Episodes
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An audiodrama for fans of Motherfoclóir! The Greatest Matter is a new gothic crime tale set in Victorian Dublin, about a criminologist who arrives in the city and gets caught up in a murder investigation with occult connections. It's a full-cast audiodrama, with a cast of great Irish actors, immersive sound design and original music.
Have a listen to Ep 1 here, and all 12 episodes are available to listen to in full right now - just type The Greatest Matter into whatever player you're using now, or go to HeadStuffPodcasts.com.
Enjoy!
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We're back!
Well, sort of. In March 2024 Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar were reunited for a live Seachtain na Gaeilge event in Clondalkin Library (a home advantage for Peadar!)
On the occasion of the anniversary of Brendan Behan's death, the gang discussed the controversy surrounding the English translation of his Irish language play An Giall: did Behan approve of this version, and the significant differences in the text?
This leads to a discussion of translating Hiberno English and Irish locals contexts in general. Is a Trinity Marxist in a Rooney novel comparable to the understanding of a Marxist that Chinese readers would approach her work with? How about the use of swearing in Roddy Doyle - do Germans swear the same way?
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Episodes manquant?
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With thanks to the Bram Stoker Festival, the Motherfoclóir Podcast was resurrected for one afternoon in October 2022 to discuss the translation of Dracula into Irish by Seán Ó Cuirreáin.
In this recording of last year's live show Darach is joined by Peadar and Siún as they consider the different motives of the politicians who commissioned the translation and the writer asked to carry out the work.
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Motherfocloir is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network and there are lots of other shows on the network we think you might like. Words To That Effect is a show that tells stories of the fiction behind popular culture and if you're a fan of Motherfocloir we think there's a very good chance you'll like this show too. Here's a full episode, all about the history of dragons in fiction and popular culture. Enjoy!
For more, and all the eps of Words To That Effect, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.com
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Thank you for your support over the last four years.
Thank you for inviting us into your headphones and into your head. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
Thank you to Brian and Kirsten for making each episode look and sound amazing. Thank you to Éimear, Clodagh, Caitlín, Siún and Ola, and all the members of the extended Motherfoclóir family.
Thank you to our guests for teaching us so much. Much love to anyone who sent us messages of encouragement.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh.
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Contact the show:
Darach - @theirishfor
Gearóidín - @GaRoDean
Peadar - @TheKavOfficial
Kirsten - @KirstenShielART
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Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/jZSJZKN2
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If you follow Darach's Word of the Week project with the Irish Arts Center in New York, you'll have seen the artwork of Amy Louise O'Callaghan - @amylouioc on Twitter, Instagram and Etsy - who reimagines Irish mythology in the style of Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli. More recently she has reimagined the iconography of tarot cards using well-known tales and characters from Irish mythology. She chats to Darach about her influences, her work process, her interest in Japan and her favourite Irish and Japanese words.
https://irishartscenter.org/event/irish-word-of-the-week-chapter-3
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Join us for the final episode of Motherfoclóir, live on Zoom tonight: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55377967
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Every artistic/visual representation of Cúchulainn presents him as a hulking, ultra-masculine figure. But is this interpretation justified by the text? In the Táin, Cúchulainn is frequently described as a small lad, girly in some ways, a person who has to change his appearance to present as a "normal man" but does not wear this disguise when he does not have to.
In today's episode of Motherfoclóir, Darach talks to Masters student Finn Longman about queer readings of the Táin. Once we suspend assumptions about binary genders when considering a work of literature that predates this construction, we are free to engage with the deeper meanings of the Táin. Why is the "pillow talk*chapter only in one version of the Táin? What is the significance of Cúchulainn's relationships with Ferdiad and Laeg? And why does this Irish legend talk about bodies and feelings so much?
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Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
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Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie
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The re-release of Professor Terence Dolan's Dictionary of Hiberno-English didn't happen by accident, but was nudged into existence by a writer who also happens to be one of the most seminal and relevant voices in Irish podcasting. And he's our guest this week!
Before we folded the podcast forever, we are delighted to bring you this conversation between Darach and Blindboy Boatclub, one half of the Rubber bandits and author of two collections of short stories. Blindboy talks to Darach about the Dictionary of Hiberno-English, the idea of resistance in language through dialect and satire, the origin of his love of Flann O'Brien and the future of Irish podcasting.
Check out his books and his podcast!
