A Question of Taste: Director of the Townlands Carnival, Sam Beshoff

By Des O’Driscoll

Sam Beshoff is from Allihies, Co Cork, and is director of the Townlands Carnival, a weekend festival of music and arts which takes place near Macroom in July.

In West Cork, Sam has an organic farm with horses and forestry, and three weeks ago became a father to a baby boy, Obi.

Best recent book you’ve read: Shelter (about different styles of building homes across the world).

Best recent film: Star Wars: The last Jedi.

Best recent show or exhibition you’ve seen: I saw the Banksy exhibition in London. I love how political his pieces can be. A picture is a thousand words.

Best piece of music you’ve been listening to lately (new or old): David Bowie’s greatest hits.

First ever piece of music or art that really moved you: Into the West really moved me. I love that film.

The best gig or show you’ve ever seen (if you had to pick one): I worked on Roger Waters’ show The Wall a few years ago and it blew me away... the surround sound and energy.

Favourite performance you’ve seen at previous Townlands festivals: King Kong Company’s show was fantastic last year.

Tell us about your TV viewing: I love Game of Thrones and The Wire.

Radio listening and/or podcasts: I listen to a lot of internet radio from the USA; jazz and funk from New

Orleans WWOZ, especially.

You’re curating your dream festival. Which artists are on the bill, living or dead? Bob Marley, Nirvana, David Bowie,

Johnny Cash, Amy Winehouse.

Your best/most famous celebrity encounter: I met Brendan Gleeson a few years ago. Funny fella.

You can portal back to any period of human cultural history or music event, where, when, and why? I would say Bob Marley in Dalymount Park in 1980 would have been fantastic.

If you could change one thing about the music scene in Ireland, it’d be... The weather and the politics!

Do you have any interesting ancestors or family?

Yes, my great-grandfather was Ivan Beshoff, the last survivor of the crew that mutinied on the battleship Potemkin in 1905. [The Russian immigrant settled in Dublin in 1914 and founded the city’s famous Beshoff’s fish and chips outlets, before he eventually died aged 104.]

You are king for a day. What’s your first decree? Treat all people as equal, tax the rich and feed the poor, free healthcare.