Theo Dorgan’s book and CD “Voices and Poetry of Ireland” celebrates classic and contemporary Irish poetry, read by 100 of the best-known voices from Ireland, including Maeve Binchy, Pierce Brosnan, The Corrs, Bertie Ahern, Bob Geldof, Seamus Heaney, Marian Keyes, Bono and Sinead O’Connor.
Gavin contributes a reading of Oscar Wilde’s “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”, the poem that also forms the basis of the song “Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves”.
Gavin Friday on Yeats
with Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill
Seen at the National Library, June 30, 2010
Demand for Gavin Friday, Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill performing work by William Butler Yeats on June 30th was so great, the National Library decided to simulcast the event in the Library’s cafe. Gavin, approaching the material in his own inimitable way, read his personal selection of poems covering themes of romance, politics and celtic mysticism, using the full width of his voice to add light and shade to Yeats’ words, and body to punctuate his phrasing.
Hayes (fiddle) and Cahill (guitar) provided musical interludes and improvised on ‘The Stolen Child’, Yeats’ own tale of dazzle and delight. Although they had little rehearsal time and come from very different traditions, the artists managed to find common ground, and simply ‘clicked’. Hayes kept his eyes on Gavin throughout the performance following his lead while Cahill fixed on the fiddler. “I’m not from Sligo,” said Gavin, “I’m from Dublin,” and launched into a purposefully flat reading of ‘The Fiddler of Dooney’, accentuating his Northside Dublin inflection. It worked well with the ballad’s iambic trimeter: “I passed my brother and cousin / They read in their books of prayer / I read in my book of songs / I bought at the Sligo fair.” He ended with two encores picked on the spot and chose ‘Drinking Song’ because the title appealed to him and then closed with ‘Brown Penny’ (perhaps subconciously because it’s theme echoes his own classic ‘Tell Tale Heart’) the words of which sound particularly Fridayesque: “For he would be thinking of love / Till the stars had run away / And the shadows eaten the moon.”
Theo Dorgan, master of ceremonies, paraphrasing writer Colm Toibin in his closing words to the audience, said: “It wasn’t the guitar players and the fiddlers and the actors and the poets who bankrupted the country, who ran our country into the ground, but if we are to make it back, if we are to take it back… I don’t know about you, but my heart will be all that stronger, for tonight we’ve been in the presence of real art, real artists and it seems such a good thing that’s it’s in the heart of the National Library.” He then called for another round of applause. Later that evening, at the Merrion Hotel, the Library presented the musicians with 1st edition copies of Yeats’ books to thank them for their involvement in the Summer’s Wreath festival.
The poems
‘Summer’s Wreath’, a month long celebration of the works of the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, will conclude on Wednesday, June 30th at 8pm with a performance by Gavin Friday. In this unique event, Gavin will present his selection of Yeats’s work and will be accompanied by the renowned fiddle player Martin Hayes and guitarist Dennis Cahill.
Leading names from the world of music, stage, screen, visual arts, politics, literature and academia are coming together at the National Library of Ireland this June for its annual month-long celebration of the life and works of William Butler Yeats. With the programme now in it’s 4th year, ‘Summer’s Wreath 2010‘ offers free public readings, reflections, lectures and performances and will feature many prominent female contributors this year echoing the passionate and complex relationship which Yeats had with women throughout his life.
Gavin Friday on Yeats
National Library of Ireland
Wednesday 30 June at 8.00pm
Admission is free but booking is essential. To reserve up to two places, please call +353 1 6030277
Gavin and a host of other Irish heads have contributed to Voices and Poetry of Ireland, a 3 CD and book anthology of Irish poetry to benefit Focus Ireland. Gavin picked Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol. The CD and book set (€ 40 will be available from Harper Collins in two weeks.
Press release
PRESS RELEASE
VOICES AND POETRY OF IRELAND
A UNIQUE BOOK AND 3 CD PACKAGE IN AID OF FOCUS IRELAND.
A collection of over 100 best loved Irish poems featuring recordings by many of Ireland’s famous names.
