Irish books: good between the covers
Tenderwire – Claire Kilroy [Faber]
Kilroy’s expertly crafted second novel concerns Eva Tyne, an Irish violinist living and working in New York, who collapses after her solo debut performance and is thereafter plunged into a series of chaotic and life-changing events, not least being the discovery of a rare violin for which she must raise the required payment in cash in less than a week.
Christine Falls – Benjamin Black [Picador]
Benjamin Black is the non-de-plume of one John Banville, now hell bent on investing the suspense genre with typical moral ambiguity and depth. Christine Falls is the first in a proposed series of Dublin noir stories set in the grey and grainy 1950s, and features Quirke, a lonely, hard-drinking Dublin pathologist who is sucked into a web of intrigue involving the faked death certificate of the titular black dahlia.
Paula Spencer – Roddy Doyle [Viking]
Published with a minimum of fuss last year, Paula Spencer seems destined to become Doyle’s unsung masterpiece. 10 years on from The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, JK Rowling’s favourite modern author paints a portrait of a widowed, middle-aged woman struggling to stay on the wagon while getting by on drudge work in a country obsessed with its own youth and prosperity.
Winterwood – Pat McCabe [Bloomsbury]
Arguably McCabe’s best book, and certainly his finest since The Butcher Boy, Winterwood draws on the Irish gothic tradition of Stoker and Le Fanu to relate the macabre tale of Redmond Hatch, a journalist and historian who becomes enthralled, obsessed and eventually possessed by the character of Ned ‘Pappie’ Strange, a yarn-spinning, shape-shifting, hillbilly fiddler from the west.
The Boy In The Striped Pajamas – John Boyne [David Fickling]
Boyne’s fourth book, one of an ever widening genre of children/adult crossover phenomena (a la Rowling and Haddon), was drafted in a feverish and sleepless two-and-a-half-day period, and examines the struggle of the nine-year-old son of a German army commander to comprehend what’s taking place in Auschwitz during World War II.
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Irish screen saviours
For a small country, Ireland has produced more than its fair share of movie meisterworks. Now that they are all available on DVD, there's no excuse for neglecting them.
Barry Lyndon [warner home video]
Ryan O’ Neal stars as an 18th century Irish rogue in one of Stanley Kubrick’s best films. Extras on the DVD are a little scarce, but the print, reproduced over three discs, looks smashing.

Adam And Paul [metrodome]
Blackly hilarious tale of two Dublin drug addicts starring Tom Murphy and Mark O’Halloran; the latter wrote the splendid script. Catch it in preparation for director Lenny Abrahamson’s follow-up film, Garage, also by Mr. O’Halloran, due later this year. Can’t wait.

The Butcher Boy [warner home video]
Rather disgracefully, neither Angel nor The Butcher Boy – Neil Jordan’s two finest films – are all that easy to come by on DVD. Hunt around and you may happen on the Cinema Club edition of Angel. Meanwhile, The Butcher Boy is only available as a Region 1 title. Somebody sort this out, please.

The Rocky Road To Dublin [soda pictures]
Peter Lennon’s 1968 documentary forms a chilling portrait of an isolated, sheepish Irish society run by the church. By the time the film was restored in 2004, following a de facto 30 year ban, it was virtually impossible to recognise Ireland as was. Thank heavens for that.

Man Of Aran [home vision]
In 1934, the renowned documentary filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty went to the Aran Islands to record the tough living conditions endured by subsistence farmers and fishermen. The DVD also features How the Myth Was Made, a feature from director George C. Stoney who, with some of Flaherty’s original crew, returns to the Aran Islands in 1977 to discuss the impact of Flaherty’s classic ethnograph.

Odd Man Out [network]
There are many reasons to see Odd Man Out – the assured direction of Carol Reed, the haunting music by William Alwyn, and the cinematography of Robert Krasker – but as wounded republican Johnny McQueen (James Mason) attempts to stay one step ahead of the authorities, a fascinating portrait of Belfast emerges.

The Wind That Shakes The Barley [fox home entertainment]
Cillian Murphy and Padraic Delaney play brothers on opposite sides of the Irish civil war in Ken Loach’s excellent Palme D’or-winning film. The DVD comes with commentary by the veteran director and Professor Donal O’Driscoll.

