‘The ancient Irish bodhran was invented sometime in the fifties’. Well, so Francesco Turrisi , onstage with Rhiannon Giddens, told a capacity Usher Hall audience in a bitterly cold, Edinburgh last night. It was only one line from the humorous badinage between the pair on carbon dating
Read more →Archive for the Ireland Category
The intent of BBC Scotland’s programme to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the recent ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland was embedded in the title, ‘The War Next Door’. At a superficial level, there was an attempt to provide a semblance of balance with the early inclusion of an
Read more →I wrote this a year ago after Sorcha arrived on the fifteenth of June, a few days after her mother, Jen’s birthday. June is a busy month as my elder brother, James, as well as grandchildren, Leo and Lilly Ann were all born in that month. Neill,
Read more →The gerrymander of Derry City by the Unionists , with the support of the Stormont Government, was the prototype for sectarian control of the State; despite being 70% Catholic and Nationalist, through blatant manipulation of ward boundaries, the City remained under Unionist control
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