Galway Bay FM News Archives
Burren weaves magic on singer Seán
Date Published: 23-Jun-2011
Born into a musical family in Galway in 1943, Seán Tyrrell’s playing pedigree stretches back to the 1960s when he performed in the Fo’castle Club in the city. He emigrated in 1968 to the US playing professionally and singing in Irish bars in New York and San Francisco on what he calls ‘the corned beef and cabbage circuit’.
In 1976 he returned home and went to live in Kerry before moving to Clare where he was appointed caretaker at the UCG research station at Carron. One day he was walking with a friend at Eagle’s Rock in the heart of the Burren when something about the place spoke to him.
“It was only then that I began to realise what the Burren was all about,” he reflects. “I was ignorant of its importance and the significance of it prior to that as I never visited it as a child. I remember a tangible feeling came over me and I said to myself I have finally found my spiritual homeland. When I lived in the States I had at least four or five different homes but I knew that this was the place – and especially Bellharbour – where I wanted to live.”
Seán looks back on how his poetic-musical life took off. One night he was asked to play in a pub in Lisdoonvarna.
“The barman said he wanted some songs so I was flicking through a book of poems and Bagpipe Music by Louis MacNeice caught my imagination. I found it hilarious and knew immediately this was the song for me. I sat down and quickly produced some of the most amazing lyrics – incredible stuff and unquestionably being in the Burren influenced that. I started to sing poems and realised this was what I was looking for. I didn’t want to do The Wild Rover or Black Velvet Band – they’ve been done to death and have become an abomination but I wanted to find other things.”
The Burren gave Seán the chance to develop a connection between poetry and music which is his passion. The range of poetic voices he has tapped into stretches from the eighteenth-century Clare poet, Brian Merriman and C.D. Shanley through Yeats, MacNeice and Kavanagh up to Seamus Heaney and Paul Durcan. This standing army also includes Michael Hartnett, Mary O’Malley and Rita Ann Higgins.
Like so many creative artists who live in the area, Seán has experienced numerous magical moments.
“Everything comes into the Burren equation with me. In the days when I was oyster farming I would be up to my belly in water with a wetsuit and I remember that a swan used to come and visit me at Muckinish. It would stand and look at me, then wander off again, and return and do it again. The sea bed is fascinating and the different colours of seaweeds never cease to amaze me. One summer’s day I was coming in by boat and noticed the whole sea floor covered in incredibly beautiful white lace which was like a sea mushroom. I had never seen anything like it.
“Along this boreen where I live when you reach the sea at Bellharbour there’s a bed of the most magnificent mussels. There is something special about picking them and carrying them up to the house. I used to sell mussels for years and supplied them to some of the best restaurants along the west coast. It was extremely hard work but I still like going there.
“The very smell of my hands when I come back is like perfume to me even though it is muck and dirt but I just love eating them with friends after I’ve picked them fresh. I enjoy walking along different parts of the shore and discovering places where you find seaweeds, razorfish, cockles, oysters, or different types of scallop.”
One of Seán’s biggest musical projects involved tackling Brian Merriman’s poem The Midnight Court. He became fascinated by the bawdy, epic poem written in 1780 which is regarded as one of the most important and comic contributions to Gaelic literature.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Galway Bay FM News Archives
Galway has country’s largest population of young people
Date Published: 07-May-2013
Galway has a population of young people which is more than twice the national average.
According to information gathered by the Central Statistics Office, Galway’s population of 20 to 24 year olds is more than twice the national average.
The number of 25-34 year olds in Galway is also more than the norm nationally, with the two main colleges thought to be the main reason.
However immigration in Galway is much higher than in other areas at 19.4 percent, compared to the national average of 12 percent.
Galway Bay FM News Archives
Call for direct donations to city charity shops
Date Published: 07-May-2013
A city councillor is encouraging people to donate goods directly to charity shops.
It follows allegations of thefts from clothes banks in Galway and across the country in recent months.
However, cameras are in place at some clothes banks and surveillance is carried out by local authorities.
Speaking on Galway Talks, Councillor Neil McNeilis said the problem of theft from clothes banks is widespread.
Galway Bay FM News Archives
Galway ‘Park and Ride’ could become permanent
Date Published: 07-May-2013
A park ‘n’ ride scheme from Carnmore into Galway city could become a permanent service if there is public demand.
That’s according to the Chief Executive of Galway Chamber of Commerce, Michael Coyle.
The pilot scheme will begin at 7.20 next Monday morning, May 13th.
Motorists will be able to park cars at the airport carpark in Carnmore and avail of a bus transfer to Forster Street in the city.
Buses will depart every 20 minutes at peak times and every 30 minutes at offpeak times throughout the day, at a cost of 2 euro per journey.