The Quiet Man [universal pictures]
Without it, we might never have had the “leprechaun” franchise. John Wayne is an American boxing champ returning to the Irish village of his birth. Maureen O’Hara is the fiery local girl who puts manners on him. You’d think the DVD edition of John Ford’s classic blarney flick would come with bells and whistles, but no.

In America [fox home entertainment]
After they lose their only son, a young Irish couple – Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine – move to a ratty apartment building in New York City with their two daughters (Sarah and Emma Bolger). Happily, Jim Sheridan’s semi-autobiographical story of grief and strange places comes with a director’s commentary.

Dead Meat [revolver entertainment]
County Leitrim is transformed into a post-apocalyptic nightmare when a mutant strain of mad cow disease turns locals into flesh-eating zombies. Undead cows rampage and wraiths are displaced with hurling sticks in Conor MacMahon’s excellent Living Dead riff. Cuchulainn himself would be proud.
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10 Irish products to be proud of
Ireland now produces a bewildering array of consumables that can compete with the best in the world. Words: Jackie Hayden

Kerrygold
Ever-popular at home, Kerrygold is arguably one of those elite brand names that most clearly evokes Ireland on the international market. In both taste and packaging, Kerrygold reminds us of a land of clear, fresh water, rich, green grass and a lifestyle close to nature.

Stable Diet
Stable Diet’s tasty and nutritious cakes, snacks and preserves are a triumphant marriage of Katherine Carroll’s self-taught culinary skills and simple, wholesome ingredients with old-style recipes redolent of “home-baked in rural Wexford” nourishment. Taste them and you’ll know why they’ve picked up awards abroad.

Jameson Whiskey
Fast becoming the drink of choice for Ireland’s movers and shakers, Jameson’s has, since 1780, established a unique tradition in terms of its distinct quality and taste. When Mr. Jameson found that certain barleys made superior whiskey, he supplied the seeds to local farmers, so for proof of his efficacy, check out Jameson’s 12 year old.

Butlers Chocolates
Butlers of Dublin have been the forerunners of the handmade Irish chocolate market since 1932. The irresistible Butlers taste comes from the blending of the choicest chocolate with fresh Irish cream, butter and eggs. Their range includes truffles, pralines, fondant and crème fraîche chocolates, hand-packed in luxurious presentation boxes.

Clonakilty Puddings
The taste and texture of Clonakilty Puddings have made the products essential for successive generations of Irish people. They are made from a traditional recipe, using only natural ingredients, so the only real argument is one that has perplexed many for years, which is better, the Black or the White?

MacDonnells Yogurts
The Old MacDonnells functional yogurts range, distributed by John Daly Foods in Claregalway, comes in 250g, 150g and 500g pots in natural, strawberry and honey flavours. The introduction last year of new packaging provided an instant fillip to the brand’s growing popularity.

Organic Apple Juice
The increasing emphasis on nutrition, allied to the growth of environmental concerns, have prompted the discerning Irish consumer towards more organic products. Among the leaders in the field is National Organic Products in Killarney. Their organic apple and orange drinks are tasty and healthy and are available nationwide.

Bulmers
Bulmers in Clonmel are the only Irish cider producers, and their pint bottle is the biggest selling bottled beer in the country. Apart from the product’s fine taste and reputation, their advertising campaign has attracted the keen ears of music fans with a succession of tasty slices of music soundtracks.

Bewleys Coffee
The Bewley’s name has been synonymous with coffee for decades, and is a multi-million pound Irish success story that now extends into the international market. Besides luxuriating in the unique Bewleys taste at home, you can also enjoy their coffees (and teas) in hotels, cafés and restaurants all over Ireland.

Murphys Ice Cream
Made in Dingle, Murphys Ice Cream contains fresh local cream and milk, and only the real thing for flavouring, including their own homemade caramel, real rum, and Irish whiskey. Murphys never use artificial flavouring, additives or colouring, and refuse to use powdered milk or any other non-fresh substitutes.

