A journey through our myths and legends

 Introduction

confession to start.  Two weeks into addressing a gap in my knowledge with a journey through the storied landscape of Ireland’s mythology (1), I was stunned by a lightbulb moment.  Having attended previous classes at Queens University Belfast on diverse topics - including the origins of Ulster place and surnames, the six Celtic languages, Ulster’s archaeology from first settlers, Ireland's native trees - and after reading a couple of books by folklorist, travel writer and linguist Manchán Magan (2), that self-same dazzling light prompted me to try “joining up the dots.” 

To that end I'd like to focus on two of our mythology's four main cycles, the Mythological and the Ulster, and illustrating both with a story. Beforehand, this 21st century mac léinn (student, literally a son of learning) must examine the source material, our ancient manuscripts.

 

ramatis personae include druids deities and high priests, kings and a queen, and tribes including one that sounds like a contemporary traditional music band, the Tuatha Dé Danann (3).  The latter were an ancient race of gods who conquered and ruled Ireland long before humans (4).  My brain-cells, dots or no dots, are being taxed from the outset. 

he Dé Danann’s arrival in Brú na Bóinne displaced their predecessors na Fir Bológa (strongmen of Mediterranean origin) to Connaught.  They in turn were followed by the Milesians, regarded as ancestors of Ireland’s Celtic population. These Milesians defeated the Tuatha Dé sending them to live under fairy mounds (síthe) at Uisneach, a sacred place of assembly associated with the druids and the festival of Bealtaine (5).  Next came Cúchalainn and the Craobh Rua (red branch) occupying the sacred stronghold Emain Macha (Navan Fort); with the Fianna (warriors) led by Fionn MacCumhaill completing the four Cycles.  All in all, these groups constituted a veritable cacophony of activity covering many centuries before Saint Patrick’s arrival with Christianity in the fifth century AD.  

Manuscripts

tories abound from the Children of Lir (the God of the Sea in Irish, Llyr in Welsh mythology), to the beautiful Deirdre of the Sorrows and her doomed romance with Naoise son of Úisliú (6), and leading to the epic of early Irish literature the Táin bó Cúailgne or Cattle raid of Cooley - to provide an introductory flavour of myths.  Proof of the existence and survival of the fables that accompany the Cycles appears in narratives, recorded in ancient manuscripts with exceptional literacy and artistry by Christian monks from the 11th century onwards.

  

These sages had for the first time in human history written down stories that had been passed down through the centuries solely by word of mouth, providing insights into prehistoric eras of life in Ireland.  To them we owe gratitude as custodians and scribes of our cultural heritage.  The main manuscripts intrigue not least because of their titles - the Book of Invasions, the Book of the Dun Cow, the Book of Leinster and the Yellow Book of Lecan.  

 

Serendipitously, it was recently reported (7) that Trinity College Dublin’s Medieval Studies Manuscript Research Project (8) had, by December 2023, digitised 60 documents or about 16,000 pages of text and artwork from its prized collection numbering 600 such manuscripts.  

he digitised documents are now available to view.  To quote one commentator, “the university’s collection of books and instruments has been brought to life through a dizzying array of projection mapping animations and immersive visuals (9).”  In addition, the Book of Kells written in Latin about the Gospels can now be seen in animated film shown on a wraparound screen journeying to Ireland from the sacred Inner Hebridean island of Iona and its 6th century Abbey founded by the Irish Saint Columba (10). A trip to Dublin seems like an essential next step.

inguistically, the principal language adopted by the manuscripts’ scribes was Irish.  The scale and survival of Trinity’s collection says something about the significance of fables both in and before the 11th century here (as well as today). It is a de facto recognition that narrative was - and remains - an art apart.  As Oscar winner Cillian Murphy replied to a question about growing Booker and Oscar nominations for Irish authors and actors, "we have always been a nation of story-tellers." 

Whereas there are different ways to express stories - song, dance, art - in this essay we mean the oral telling and much later transfer to writing.  In normal parlance, one would say insím scéal duit - I am telling you a story or - is scéalaí mise - I’m a storyteller.  But legendary story-telling has always been an exalted activity, above the everyday.  Hence, linguistic Irish has particular words for ancient wisdom.  The compound word Seanchas means lore (the adjectival prefix sean meaning ancient), the art of story-telling.  Specific terminology such as seanchaí (suggestive of a sage, saoi in Irish) is needed to describe “a custodian of tradition” or “a reciter of ancient lore.”   

