On Wednesday, it was St. Patrick's Day. And what with the pandemic raging harder than ever, of course it was all online this year - at least they had more time to prepare than last year! And they did us proud, with a week's worth of festivities - most available on the festival website, and for free. I hadn't had time to see everything I wanted to, but luckily, it's still there to watch. Which is what I decided to do today. That Abair series of storytelling videos was first on my list.
So I started off with those, and watched the other two in the series. All filmed in different locations around Dublin, they have the same format, of a spoken word artist and a singer, whose performances are interspersed with each others', and who also sit around and chat with the presenter. Both of these had poetry recitation rather than storytelling. First up was The Long Sleep, filmed in the crypt of Christchurch Cathedral. The songs were good - but somehow, I couldn't engage with the poetry readings.
Still, I persisted with the last episode, The West's Awake - and I'm so glad I did. Filmed in Richmond Barracks, this episode concerns itself with revolution - and is the most watchable of the three. The singing is lovely - the singer kicks off the episode by describing how she's chosen to sing an Irish-language version of The Foggy Dew, and how beautifully it translates - and she's right. Her music is interspersed with some really engaging poetry readings - and I think, quite simply, the difference between this video and the poetry in the other is that the recitation is better. Here, she not only reads well, but sounds as though she really means it - rather than just sounding as though she's found something interesting to read in a book. Yes, this video is definitely recommended.
Finally, I checked out Foil Arms & Hog - a comedy trio that I know to be good. Sure enough, Who Is St. Patrick? doesn't disappoint.. next on my list, of course, is to check out their other videos.
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