Starting in Donegal and finishing in Cork, the new RTÉ 2XM series Dreamland explores the diverse and vibrant contemporary music and landscape on Ireland's western edge. Producer Seán Ó Cuireáin introduces the series below.
The West of Ireland has a vibrant community of independent, diverse, and hard-working musicians, festival organisers and promoters. Sometimes the same person does all three, as is the case with Robert Mulhern or Jeremy Howard in Donegal, David Boland in Galway, or Joe O'Leary in Ballydehob.
In the summer of 2023 I set out with a small team (Rob and Marcia), and a small dog (Loba), based on an itinerary written by Jude, to document this community, their connection to the landscape, and how it affects their work, a kind of musical psycho-geographic road trip for a 12-part 2XM show called Dreamland.
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Listen to an episode of 2XM's Dreamland
Along with interviews and live sessions, we asked people about their favourite places, and made field recordings there to give a sense of place. I wasn’t initially sure how these field recordings would work in context but I have been delighted with the results, how a soft breeze in a forest canmix with a lightly brushed drum, running water can resonate with piano chords, and birdsong can harmonise with a fading plucked guitar.
Our journey was inspired partly by the late West of Ireland philosopher John Moriarty, we were following Irish "songlines", so it was serendipitous that when we were in Co. Clare on the edge of the Burren, the electronic musician Ádhamh performed for us an "Aisling" with a sample from Moriarty talking about the importance of dreaming. You can hear that in full in episode 7.
"Healing in our cultural present will come as a consequence of healing in our cultural past...to do this, we need people who can live in our cultural Dreamtime, people who go walkabout, creatively within the old myths, people who go walkabout into the unknown."- John Moriarty
It was also serendipitous that our journey ends in Cork with the band I Dreamed I Dream, who performed among other songs "Apparition", probably my favourite new release this year, according to my Tidal statistics, which are presented in a sober list form, rather than the flashy graphics favoured by other streaming services. In fact, 8 of the artists in my top 20 were people we feature in the series, which is a testament not only to how much I enjoyed making the series, but to the sheer quality of music coming from the western edge of this small island.
Aside from the music and field recordings, we collected folklore from artists who incorporate it in their music in innovative ways, especially from Tara Baoth Mooney, Strange Boy, Natalia Beylis, Aindrias De Staic, Junior Brother, Willzee, Síomha and Peadar Tom Mercier of Trá Pháidín. We also learned a lot about birds, trees and plants from Anna B Savage and Peter Broderick.
Travelling in that way from one great musician or band or venue to another, is a great way to see parts of the country you never would normally. We were roughly following the Wild Atlantic Way, but because most musicians don’t make a lot of money, they tend to live quite a way off the beaten track, we were usually listening to a playlist in the car and whenever the signal dropped and the music stopped, that’s when we knew we we getting close.
Dreamland is on 2XM every Tuesday at 7pm with a repeat on Sunday at 8 pm - listen back here.
Photos: Marcia Casturino
