Dial-a-Seanchaí: Pick up the phone and dial into Irish stories and song

Kevin Barry, Lankum's Ian Lynch, and Lisa O'Neill are among the voices dispensing tales and tunes on-demand from tomorrow, in the second year of Clare Arts Office's reboot of the popular 1980s project

Ian Lynch: Lankum singer and song collector is among the voices at the other end of the Dial-a-Seanchaí line this year

At a time before text messaging, social media and Zoom calls, and when even the likes of Aertel and "the English channels" constituted serious notions for many Irish people, one arts project pioneered the idea of arts "on-demand" in Ireland.

Originally commissioned in 1988 by then-Clare Arts Officer Kay Sheehy (currently of RTÉ Radio 1 arts programme Arena), Dial-a-Seanchaí gave phone owners the chance to pick up the receiver and dial into pre-recorded performances of stories and song from three renowned seanchaithe from the region: Junior Crehan of Mullagh; Francie Kennelly of Miltown Malbay, and Eddie Lenihan of Crusheen - the latter of whom still works as a collector and teller of stories to this day.