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Ten Great Irish Songs
From Damien Rice to The Pogues, Irish songwriters have always had a way with words. Jackie Hayden offers his personal choice of the ten most celebrated Irish songs of all time.
According to poet Brendan Kennelly, “All songs are living ghosts and long for a living voice.” Long before the Kerryman was on the scene, Plato forebodingly said that “when the mode of the music changes, the walls of the city shake”.
Songs form the soundtracks to our lives, even those of which we might only remember a line or two. But once they lodge in the brain they take up permanent residence. So here are 10 Irish songs that are certain to endure as long as songs are sung..

BLOWER’S DAUGHTER
The daughter referred to is believed to be that of Rice’s former clarinet teacher and with whom he was much taken. The repeated refrain “I can’t take my eyes off you” is so hypnotic it takes on an intensity that has seen adults weeping during live performances. On record it opens with an air of vulnerability, unfolding into layers of emotion made even more effective by the song’s comparative simplicity. Rice insisted on recording the song in his own bedroom, a fact that might explain the remarkable intimacy and immediacy the recording achieves. “What I really enjoy are people who, when they’re singing, it feels like, if they didn’t sing they wouldn’t be alive,” says Rice. “You can just feel it in their voice, feel it in their words – this type of terrible passion.” It’s all there in ‘Blower’s Daughter’.
(On O by Damien Rice on DRM.)

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU
Reputedly inspired by Lou Reed telling Bono he had a great gift he shouldn’t give away, ‘With Or Without You’ was one of the songs that made U2’s 1987 album The Joshua Tree one of the greatest ever made. Lyrically, it straddles the fence between carnal love and spiritual longing. In the phrase “you give yourself away” Bono alludes to the way in which love can require a price to be paid. Despite manager Paul McGuinness not wanting to release it as a single, it gave the band their first US number one and repeated that feat in several countries. For many it’s the consummate U2 song, with all the essential ingredients. Soon it was to be heard booming out over the traffic on streets from Omagh to Osaka and is a staple of classic hits radio still.
(On The Joshua Tree by U2 on Island Records.)

RIDE ON
The test of a great song is whether it can survive multiple interpretations, not to mention the odd maudlin uncle getting to work at it on family occasions. Jimmy McCarthy’s ‘Ride On’ has survived all that, intact and as robust as ever. It’s probably best known in Christy Moore’s 1984 version, but has been given a brasher, angrier, work-out by Mary Coughlan, and by countless others who seem attracted by the tune rather than an understanding of the subtlety and seriousness of the lyric.
According to MacCarthy himself, “It is a song of parting, the parting of lovers, the parting of emigrants from their homelands and friends, the parting when accident or illness takes a loved one.” He has been asked to sing it at funerals. Perhaps it’s the optimistic determination in the lyrics that gives it such broad appeal, and Christy dedicated his version to the late Luke Kelly.
(On Ride On by Christy Moore on WEA Records.)

MOONDANCE
From the ‘70s album of the same name, ‘Moondance’ is one of Van Morrison’s most enduring songs, a celebration of nature that lyrically links music to the sounds of the trees and the wind, with a seductively sophisticated melody – all underpinned by an intoxicating rhythm that moves the most stubborn of feet. Morrison allows piano and flute to paint evocative pictures of the night, and Van himself reckoned the song would fit perfectly into Frank Sinatra’s repertoire. Morrison has himself said, “It started out as a saxophone solo, really. I used to play it every time I picked up the sax.”
Not surprising then that his voice is imbued with the suggestive magic of that instrument. ‘Moondance’ created a style that became immediately identifiable as unique to the man himself, helping him move form the relative obscurity of Astral Weeks to mainstream radio and a fabulous song to make romance to.
(On Moondance by Van Morrison on Warner Brothers.)

DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT (IT’S CAUGHT ME IN ITS SPOTLIGHT)
Pop songs by their nature are often assumed to be about nothing terribly important, just some relatively harmless words that go with a nice tune. But that can often conceal a depth and a reality that only emerges later. Upon its release in 1977 this Thin Lizzy song spent several weeks in the UK charts. The song is highly autobiographical, as Phil Lynott’s mother Philomena explained in the book My Boy. Hardly a surprise that lines such as “It’s three o’clock in the morning and I’m on the streets again/I disobeyed another warning. I should have been in by ten.” related to the time Lynott was raised by his grandmother in Dublin...
(On Greatest Hits by Thin Lizzy on Universal.)