Voices and Poetry of Ireland is a 3 CD and beautiful hardback book anthology of classic and contemporary Irish poems from poets such as Yeats, Kavanagh, Wilde, Kennelly and Heaney read by over 100 of the best-known voices in Irish life such as Bono, Colin Farrell, Pierce Brosnan, Bertie Ahern, Maeve Binchy, Bob Geldof and Terry Wogan. The objective of this rich and colourful celebration of Irish poetic heritage is to raise much-needed funds for Focus Ireland, one of Ireland’s largest voluntary agencies solely dedicated to combating homelessness. Founded by Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy in 1985 it helps over 4,000 people each year throughout the country.
The original concept was by Lunar Record’s Brian Molloy and the project was produced by the company with the full support of Poetry Ireland. Voices and Poetry of Ireland is scheduled for world-wide release in November 2003 with Harper Collins. The CDs feature over 100 readers from such diverse backgrounds as the arts, broadcasting, politics and all aspects of public life and together with the Book comprises a living anthology of the best of Irish writing while capturing the wide range of registers that make up the Irish speaking voice.
The poems, drawn up in consultation with Poetry Ireland, reflect something of the diversity and variety of poetry from Ireland and includes both famous and historical poems alongside new and even unpublished work from among our finest living writers. The Book contains photos and biographical details on the well-known readers and the text of the poems which they bring to life on the accompanying CDs.
Retail Price Euro 40
VOICES & POETRY OF IRELAND
Contributor – Poem – Author
Bertie Ahern – The Mother – Padraic Pearse
Robert Ballagh – A Glass of Beer – James Stephens
Patrick Bergin – The Mystery – Amergin
Maeve Binchy – Pangur Ban – Anonymous
Charlie Bird – Danny – J.M. Synge
Tara Blaze – Nuala – Brendan Kennelly
Luka Bloom – Mirror in February – Thomas Kinsella
Bono – God’s Laughter – Brendan Kennelly
John Bowman – A Little Boy in the Morning – Francis Ledwidge
Paul Brady – 4 Voices without an Instrument – Medbh McGuckian
Pierce Brosnan – Father and Son – F.R. Higgins
Vincent Browne – A Christmas Childhood – Patrick Kavanagh
Gabriel Byrne – To L.L. – Oscar Wilde
Gay Byrne – Mid Term Break – Seamus Heaney
Liam Clancy – The Second Coming – W. B. Yeats
Paddy Cole – The Friction of Feet in Time – Michael Coady
Andrea Corr – Never Give all the Heart – W.B. Yeats
Sharon Corr – First Annual Report – Gerry Corr
Phil Coulter – The Man from God knows Where – Florence Wilson
John Creedon – The Bells of Shandon – Francis Mahony
Anthony Cronin – The Fisherman – W.B. Yeats
Jeananne Crowley – An Old Woman of the Roads – Padraic Colum
Bill Cullen – Shades of Ranelagh – Macdara Woods
Dana – The Christmas Rose – Cecil Day Lewis
Ian Dempsey – Duffy’s Circus – Paul Muldoon
Dermot Desmond – My Land – Thomas Davis
Moya Doherty – Winter Birds – Moya Cannon
Theo Dorgan – Death of an Irishwoman – Michael Hartnett
Anne Doyle – Nude – Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill
Danny Doyle – Pity the Islanders – David Quin
Ronnie Drew – Ode – Arthur O’Shaughnessy
Joe Duffy – Someone – Dennis O’Driscoll
Myles Dungan – To My Daughter Betty, the Gift of God – Thomas Kettle
Eamonn Dunphy – excerpt from The Paddiad – Patrick Kavanagh
Paul Durcan – The Lovers – Anthony Cronin
Dave Fanning – July in Bettystown – Gerard Fanning
