at a Christmas party and filmed the video for the track on their iPhones. Guerrilla filmmaking at its best. Genius…
They’re off on tour in March, dates announced so far are:
Friday 15 March: Mc Gettigan’s Paddy’s Day Party, Dubai Friday 22 March: De Barra’s, Clonakilty Saturday 23 March: The Kasbah, Dolans Limerick Friday 29 March:St. Columb’s Hall Cinema, Derry Thursday 9 May: Mike The Pie’s, Listowel
I was delighted to finally have the chance to speak to Irish Ambassador to Great Britain, Adrian O’Neill, on the show.
Ambassador O’Neill has been in London for about 18 months now and it was great to catch up. Hopefully later in the year, Ambassador O’Neill will come back on the show and choose an hour of his favourite tunes (he chose Villagers to play on this week’s show) but today was all about St Brigid’s Day and how the festivities have grown from a day’s celebration to a whole weekend’s full of events.
‘Get your Irish passports here’
Ok, so not quite. If you follow me on Twitter, you will have seen the tweet I sent last week about new photo booths which enable you to take your photo and get a code to renew your Irish passport online. I had to find out more from the man himself about what was going on.
You can now renew your passport online. Handy url to remember passport.ie
With all the news about the processing time for passport applications, (Thanks Brexit!) Renewing online will take about ten days plus postage. An added bonus is that you don’t actually need to get your application witnessed as it’s all done online.
Children’s passports are different, you can renew online but you still need to post in parental consent. (I might do a blog post separately on renewing online.
First timers still need to fill in a paper application for the time being.
St Brigid’s Day celebrations started in 2018 in London and has quickly grown. Last year’s event in the Embassy of Ireland was one of the most spoken about. The festivities celebrate the creativeness of Irish women.
Here are just some of the St Brigid’s events happening:
St Brigid’s Day at the Irish Embassy: You’ll be doing extremely well to bag a ticket for the even in the Embassy. You can read all about what’s happening here.
90 Women Artists – We spoke to Martina Hamilton of Hamilton’s Gallery in Sligo on last week’s show who curated this exhibition. 90 individual art pieces all based around the poem “St Brigid’s Day 1989” by Leland Bardwell in 12 Star Gallery.
Jan 31st sees the launch of Old Voices, New Perspectives, an art exhibition fearing six Irish female artists: painters Margaret Egan, Hetty Lawlor, Julie Cusack, Deidre Walsh and sculptors Orla de Brí and Ana Duncan.
Taken from the ICC website: “The latest ICC annual conference on politics and society in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement will hear the personal political journeys of: Margaret Ritchie (SDLP), Claire Sugden (Independent Unionist), Avila Kilmurray (Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition) , Michelle Gildernew MP (Sinn Féin), Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance Party).”
That’s not all in Hammersmith though, February 2nd has all female night of comedy. ‘Gas Gaelic Girls’ is hosted by funny lady Anna Clifford.
London Irish Centre in Camden as an All Female Trad Session on February 2nd, led by flautist Eimear McGweon. It’s an early evening session. Later on that night, Eimear will be playing again as part of a night of music hosted by her of the telly and radio, Angela Scanlon.
Get your earholes ready for performances from Tara Flynn, Anne-Marie O’Farrell, Abby Oliveira, Natalya O Flaherty, Lisa Lambe and the amazing Gemma Hayes. I still love her album ‘Night on My Side’.
Irish Film London are running a series of events over the weekend. On Sunday, there will be a Irish Women in Film & TV Panel Discussion + Networking reception at Regents Street Cinema. Taking part will be Dr. Susan Liddy and Anne Morrison. They will be joined by actress Eileen O’Higgins (Brooklyn, Mary Queen of Scots) and film, TV & new media producer Sienna Beckman.
Later on Sunday, Regent’s Street Cinema will play host to Katie – UK Premier. This will be the first cinematic screening of Ross Whittaker’s documentary about the Bray Boxer.