The special vocabulary elevates and transfers the oral art of story-telling across to written form.  And that’s before even mentioning the flamboyance and effort devoted to the artistry of the Gaelic font and colours used to portray with emphasis the manuscripts’ ancient wisdom.

Furthermore, dinnseanchas translates as lore about places.  The adjectival prefix dionn means eminent; as a noun, it means a fortified height.  This lore includes fairy-mounds, holy wells, hill-forts, trees, ceremonial monuments. In recent centuries, it extends to the origins of place-names such as in townlands and geographical features which may also provide tantalising clues about their mythology.  

Examples of locational intersections between mythology and archaeology are described eloquently by Manchán Magan (11).   Our ancestors, he writes, were inspired by nature through myths and lore which have shaped a national identity that is embedded in the land. A theme in his analysis is that retaining connection with the natural world and place is crucial to our understanding of who we are. On 14 March 2024 he began a new documentary series on TG4 entitled Ag Triall ar an Tobar (in search for holy wells).

A propos linguistic subtleties, consider the manuscript titles taking two as examples.  The Book of the Dun Cow or Lebor Na Huidre uses the word Lebor, in modern Irish leabhar (pronounced like the English word lore).  Na Huidre (sounding phonetically like the English word heir) is the genitive Irish word oidhre, derived from the nominative odhar (12) (and pronounced in English phonetics as oar) meaning Dun Cow (greyish brown).  Likewise the Book of Invasions, or Lebor Gabala Erenn, uses the words Leabhar (book) and Éireann (Ireland itself).  Gabala stems from Gabhál, genitive gabhála - seizure, hence the Book of Invasions.

The Mythological Cycle - a story

The Book of Invasions lists all the ruling groups since the beginning of the world no less, as well as the battles they fought.  The Tuatha Dé Danann, the people of the Goddess Danú, were the first such group.  The quintessential story of their era is the legend about the Children of Lir. 

The Children of Lir sculpture (1966) in the Garden of Remembrance Dublin 

 

A side-story which appeals, given my upbringing surrounded by music and instruments, centres on the high priest of the Tuatha Dé (plural of tuath, the people of Dia or God - The Chosen people).  He was Danú’s father, The Dagda (meaning Good God) (13).

The Dagda could control the seasons using a magic harp called the Uaithne (modern Irish for a prop; or appropriately in music, meaning consonance; cruit is Irish for the small harp, cláirseach being the classical harp).  To change the season he could play a certain chord.  Made from native oak, the Uaithne was a powerful tool which he would take to battle, as its chords would exhort his men and ensure victory.

The Tuatha Dé Danann’s mortal enemies, the Formorians - described as a cruel people and led by Balor of the Evil Eye - plotted to steal the Uaithne. They would learn its secrets and bring it into battle, hoping to defeat the Tuatha Dé and rule Ireland.  The violent Formorians broke into his lair and purloined his Uaithne.  No matter how hard they tried, however, they simply could not get it to play.  Any time they ran their fingers over its strings, all that resounded was silence .

When The Dagda noticed that his cherished harp was missing, he gathered a group of warriors to get it back.  He called out to Uaithne and it sprang to life, flew through the air towards him, killing nine Fomorians (maybe collateral damage, says I).  He grabbed his Uaithne and effortlessly played three chords. The first one made the Fomorians burst into tears and collapse in despair. The second made them erupt into laughter and toss their weapons aside. The final chord sent them into a slumber, allowing The Dagda and his men time to escape unharmed.

The three chords of Uaithne are Goltraí (slow sad music), Geantraí  (happy lively music), Suantraí (a lullaby).   Geantraí is, incidentally, the name of a traditional music programme broadcast by the television channel TG4. 

To be accredited as a Master Musician in Ancient Ireland, the performer had to be able to induce the audience to weep, to dance and to snooze.  Entertainments (the ancient equivalent of nights out on the town) began with sorrowful tunes, leading to lively tunes, the evening ending in tones designed to induce slumber - just like many’s a “trad” music seisiún today.  A Dagda legacy is that the harp became and remains as Ireland’s national emblem.  

Two postscripts.  Apart being home to these ancient manuscripts Trinity College in Dublin also houses the 1400 AD “Brian Ború harp.”  And a new BBC television documentary about the work of archaeo-musicologists on instruments including the harp and the music of Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology is recommended for potential parallels and applicability to Ireland (14).