Colin Farrell – Dublin Made Me – Donagh MacDonagh
Marian Finucane – Night Feed – Eavan Boland
Brenda Fricker – The Pride of the Coombe – Seamus Kavanagh
Gavin Friday – The Ballad of Reading Gaol – Oscar Wilde
James Galway – The Rainstick – Seamus Heaney
Bob Geldof – Bagpipe Music – Louis MacNeice
Des Geraghty – Speaking to my Father – Theo Dorgan
Brendan Gleeson – Emotions – Rory Gleeson
Larry Gogan – She Moved Through the Fair – Padraic Colum
Adrian Hardiman – Seals at High Island – Richard Murphy
Mary Harney – Sunday’s Well – Vona Groarke
Richard Harris – Ode to Christy Brown – Richard Harris
Shay Healy – How to be my Heart – Pat Boran
Seamus Heaney – What Then? – W.B. Yeats
Michael D. Higgins – Dark Rosaleen – J.C. Mangan
John Hume – Claudy – James Simmons
Neil Jordan – I Grabbed an Education – Patrick Kavanagh
Fergal Keane – All of these People – Michael Longley
Frank Kelly – Stony Grey Soil – Patrick Kavanagh
Gerry Kelly – Ulster Names – John Hewitt
John Kelly – The Singers House – Seamus Heaney
Brian Kennedy – The Tree Speaks – Cathal O Searcaigh
Sen Ed. Kennedy – Fiddler of Dooney – W.B. Yeats
Sr. Stan Kennedy – To A Child – Patrick Kavanagh
Brendan Kennelly – My Father – John B. Keane
Pat Kenny – Antarctica – Derek Mahon
Marian Keyes – Thems Your Mammy’s Pills – Leland Bardwell
Mick Lally – Omos do John Millington Synge – Mairtin O Direain
Des Lynam – There Are Days – John Montague
John Lynch – The Sunlight on the Garden – Louis MacNiece
Ciaran MacMathuna – To a May Baby – Winifred Letts
Jimmy Magee – I Will go with My Father – Joseph Campbell
Tommy Makem – Requiem for the Croppies – Seamus Heaney
Paddy Maloney – The Country Fiddler – John Montague
Eamonn McCann – Christ Goodbye – Padraic Fiacc
Charlie McCreevy – Literary History – Rita Kelly
Paul McGrath – The Game of your Life – Gabriel Fitzmaurice
Paul McGuinness – Shapes and Shadows – Derek Mahon
Pauline McLynn – The People I Grew up With – Michael Gorman
Van Morrison – Solstice for my Daughter – Gerry Dawe
Mike Murphy – The Village Schoolmaster – Oliver Goldsmith
Kevin Myers – Fontenoy – Emily Lawless
Christina Noble – The View from under the Table – Paula Meehan
Michael Noonan – A Kind of Trust – Brendan Kennelly
David Norris – The Jackeens Lament – Brendan Behan
Miriam O’Callaghan – A Woman Untouched – Frank McGuinness
Sinead O’Connor – Pride – Paul Williams
Daniel O’Donnell – Poem from a 3 Year Old – Brendan Kennelly
Ardal O’Hanlon – Plaisir D’Amour – Patrick Galvin
Deirdre O’Kane – School Friends – Susan Connolly
Olivia O’Leary – Ship of Death – Kerry Hardie
Micheal O Muircheartaigh – The Boys of Barr na Sraide – Sigerson Clifford
Milo O’Shea – Peter Gilligan – W.B. Yeats
Morgan O’Sullivan – Canticle – John F. Deane
Fintan O’Toole – Ceasefire – Michael Longley
Maureen Potter – The Fairies – William Allingham
Deirdre Purcell – Bewleys Café – Paul Durcan
Niall Quinn – Swineherd – Eilean ni Chuilleanan
Ruairi Quinn – A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford – Derek Mahon
Gerry Ryan – The Did-You-Come-Yets – Rita Ann Higgins
Jim Sheridan – Peter Street – Peter Sirr
Dick Spring – A Drover – Padraic Colum
Niall Toibin – Everything is going to be Alright – Derek Mahon
Sile de Valera – I See His Blood Upon the Rose – Joseph Mary Plunkett
Ted Walsh – The Aluminium Box – Frank Ormsby
Kathleen Watkins – Beannacht for Josie – John O’Donoghue
Bill Whelan – Anseo – Paul Muldoon
Terry Wogan – The Planters Daughter – Austin Clarke
