Raidió na Gaeltachta: 50 years a-growing

If a week is a long time in politics, five decades feels like multiple lifetimes in radio. Raidió na Gaeltachta is marking a year of celebrations as it enters its sixth decade, with a series of regional concerts in Donegal, Cork and Connemara highlighting its pivotal role in supporting the Irish tradition. Pride of place, cultural richness and honouring our heritage are the themes that will anchor these celebrations.

The station has grown its audience, navigating a path from the early days of reel-to-reel tapes to comfortably occupying a digital world where listeners across the globe can access its diverse programmes.

The station has established itself as a home for quality sports and both local and national news broadcasting. It’s got some of the best broadcasters in the country, who curate cutting-edge programmes on a broad musical canvas.

What I notice when I leave the country is that it’s become an international radio. When I go to Japan or America, people are listening daily to Raidió na Gaeltachta.

—  Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh

Neansaí Ní Choisdealbha is an editor and presenter who knows the station intimately.

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“Raidió na Gaeltachta’s mission has been to promote everything to do with the Irish language,” she says. “The music is often the first thing that brings listeners to RnaG.”

Raidió na Gaeltachta has been a gateway drug for many listeners keen to build their confidence in a language that was often poorly taught in schools, at least in the past. The station has set its own bar high for curating content that celebrates our traditional arts.

“I think Raidió na Gaeltachta has been very good at being in touch with their audience,” says Neansaí , “especially its Gaeltacht audiences who are our number one priority, and that includes the diaspora across the world too.”

The nurturing role of the radio station has been key to the survival of the Irish language and our traditional arts, Neansaí believes.

“Along with the language, the music and song, especially sean-nós singing, was almost extinct”, Ní Choisdealbha insists. “Raidió na Gaeltachta gave people that platform. At the start the station had no archive recordings, so it had no other choice but to go out in the field and make recordings and I think that helped to build a trust between the listeners and people working in the radio station.”

Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, founding member of Altan, sees the station as having played a pivotal role in her life from its earliest days.

“I remember them doing field recordings prior to the radio station opening,” she says . “I was a very young girl and they were recording my father for the opening day. I was asked to sing a few songs and it gave me a taste for my future.”

The unifying power of radio is an enormous benefit, Mairéad believes.

“Prior to Raidió na Gaeltachta, the only time you’d hear other dialects was at the Oireachtas,” she says. That was very important to a younger generations such as myself. Sometimes it took a while for us to understand one another. What the radio did was brought us together and we understand each other now, no problem. All of that is because of the radio. The spoken word is so important to keep our rich dialects alive. Our differences are what make us rich.”

“Also what I notice when I leave the country is that it’s become an international radio. When I go to Japan or America, people are listening daily to Raidió na Gaeltachta. If you want to learn a tune, even if you’ve no connection to Ireland, you can listen to programmes like Neansaí's programme [Ceol binn ó na beanna], which plays the latest music. That’s why the song and music traditions are so healthy, and RnaG has a lot to do with that.”

Donegal sean-nós singer Gearóidin Breathnach has always tuned in for the music, but the importance of storytelling can’t be underestimated either, she believes.

“I’ve grown up with Raidió na Gaeltachta. You hear stories and songs from other parts of Ireland and even from different parts of your own county,” she says . “If I had any advice to give, I think that the archives should be used more. Growing up I met a lot of those people who my father told me about in person, but young people nowadays don’t get to hear them now. I think that’s a very important thing in supporting our tradition.”

Sean-nós singer and academic Lillis Ó Laoire is another stalwart listener to the station that has shaped his own musical identity over much of his lifetime.

“Raidió na Gaeltachta is now a flagship channel for traditional music,” he says. “Neansaí Ní Choistealbha is a premier diplomat who has earned a large listenership for her wonderful programmes, Ceol Binn ó na Beanna and Béal Maidine. The programme has a very lively feel to it and people listen from all over the place – America, England and further afield. The mix of archive material, field recordings and studio music is amazing, and Neansaí's skills as a curator are nothing short of stellar. Áine Hensey similarly broadcasts an amazing afternoon programme.”

The station has been central to shaping Lillis’ identity as a singer too.

“When I began to listen to RnaG regularly, I would record material on cassette,” he recalls. “I got some great songs from doing that. I remember admiring the singing of Johnny Mac a’ Luain from Éadan Ionfach, near Glenties. The Raidió has at least four of his performances in their archive and I was a great admirer of his songs and his singing style.

“A great version of Níl sé ‘na Lá, a local song called Mo Mhallacht ar na Smugacháin a ghoid mo still aréir (My curse upon the snot merchants who stole my still last night), a song that mentions a lot of birds which seems to be satirical and cloaked in allegorical language: Sláinte na nÉanach and a distinct version of Coinleach Ghlas an Fhómhair.”

While traditional music and song are at the heart of the station’s output, Raidió na Gaeltachta pays close attention to contemporary music too, and An Taobh Tuathail has carved a distinctive role for itself over the past 24 years, thanks to the eclectic taste of its main presenter, Cian Ó Cíobháin. The programme’s title says it all when it comes to his musical philosophy.

“I used to write for an Irish language magazine, Foinnse, and I used to describe B sides of records as ‘ar an taobh tuathail’,” Cian recounts. “On the flip side, or on the wrong side. It has similar connotations to dexterous in English, or inside out. It also has a slightly supernatural vibe to it.”

At the time of the programme’s inception, English language songs couldn’t be played before 9pm, and Ó Cíobháin had no difficulty populating his programmes with music that complied with that constraint and still appealed to a younger audience, for whom the station wasn’t catering extensively at that time.

“A lot of electronic music is instrumental, and there was rock music without lyrics,” Cian says . “And of course, there was jazz, soul and funk: a lot from the Blue Note catalogue. I was shopping a lot in Soho and picking up Afro funk, New York jazz and ambient music. It was an interesting time because it forced me to dig. I think people enjoyed the fact that a lot of the music was instrumental, and that listeners could do other stuff while they were listening.”

The pandemic brought many of us closer to our radios, and Ó Cíobháin relished the gear shift it allowed on An Taobh Tuathail.

“The listener I have in mind when I do the show is the lone driver at night,” he explains . “The only time I wasn’t speaking to the lone driver was when I was doing the radio shows from home during the pandemic. Those were the best years of the show in a way, because I was alone and it was my main connection with the outside world. They were quite interactive shows. For example, I’d ask listeners if the pandemic ended tomorrow and you were back out on the dance floor, what music would you listen to? So it was all about escapism and release. They were very personal experiences and I loved them.”

Raidió na Gaeltachta is hosting three regional concerts to celebrate 50 years on air: Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair, Donegal on February 24th, the Connemara Coast Hotel on April 21st and Baile Bhúirne, Cork on April 28th. Concerts will be broadcast live. rte.ie/radio/rnag/