Dial-a-Seanchaí: Pick up the phone and dial into Irish stories and song
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 ), gave phone owners the chance to pick up the receiver and dial into pre-recorded performances of stories and song from three renowned 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.
Following a reboot of the project last year, John Lillis - better known to Irish hip-hop heads as beatmaker/Rusangano Family man mynameisj0hn - is back at the helm and curating a selection of songs and stories for Samhain, from six voices from the Irish arts community.
We're delighted to announce our seanchaithe for Dial A Seanchaí. The hotline features new recordings from six Irish artists reinterpreting existing folklore tales and songs. The artists are Lisa O'Neill; Aindrias De Staic; Ruth Smith; Ian Lynch; Ceara Conway and Kevin Barry. pic.twitter.com/RNPrGPFdkj
— Dial A Seanchaí (@dialaseanchai) September 13, 2021
These are:
- Lisa O'Neill, singer and songwriter
- Aindrias de Staic, actor and fiddler
- Ruth Smith, musician and RTÉ Simply Folk presenter/producer
- Kevin Barry, award-winning novelist and short-story writer
- Ceara Conway, visual artist and vocalist
- Ian Lynch, song collector and singer, Lankum; podcaster, Fire Draw Near
"The seanchaí holds an important role in Irish society, one far more expansive than just entertainment and stories," explains Lillis in his artists' statement for the project for Glór Ennis, co-commissioners of this year's edition.
"They are teachers, musicians, collectors, historians, geographers, and psychologists. Reservoirs of community knowledge. The rambling house and the cuaird acted as their broadcast station, transmissions from the soul. A place to share, exchange and perform."
"When the seanchaí spoke, the community listened. A felt resonance with both the landscapes and traditions being explored. Their stories and songs carry a deep understanding of the human condition, be it temptation, humour, loss, death, joy, or longing.
"Their words blur the line between the physical world and what lies beyond the veil, the unseen. The seanchaí provides a narrative to help communities understand our heritage, culture, and tradition. And on a deeper unconscious level, our surroundings and ourselves."
- is live from tomorrow until November 1, at 065-6723000.
- Calls are charged at standard landline rates, and may cost more from your mobile.
- Callers are advised that quality of the line is designed to emulate that of the original service, and will sound as such.
"I was involved in very big projects, like Ennis Arts Festival, and a few other big projects like that. We were going into the winter, and I was just looking as an arts officer for something a bit more niche, a bit more doable. I was involved creating events that people would come to, and I was thinking, 'well, what about people who can't get out to events?'
"They were the questions I was asking myself. 'Wouldn't it be nice if we could create something that people don't have to go and pay into?' So I think that's where it came from."
"I was aware of Junior Crehan being a seanchaí as well as a great fiddle player. Junior then told me about Francie Kennelly, and obviously, I knew about Eddie Lenihan.
"I was very conscious of how steeped in traditional art Clare was, and even though I felt it could provide for itself, and there was the Willie Week and everything, it would be really nice for me as the arts officer to do something.
"So they were the two things: how could people get entertained at home, and then how could I do something for the traditional art forms?"
"I can't remember when, but I'm sure I must have found out how I could play (pre-recorded messages). And the only thing I thought of playing was those old answering machines.
"I knew that the tape was about three minutes long. So that was very limiting. I had a very old tape recorder, I think, and a microphone and I went around (to the ), and I would have taped about two or three stories each, and as I went around talking to Junior and Francie, I'd have to say, "can you just cut it down?".
"We got two answering machines from Telecom Eireann, and upstairs in the library headquarters, there was a storeroom. We put two answering machines in there, and had them connected to two phone lines, which Telecom put in for us."
"I think it's fantastic, what he's doing, he's so enthusiastic about it. It's not completely different, it's still marrying technology with the oldest art form.
"And what's wonderful is when he uses people like Lisa O'Neill and Lankum, all these wonderful, young, new generation performers, who just want to excavate our past to find these wonderful songs, and then make them their own.
"I just think that's a really exciting thing that's happening in traditional arts now."
