Niall Hanna: Portrait of an Artist
Martin Mac returns to talk to Niall Hanna, the singer/songwriter from Derrytresk, a friend in more ways than one; since renowned singer Geordie Hanna was both Martin's uncle and Niall's grandfather.
Niall tells how he grew up listening to recordings of his grandfather's songs and learning to play trad music. But in his teenage years he discovered Pink Floyd and the electric guitar. Later he joined an indie band and composed some songs whose titles he now chooses to forget. Eventually he returned to Irish traditional music and song.
This podcast features three original songs written by Niall and taken from his latest CD The Roving Journeyman. Niall teaches at St Patrick's Primary school, Annaghmore, and the idea for the first song we hear - "The Collier McQuaid" - came while teaching P7 students about coal mining in Coalisland.
From local history, we move to an extraordinary historical event played out on the international stage. No stranger to trad music, Oliver Corr adds much to the conversation. Martin reads a short extract from A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man by James Joyce, which prompts a re-evaluation of the term "come-all-you". Joyce's novel also gave us the title for the podcast. So, do yourself a favour and spend some time in the company of a truly gifted and engaging artist.