It's over two weeks now since 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 mostly still there to watch. Now, yesterday proved quite good for telly, so I just watched that all day - this afternoon, not so much. So, back I went to see what else I could see, there.
I had a long afternoon to fill, so got quite a bit watched. And what a variety of interpretations of Ireland.. none of your twee stuff here! First up was A Love Letter to Dublin at Night. One for the clubbers this, an electronic soundtrack to a lament for the (hopefully, temporary) demise of Dublin nightlife. I'm not a clubber - but I can sympathise. Caveat: contains flashing images at the beginning.
Next, a short one - I watched Outside History, a short poem set to music. Explores the possibilities at the dawn of a new day.
After that, I watched Pomes Penyeach - more poetry set to music, this time the works of James Joyce. I always love poetry with a musical backdrop - although this soundtrack began a bit weirdly. Befitting the material, I guess (BTW, the name of the piece is explained at the beginning - again, giving a nod to Joyce's inventive use of language). Still, a gorgeous piece overall - and listening to it, I couldn't fail to notice the similarity between one singer's voice and a young Leonard Cohen..
Finally came a performance by Adam Mohamed (poet, whose poetry reflects the dual nature of the feeling of identity for someone whose roots are outside of Ireland), Gemma Dunleavy (singer), and Pillow Queens - a band that'll be instantly familiar to anyone who's been watching Irish tv lately, where their song, How Do I Look, has been used in an ad. Just can't remember for what.. Filmed at the Guinness Storehouse, worth a look. However, they need you to watch on YouTube, because of age restrictions.
And yes, there's more, which I'll get to.. Watch this space!
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