You can get a PDF download of all the St Brigid’s Day’s events from the Embassy of Ireland in Great Britain here
The London Ear // Show 230 January 26th 2019 – Playlist
Here’s this week’s playlist for The London Ear.
1. Bouts: Love’s Lost Landings Part 2
2. The Murder Capital: Feeling Fades
3. Dermot Kennedy: For Island Fires and Families
4. whenyoung: Never Let Go
5. The Cranberries: All Over Now
6. Thanks Brother: We Caught It
7. Chat with Ambassador Adrian O’Neill
8. Loah and Elaine Mai: Nothing
9. Chat with Ambassador Adrian O’Neill Part 2
10. Villagers: Sweet Saviour
11. ASmyth: Fever
12. Roisin Murphy: The Rumble
Listen On Demand to The London Ear
Thanks for listening, The London Ear broadcast on DAB radio, Saorview and outside Ireland you can listen online. You can listen to the show again on the RTE player. The show is broadcast every Saturday at 1300.
Thanks so much for listening to the show, and for sticking with me this week with a massively dodgy voice. Confession time. I didn’t speak for five hours before recording to make sure something would come out.
Don’t forget, if you’re Irish, outside Ireland and involved in music, arts and culture, get in touch. The London Ear is for you, it’s my job to get your voice heard. (Even if mine is sometimes croaky).
The London Ear on RTÉ 2XM Show 229 // The Lost Brothers / 90 Women Artists Exhibition
On this week’s episode of The London Ear, I caught up with Oisin Leech from The Lost Brothers ahead of their London date at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith. Also on the programme is Martina Hamilton from Hamilton Gallery in Sligo, who has curated an exhibition of ’90 Women Artists’ at 12 Star Gallery in London as part of the St Brigid’s Day celebrations.
Interview with Oisin from The Lost Brothers
It’s hard to believe that The Lost Brothers are celebrating ten years together. As part of a series of shows to celebrate the ‘Decade’, the lads are grabbing their guitars and coming to London for a show at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith.
It’s always lovely to chat to Oisin, who’s from Navan, me being from Kells, there’s always a bit of friendly banter!
Interview with Martina Hamilton, Curator of ’90 Women Artists’
Martina Hamilton from Hamilton Gallery in Sligo was asked to curate an exhibition of work as part of the St Brigid’s Day celebrations in London. The exhibition features the works ’90 Women Artists’ at 12 Star Gallery here in London.
Martina has previously curated projects around the work of WB Yeats. Here, artists were asked to contribute to the project which centres around the poem “St Brigid’s Day 1989” by Leland Bardwell, who died in 2016, aged 94. In her obituary, The Guardian recapped on her bohemian life.
’90 Women Artists’ runs at the 12 Star Gallery in Europe House, 32 Smith Square London, SW1P 3EU, Mon – Fri 10-6.
Check out this video about ’90 Women Artists’ from RTÉ News
The London Ear // Show 229 January 19 2019 – Playlist
Here’s the menu for this week’s show:
1. Sacre: 7PM Vahine 2. Soak: Knock Me Off My Feet 3. Interview with Oisin from The Lost Brothers Part 1 4. The Lost Brothers: Iron Road 5. Interview with Oisin from The Lost Brothers Part 2 6. The Lost Brothers: Echoes in the Wind 7. Thanks Brother: We Caught It 8. Interview with Martina Hamilton, curator of ’90 Women Artists’ at 12 Star Gallery 8. Thanks Brother: We Caught It 9. When Young: Never Let Go
Listen On Demand to The London Ear
Thanks for listening, The London Ear broadcast on DAB radio, Saorview and outside Ireland you can listen online. You can listen to the show again on the RTE player. The show is broadcast every Saturday at 1300.
Don’t forget to check out the RTE 2XM website. You can keep up with me here.
Thanks so much for listening to the show, it is truly appreciated. If you’re Irish, outside Ireland and involved in music, arts and culture, get in touch. The London Ear is for you, it’s my job to get your voice heard.