"Brian Ború harp" TCD

The Ulster Cycle - a story 

The central text of the Ulster Cycle is the Táin Bó Cúailgne story.   It’s about a war declared by Connacht’s Queen Medb and her husband Ailill against the King of Ulster over wealth, the aim being to steal Ulster’s stud bull Donn Cúailnge.  Because of a geis (a curse) on Ulster’s king and warriors, the role of combatant fell to Cúchulainn, the hound of Ulster (15). Kinsella’s translation from the Irish manuscript (16) describes Cúchulainn’s riastradh (old Irish for a “warp spasm”).  Its graphic prose doesn't hold back:- 

 

• “malignant mists and spurts of fire flickered red in the vaprous clouds boiling above his head, so fierce was his fury”.….“tall & thick steady & strong rose up from the dead centre of his skull a straight spout of black blood darkly and magically smoking….. 

• “When that spasm had run though the high hero Cúchulainn he stepped into his chariot to find his enemies and killed 100, then 200, 300, 400, then stopped at 500…  

• “he threw up this circle round about the four great provinces of Ireland to stop them fleeing, he went into the middle of them and mowed down great ramparts of his enemies corpses  

• “this slaughter is one of the 3 uncountable slaughters on the Táin....  

• “In this great carnage of Muirthiemne Plain, Cúchulainn slew 130 kings, dogs and horses, women and children and rabble of all kinds, not one man in three escaped without his thigh bone or head being smashed and when the battle was over Cúchulainn left without a scratch on himself or his helpers or horses.”

Whoever the monk was, the author of this account (as translated by Kinsella), he knew eacatly how to compose a horror story and how to communicate it with enough drip-feed to petrify readers. The monastic scribe had a redoubtable literary technique and a polished nous in describing armageddon. In the aftermath of Irish successes at the aforementioned Oscars, were he around today he could well have become a Hollywood screeen-writing nominee. 

 

Even allowing for my exclusion of much detail, the Táin's message is reminiscent of today’s wars, such as applying similar militaristic words like defence and slaughter.  Seemingly 21st century leaders have learned no lessons from the past. In Irish the alliterative saying Filleann an feall ar an bhfeallaire fits; a French equivalent likewise - Plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose. Cúchulainn acts with apparent impunity, like a killing machine.  His status as a “high hero,” or being so described by a Christian devotee, is debatable.  Is this really a role model for Mother Ireland?

Two QUB academics (17) have scrutinised Kinsella’s account of Cúchulainn including his translation of the day after the Táin slaughter. Their analysis includes these descriptives supporting an important hypothesis:-   

 

• Cúchulainn’s hair, “brown at the base, blood-red in the middle, a crown of golden yellow, settled in 3 coils on the cleft at the back of his head…

• “4 dimples on each cheek, yellow green crimson and blue, 7 bright pupils, eye jewels, each foot had 7 toes, each hand 7 fingers, breast broach of light gold & silver with gold inlays.... blinding brilliance.”  

   

McCafferty and Baillie say that this account “leaves little doubt that people had seen a comet, close enough to make out the details.”  Most of these elements are impossible, they argue, if you try to make Cúchulainn into a human hero; conversely, all the elements be they coloured dimples or blindingly bright jewels could be explained as interpretations of a close comet and its coma.  They describe comets as “hairy stars with dust tails appearing as long hair streaming behind.”  

Their book presents this image of Donati’s 1858 Comet:- 

In further support, the QUB experts refer to Cúchulainn’s final encounter - his combat with Ferdia - quoting, among other passages, this gory piece:-

 

• “Cúchulainn warped into his fury spasm. He blew up and swelled like a bladder full of breath and bent himself in a fearful hideous arch, mottled and terrifying, and the huge high hero loomed straight up over Ferdia, vast as a Formorian giant.” 

McCafferty and Baillie describe the blood-curdling encounter with Ferdia sticking his sword inside Cúchulainn, “turning the ford crimson with his battle gore;” and Cúchulainn attacking Ferdia with his gae bolga, a spear that (wait for it) opens its 30 barbs inside the body, killing him.  Is the scribe justifying the use of lethal weapons to defend something or somebody?