YOU RAISE ME UP
Brendan Graham had already staked his claim to a place in Irish music history by winning Eurovision twice. But international acclaim came with the success of his ‘You Raise Me Up’, co-written with Rolf Lovland of Secret Garden. Cover versions already exceed 100, with sales surpassing 100 million. Josh Roban’s version featured on a No.1 album in the US, and the song was nominated for two Grammies. Best known in Ireland is Westlife’s version. It’s also the theme song for an animated version of Romeo And Juliet, and been the world’s biggest selling sheet music in recent history. It’s uplifting lyrics, equally appropriate for spiritual or secular occasions, have made it an all-purpose anthem for events at Croke Park, the Superbowl, Miss World, the Nobel Peace Prize, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, weddings and funerals, and it was one of only three songs sung at the 9/11 official commemorations.
(On Closer by Josh Groban on Reprise.)
 
LINGER
The Cranberries were in search of a lead vocalist in 1990. when they auditioned Dolores O’Riordan. Noel Hogan played her a chord sequence he’d been working on. Dolores took the chords home, altered the arrangement a bit, added lyrics and played what was an early version of ‘Linger’ to the band and they loved it. As bassist Mike Hogan recalls, “It was actually really good, that that was the song that actually made us.”
A five-song demo included a version of ‘Linger’ and sparked an auction with UK record companies. In time it would be an international hit single that helped turn their debut album Everyone Else Is Doing It, Why Can’t We? into a major international best-seller. The first song Dolores ever wrote, the lyrics are believed to have been about a soldier she had once loved.
(On Everyone Else Is Doing It, Why Can’t We? by The Cranberries on Island.)

RAGLAN ROAD
Assumed by many to be a traditional Irish song, ‘Raglan Road’ began life as the poem ‘On Raglan Road’ written by Patrick Kavanagh about his “love at first sight”. He had initially called the poem ‘Dark-Haired Miriam Ran Away’. His best-known love poem, he published it in 1946. Benedict Kiely remembered him singing it to the air of the old tune ‘The Dawning Of The Day’, and it became quite popular as a song in the late forties. Kavanagh sang it to Luke Kelly in The Bailey in Dublin in the ‘60s, and Kelly made what has become the definitive version with the Dubliners. It has since been recorded by acts as varied as Sinead O’Connor, Mark Knopfler, Van Morrison and American Peter Rowan, while it became an almost compulsory item in the repertoire of any self-respecting Irish act during the ballad boom of the late ‘60s.
(On The Performer by Luke Kelly on Celtic Airs.)

ONLY A WOMAN’S HEART
It's not uncommon for a song to spawn hit albums and kick-start or rescue careers. However rarely does a song almost single-handedly create a veritable mini-industry that has sold over a million albums for an Irish-based company as well as forming the theme for several overseas tours by Irish artists, including Sharon Shannon and Frances Black. But that’s what Eleanor McEvoy’s song did, and more. In 1992, a duet featuring her and Mary Black raced up the Irish charts, turning the eponymous album featuring a slection of Irish female singers into a massive hit. Not that it’s all been plain sailing. McEvoy received hate mail and death threats from men who thought the song was anti-men, although the composer herself says it’s about the depression that women can often suffer from. But then you don’t have to agree with the sentiment of a song to acknowledge its eternal quality.
(On the compilation album A Woman’s Heart on Dara Records.)

FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK
Among the unimaginative clichéd dross that infects our airwaves every Christmas, this song stands out. According to the song’s composer Shane MacGowan, the lyrics of ‘Fairytale Of New York’ are about “any fucked-up relationship based on a promise that nobody can keep.” It was written when The Pogues decided to do a single for the 1987 Christmas market. Rejecting cover versions, they opted for something original, but their first effort failed. Jem Finer’s wife Marcia reckoned it should be about a hard-up couple, with the man gambling all their money, leading to a row and making up, and he wrote a new song accordingly. But Shane suggested they combine the melody of the first song with the narrative of the second, taking the title from a book by JP Donleavy. Add one extraordinary counter vocal from Kirsty McColl and the rest is rock’n’roll history.
(On If I Should Fall From Grace With God by The Pogues on WEA.)