An Irish Bard – The Story of a Modern Irish Poet and Storyteller (#204)
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Episode Summary:
Welcome to Season 2, Episode 4 of the Letter from Ireland Show.In this episode, Carina talks with a very unique individual that we discovered in the wilds of West Cork! Cormac Lally originally comes from Tullamore in County Offaly – but now resides in Skibbereen in County Cork where he makes a living as a modern Irish Bard. We worked with Cormac recently on putting one of our Green Room member’s Family history to verse – and were delighted with the outcome! So, if you would like to hear the story of a modern Irish Bard – and hear that family history we mentioned – then please do listen on!
The Letter from Ireland Show is a weekly podcast that goes out each Thursday from our cottage in County Cork. Tune in to this episode – and dive straight in to a bit of Irish caint, ceóil agus craic (conversation, music and craic!).
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This Episode is Brought to You by:
The Green Room! The Green Room is run by Irish people, out of Ireland – and focused on people of Irish ancestry all over the world. We know Irish culture, history, the language – and many of the issues people have with understanding complex Irish Heritage and Ancestry. While genealogy record sites bring you part of the way – we’ll bring you all the way home! So, break down those Irish Ancestry Brick Walls when you join today – see all about the Green Room here.
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Slán for now, Mike and Carina.
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That young lady is very good In her statements of the Irish songs, in which I like to see more of the same
Thanks Anthony, we will keep that in mind for future podcasts.
I really loved hearing Cormac relate Jim Purcell’s history. So well done! Thank you
We were delighted with the result and glad you liked it.
Thanks for letting us know!
Absolutely loved this Letter. 😊❤️ Thank you Carina . Cormac, your talent is wonderful and boy did that take me back to Skibbereen and Corner Bar. 😊
They sure were great memories from the Corner Bar Sandy!
Great letter from Ireland. Loved Cormac’s poem. Janice Ward
Thanks again for letting us know how much you enjoyed Cormac’s poetry.
Loved this letter from Ireland. What a talent has Cormac!!!! Janice Ward
We feel he is a unique find!
very beautiful poem enjoyed it thank you for sharing
It certainly is a “keeper”.
Thanks for getting in touch Christine.
Thank you for sharing your poems Cormac, it was a pleasure of listening to old Irish Bards..thank you Carina… Diana O’Connell Murray…
We loved having Cormac on the show and delighted you enjoyed listening Diana.
Charming series. I don’t read every letter right away, but I save them for a lazy day. I’ll share the recent bard with some people I know who are avid genealogists.
Private information: My grandfather was from Donegal, a tiny village north of Letterkenny. Spelt variously, it’s something like Carronnagannanogh, depending on the census form, note-taker and transcriber. It was also abbreviated in my father’s & aunt’s speech & sounded like Carnaganogh. My grandfather died in Scotland when my father was young, so I never met him. The family visited the village & my aunt remembered people saying, ‘Michel og’, indirectly referring to them as being descended from the son of Michael.
Thank you for sharing your own story with us Laura.
Oh, how I enjoyed Cormac’s poem. My stepfather was a Purcell. Although I never knew anything of his ancestry, it was interesting to know Purcell was a very Irish name.
Very Irish indeed!
Thank you , it was great to hear the Bard
He is a special guy with great talent and we were delighted to have him on our show. Glad you enjoyed it.
Oh my my what a gift you have me I loved every minute of the podcast❤
IRISH BLESSINGS TO YOU AND YOURS
Well thank you Jackie. It was a treat for us too to have Cormac drop in to the letter from Ireland show and recite his verse in person!
Glad to her this! What a lovely subject idea!
Cormac is a unique talent and we were lucky to have him on the show.
I found the Irish Bard episode extremely interesting because co-incidentally, my husband, of Irish descent, has also created poems for various events in his life including when he was Best Man at both weddings of a close personal friend. He picks similar topics, and has a lovely one about his grandfather and recited one about his Dad at his funeral service. He has been published on ABC radio in Australia as well as performing some of his poems at an Award Ceremony for a well known magazine here. Who knew it was the Irish Bsrd in him coming out! Thanks for your podcast on this topic. I found it interesting and stimulated me to learn more if his family history in Ireland.
Thanks for getting in touch Carol.
Looks like you have a Bard of your very own there.
[…] if you would like to HEAR Cormac being interviewed and reciting some of his poetry – you can click on this podcast episode where we captured him in full […]
[…] – and I think I know the reason why. The names were “Ward” – whom I mentioned as a Bardic family and “Shields” – mentioned as a medical […]
[…] He once worked on a farm for a man called Johnny Tom Gleeson who fancied himself a bit of a balladeer – often writing ditties that lampooned his neighbours (an old tradition among the bards in Ireland). You could say he was a bit of a “Tadhg” (poet/storyteller). […]