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Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
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Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
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Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie
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In terms of literary prestige, romance novels don't get no respect, ranking lower than sports biographies and screenplay novelisations on the scale of respectability - according to people who don't read them, anyway. But what about people who do?
Since Covid, sales of romance novels have shot through the roof, largely on account of the #BookTok hashtag on Tiktok. And one of #BookTok's stars joins us on today's episode. You might remember Róisín McNally from episode #122 - she's back to tell Darach all about romance novels, how Ireland and Irishness are represented in the genre and even the bits where Gaeilge turns up.
We also have a very special appearance from Peadar and a chat with Gearóidín about Bridgerton.
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Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
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Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
---
Want to record your own podcast?
Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie
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Four years ago we started this podcast off with a discussion of the letter V. There’s been much water under the bridge since then and while we always meant to give the other seven “forbidden” letters their own episode, there was always something a bit more urgent to attend to. Like translating smutty novels and so forth.
But on today’s episode, Dr McEvoy and Mayor Pete assist Darach in a whistle stop tour of the letters J, K, Q, W, X, Y and Z. Where do they come from and what do they want? Can they ever truly belong? Are they the Casa Amor new arrivals in the Love Island villa that is the Irish language, fighting for inclusion by pushing an incumbent letter out of the way? Does it even matter? What happens if you need to put a séimhiú on karma? Are Darach and Peadar in a musical?
All this and more in today’s visit to the wild and wonderful world of Motherfoclóir.
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Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
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Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
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Everybody is talking about Twitter sensation Séamas Ó Reilly and his hilarious yet moving memoir "Did You Hear Mammy Died?"
And rightly so - it's a sensational telling of a remarkable story of a boy with ten siblings losing his mother far too young and being reared by one of the most memorable Irish Dads in the history of memoir. Can a movie be far behind?
Séamas didn't just appear out of nowhere, of course, and between his Rush Hour Crush skits, his infamous anti-capitalist satirical prank involving a chocolate spread and a professional encounter with a beloved ex-president, he is arguably the Cúchulainn of Irish Twitter.
In this week's episode, Séamas chats to Peadar about his book, his journey to becoming a writer… and his favourite Irish word.
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Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
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Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
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When we say that a child is full of divilment, are we saying that they are possessed by Satan? No, we are not.
In today's episode, Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar consider the concept of the devil in the Irish language. Why does diabhal scéal (devil a story) mean no story? What's the deal with the devil being buried in Killarney? Were politicians aware of the term Taoiseach An Bháis (Lord of Death) when the term Taoiseach was chosen to mean Irish Prime Minister? And with all these terms, how much weight should we give to "fear dubh", which entered The Discourse this July?
We also talk about Protestants and the Zoo, for some reason.
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Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
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Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
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Well, it couldn't last forever; Motherfoclóir will be ending forever before this autumn. Before we go on our separate ways, we'd like to bring you some topics and guests that we always meant to, but put on the long finger because we wanted "do more prep" or "wait until X was available" or some other excuse. Anyway, there's no time to procrastinate anymore…
First up, our Gearóidín tells Darach all about her PhD thesis in advance of a viva. What's a viva? What's a thesis? We will explain. Gearóidín explains how certain concepts recur in how minority language users and people with disabilities interact with the legal system in general and policing in particular.
Are there digressions? Yes, one or two.
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Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
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Darach chats to Katy and Dominic, the hosts of popular podcast "The Europeans".
To hear the full episode and much more visit https://www.patreon.com/darach
The Europeans podcast can be found at https://europeanspodcast.com/
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Darach is joined by Mira Adama (@LostWolfling), along with a cast of other contributors, to discuss a cult classic of Irish cinema.
Watch Fatal Deviation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPne3Wh0lqk
This is our last episode of the season! You can join us on Patreon for bonus content throughout the break.
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Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach
Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
---
Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
---
Want to record your own podcast?
Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie
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Recently, Yiddish became the fortieth language to join Duolingo, an achievement that followed hot on the heels of Harry Potter being translated into Yiddish. And would you believe that a brother and sister were responsible for these separate accomplishments? Well, when we found out about it we were struck by how many of the same kinds of conflicts and considerations that faced Irish came up again in thre context of Yiddish. So we had to find out more.
