Award winning filmmaker Maggie Breathnach introduces Between Worlds, her new documentary exploring the life and legacy of the pioneering Irish composer and academic Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, which premieres on RTÉ One on Tuesday, December 20th.
Taking on this documentary and dancing between Mícheál's worlds for the past two years has been one of the biggest delights of my career. You rarely get to produce and direct a documentary on someone that you have admired all your life. It is truly one of life’s greatest honours.
The tragedy is that we are celebrating a life lived, and he is no longer with us. Although in some ways I think Mícheál directed this from Between Worlds. If you look hard enough, you can find the signs. I remember at the start of this journey, my brother asking me why I was so excited by this project. Words failed me, and I simply said 'You will have to see it to understand'.
I can safely say that he understands now.
I grew up in the Eighties listening to the sounds that Mícheál created a decade earlier, when he spent a year living in An Rinn. My very dear grandmother Hannah would tell stories of Mícheál and Nóirín Ní Riain, and how they integrated into one of the smallest Gaeltachts in the country. It always fascinated me how the sounds and nuances of An Rinn could be heard in many of his speeches, and his music for years later. My grandmother was not wrong in all her stories of a young Mícheál. She could see the glint in his eye and an incredible talent from her fireside chair.
Watch: NSO: Lumen - The Music of Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: A Celebration of the Light
She remembered seeing him soaking up the music and the comhrá in Tigh An Cheoil in Baile na nGall. She recalled how she knew the country had someone special just by observing him. Indeed we did have someone special as the world and Ireland were to find out as his career developed and we all experienced these achievements as he brought music and Irish culture to a wider stage. Not forgetting the group that was formed locally with many incredible Déise musicians called Tiompán, I remember the sounds of the album Oro Domhnaigh being played on a Saturday morning as the sausages sizzled on the pan, and we sat around the table listening to music and me soaking up all the chat and comhluadar with a curious ear.
I was a curious child dreaming of a bigger world through the sounds of Bonaparte Crossing The Rhine from Mícheál’s first album. I felt I knew Mícheál before I ever met him because of those Saturday mornings. I was fortunate to meet him many times, as I developed my career, and got to work with him on many programmes, from Imeall to Gradam Cheoil, and going back as far as Ardán for TG4, almost twenty years ago.
When you walked into the room, whether you were a runner serving lukewarm milky tea, or one of the world’s leading creators, he had the gift of inclusivity and making everyone feel welcome and worthy. Another great moment was delving into my own archive in Red Shoe Productions and stumbling across a very beautiful performance and interview we did with Mícheál on our long running arts series Imeall, where he shone in the comfort of his own home.
Spending time with the Phelan and Ó Súilleabháin family during the making of this has been an almost spiritual journey. I will be forever indebted to their kindness and generosity in making this documentary.
The narrative of this one-hour film will give the audience an artistic and philosophical insight into the mind and creations of a man who lived "between worlds". Creatively, we chose to film all of the interviews outdoors, defying the unpredictable Irish weather. Foregoing a traditional linear approach, themes like music, composition, education and culture dance merrily together bringing viewers on an intimate journey through some of the most interesting aspects of Mícheál's world.
The soundscape of the documentary features specially curated and recorded musical performances – including some particularly poignant numbers from the Irish Chamber Orchestra that bookend the various chapters of Mícheál’s career.
A haunting rendition of Termon, with Pádraic Keane on pipes, eloquently evokes Mícheál’s global reach, and Bean Dubh a’Ghleanna leads the viewer closer to home in An Rinn where he became truly immersed in the Irish language and culture, bringing my story with the great Mícheál full circle.
Every time I hear Bean Dubh a Ghleanna being sung in An Rinn, I always feel the magic that must have impressed Mícheál so much. The orchestration of this means the most to me coupled with the haunting voice of Ciarán Ó Gealbháin in Murrays Pub brings the spirit of Mícheál to life once again.
He may have only spent a year in An Rinn, but has left a legacy that will last for generations.
Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: Between Worlds, RTÉ One, Tuesday 20th December 2022 @ 22:15 pm - catch up afterwards via RTÉ Player.
