RADIO REVIEW:IT WAS a less ordinary week of not-so quiet reflection. After 10 memorable years, Artszone(Lyric FM, Friday) hung up its hat. The departure of this engaging programme presented by Aedín Gormley hasn't yet provoked angry letters from the arts community, writes QUENTIN FOTTRELL
Perhaps it needs to be on RTÉ Radio One or take itself terribly seriously to qualify for that. Artszonehad no pretensions or excessive self-regard, which was a large part of its charm. Through the eyes of playwrights, novelists, musicians, actors and street performers, it gave a glimpse into the passion, conflict and whimsy of Irish life.
Gormley played clips from her favourite shows. On a bridge in Boyle, Co Roscommon, John McGahern, who died in 2006, read from his short story collection, High Ground. That is where I like to think of McGahern, not blinded by the bright lights of a big city, but in the shadows of a small Irish town. In 2002, after performing in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, singing teacher Veronica Dunne talked of changing expectations for opera singers: "Nobody wants a fat person anymore. To compromise you must develop your muscles. You must be as strong as an Olympic runner."
In 2003, Gormley told Bono that his illustrations for the children's book Peter & the Wolf, published in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation, were good-humoured, but with a dark edge. He said that that is probably as good an analysis of him as any.
In 2004, Conor McPherson spoke to Artszoneabout guilt and redemption in his play Shining City. In the play, a man talks to a therapist about his life after seeing an apparition of his dead wife. Should one be cleansed of their guilt or their sins in exchange for money, asked McPherson. "Has one man the power to give another man the sanction to say that's it, go in peace?"
More memories were collected for When the Pope Came to Ireland(BBC Radio Ulster, Sunday) to mark the 30th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's visit. The usual suspects were tapped for quotes. Fr Brian D'Arcy said, "Out of a crystal blue sky came an Aer Lingus green plane." (D'Arcy also once told this reviewer that when the Pope left for his next appointment after Mass in the Phoenix Park, he sat down and finished off the Pontiff's dinner.) Carita Kerr, former Lord Mayoress of Derry, sang I Am The Bread Of Lifeduring the Mass in Drogheda. "Never before, never since and never again would I have an audience of half a million people." Journalist Dan Keenan got close to the Popemobile and said he thought Il Papa had a "superstar quality". We've heard so much about those who were there that fine day, I long to hear the mundane stories from those heathens who actually dared to stay at home.
Ten years earlier, 230 miners in Arigna on the Roscommon-
Leitrim border went on an unofficial strike for a five-day week, more pay and better working conditions. In Documentary On One: The Long Strike, an atmospheric and moving piece produced by Peter Woods, Vincent Woods spoke to men who lived without an income during the strike between November 1968 and February 1969. Some local priests denounced the strikers, but others organised fund-raising events and many local shopkeepers extended credit to the men.
In a move to divide the workers, Vincent and Micheal Leydon persuaded 12 miners to return to work. Tommy Gralton returned to work and said the word “scab” was used: “Oh you’d get that title surely, surely.” But 40 years on and you could still hear the crackle of cold dust in his voice. He died three days after giving that interview. An old pit lamp and sod of turf were carried to the altar at his funeral.
Wednesday’s Tom Dunne (Newstalk 106-108, weekdays) explored past lives. Kevin called in about his six-year-old daughter who seemed to be channeling an ancient Indian princess.
She speaks about pink palaces, telekinesis, and uses words from an old Indian dialect. “She said there’s no heaven, all you are is love,” Kevin said. Dunne asked if she was listening to Beatles records. “Sometimes it’s like talking to a 100-year-old Shaman,” said Kevin. I could keep you here all day and tell you stuff.” But, as luck would have it, they got interrupted by an ad break.