On today’s episode, Darach chats with siblings Meena and Arun Vishwaneth about their family’s relationship with Yiddish. They tell him how the phenomenon of Yiddish loanwords in slang has a downside when promoting the language, about the sense of post-assimilation loss that defines the relationship some American Jews have with the language. Meena (who worked on Duolingo) talks about dialects and the struggle to pick a flag to represent Yiddish on the app. Arun (who translated Harry Potter) tells of the process involved in translating house names, Quidditch itself and picking a dialect for Hagrid - as well as the matter of a major plot point hinging on an acronym.
You can find the Yiddish duolingo module on the app now.
You can follow Arun on Twitter at @a_a_vishwaneth
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Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach
Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
---
Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
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Want to record your own podcast?
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Watch this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsORJSesv48
In 2017, Irish Sign Language (ISL) was officially given legal recognition in Ireland. Of course, it has a long history prior to this and in today's episode, Darach and Gearóidín meet Caroline McGrotty (@CarolineMcTweet), an ISL translator and presenter, to find out more.
Where did ISL come from? Is it different in Northern Ireland? What is Caroline's favourite ISL word? Find out all this and more.
ISL interpretation in this episode is provided by Catherine White. This production was made possible by the show's generous supporters on Patreon.
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Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach
Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
---
Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
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Want to record your own podcast?
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Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the Wee Donkey.
Everyone is hooked on “Line of Duty” at the moment, the latest reinvention of the cop show genre - and, fittingly, a reinvention of the “Irish cop” trope which is even older than television. But why did this format - a legacy from the era of segregation and McCarthyism - survive when westerns, Elvis movies, and musicals either die off or get resurrected beyond recognition?
More than any other part of the state, policing is understood in the context of police shows. Its shortcomings are explained in the context of the internal conflicts of relatable protagonists while teachers and politicians continue to be antagonists, doctors and lawyers are allowed save the world from the private sector, and nurse/librarian protagonists in mainstream drama are outnumbered by their porno equivalents. The cop show is not going anywhere, absorbing bits of other formats in its path, and the Irish cop is a part of it.
In today’s episode, Darach, Gearóidín and Peadar discuss the evolution of the cop show and the Irish cop trope and consider how Hastings has brought significant chunks of Hiberno-English to a large audience. And as Gearóidín admits to a strange crush, Darach takes a surprising perspective on one of the 20th century’s most notorious criminals.
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Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach
Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
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Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
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When he’s not beavering away at this very podcast, Darach does a bit of work with the Irish Arts Center in New York as part of their word of the week project. This allows him to collaborate with some exciting and talented artists, such as today’s guest Louise Ní Chuilinn (as known as Selkies). Louise, an Irish speaker living in Brussels, tells Darach and Peadar about that city’s artistic scene, such as the bandes dessinées which French learners in Ireland love so well. She talks about her collaboration with our own Gearóidín on the Peig masks, the mythological background to her illustrations for Darach’s words of the week, considers the culture of bilingualism in her new home and explains what a gickna is.
The Irish Arts Center Word of the Week is here: https://irishartscenter.org/event/irish-word-of-the-week
Gearóidín’s masks are here: https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/Fualainn
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Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach
Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
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Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
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There’s a song in the Mincéir tradition (made famous among settled audiences by Luke Kelly) called the 40 Foot Trailer which ends with the line
“There's a bylaw to say you maun be on your way
And another to say ye can't wander”
The implication is clear: the Traveller Community are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Despite the visibility of the Travelling Community in Irish life, in political pamphlets and bad-faith documentaries, the fact remains that the wider community in Ireland remains unfamiliar with the detail and context behind many Mincéir traditions and the community’s contribution to preserving folklore.
In this week’s episode, Darach and Gearóidín are thrilled to be joined by Oein De Bhairduin, a writer and academic who celebrates and shares his Traveller heritage. His book, “Why The Moon Travels”, is a beautiful collection of Mincéir folklore and deserving of a wider audience. Oein tells Darach and Gearóidín about the right way to tell a story, the significance behind funeral traditions, the importance of female financial independence and invites us to consider that the wandering protagonists of Irish mythology might not be settled folk at all.
Do yourself a favour and buy a copy of his book: https://skeinpress.com/product/why-the-moon-travels-by-oein-debhairduin-copy/
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Support Motherfocloir on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darach
Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/
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Contact the show:
whatsapp - +353894784713
twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor
email - [email protected]
---
Want to record your own podcast?
Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie
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