 

To reconnect with the linguistic sub-plot and the adjective bolga, the Mythological Cycle’s first-recorded battle pitched the Tuatha Dé Danann against na Fir Bológa, aka the Fir Bolgs, barrel-chested men from Spain or Greece.  These Fir Bolgs somehow conjure up modern images of Irish rugby's super-fit prop forwards. Bolga is the same Irish adjective as bológ, now used to describe the spear, gae, as it was with the burly men, fir.  Spear in today’s Irish is ga.  Bológ means a strong heavily-built man; it also means a bullock.  

The QUB authors’ interpretation continues in support of the Comet thesis thus:-

• The imagery of “two blazing torches,” “gift-scatterers” and “a fearful hideous arch” sit comfortably with the comet hypothesis as does the turning of water red; and

• “When the comet is far away Cúchulainn is not heard of and peace reigns in Ireland. When the comet is near earth Cúchulainn and the others get up to all sorts of supernatural shenanigans.”

   

y chance I found a musical parallel between this bellicosity and The Dagda story.  It might, however slightly, alleviate distressing impressions left from Cúchulainn’s combative fury.  An authoritative musicologist has reported that the original title of the anthemic and haunting Londonderry Air (O Danny Boy) was “Eimear’s Farewell to Cúchulainn, (18)” his sometime wife (but that’s another story).  An age-old question occurs - could Eimear be the “anon” composer of Ulster’s most beloved ballad ever? 

iven that our ancient predecessors lived in harmony with nature (unlike ourselves) (19), equally aware of the planets, their design accuracy of monuments is uncanny.   Long long ago - some 5,200 years to be more precise - the mid-Neolithic builders of Newgrange constructed a roof box over the passage entrance.  On winter solstice the rising sun sends in a shaft of light that penetrates 19 metres hitting the triple spiral motif in the back burial chamber (20) to open the vortex into “the other world” for the dead.  In addition, those neolithic builders were suffieciently skilled and knowledgeable to line up Newgrange and other monuments across Ireland to the central point of Uisneach.

 

These facts adds veracity to claims about residents of this little island, Ireland's ancients, as observers of and influenced by celestial events.  Fadó fadó. While avoiding any temptation to sound far-fetched - and taking the surreptitious opportunity to add the Aurora Borealis - those stellar apparitions might indeed include Cúchulainn and other such passing comets.

Passing comments

any of the legendary invasions are said to be based on actual historical events.  In which case real time must be relevant.  The Milesians, for instance, the group which ruled Ireland after the Tuatha Dé Danann and are regarded as Celts, the Gaelic people are said to have invaded around the first century BCE (21).  According to the Ulster Cycle Cúchulainn’s death aged 27 is reported in the Annals of Tighernach (Tiarna meaning Lord) to have occurred in 39AD (22).

The archaeologist Ruairí Ó Baoill (23) points to evidence of Ireland’s first settlers existing at Mount Sandel near Coleraine.  Excavation indicates occupation dating from the mesolithic period.  "Their sturdy huts represent the only definite mesolithic houses discovered in Ireland." Flint tools have been unearthed, indicating that Stone Age hunters camped there to fish salmon in the weir.  It shows that Mountsandel Wood is the earliest known human settlement in Ireland (24) dating to between 7600 and 7900BC.  

Without taking legend literally on timescale, thoughts occur about reconciling histories of the first century BCE Milesians and maybe even the first century AD Cúchulainn with archaeological evidence.  The Mountsandel settlers would have been living here seven millennia before those early Celts were born or before the disguised (or metaphorical) Cúchulainn soared high.

This mythical journey has a way to go if I’m ever going to be able to replicate the artistry of my ancestors and join up dots.

 

 

©Michael McSorley 2024

References

1. "A Journey through Irish Myths and Legends" Janice Witherspoon Queen's University Belfast 10 week course

2. Talk at Black Box Belfast 18 March 2024 https://imaginebelfast.com/event/manchan-magan-listening-to-the-land/ 

3. In concert at Ulster Hall Belfast Tradfest 16 March 2024 

https://www.ulsterhall.co.uk/what-s-on/frankie-gavin-d%C3%A9-dannan/ 

4. Encyclopedia Britannica

5. www.irisharchaeology.ie Mayday and the Celtic festival of Bealtaine 

6.  https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/legendary-deirdre-sorrows?

fbclid=IwAR1LSjrvHm_Hy7M33zc-BpPHIVMP4zKTvXe1-uG8kkKqEsTr9k5i2Mu7mFI_aem_AZh1C-Ns4vE_

BNSUqtQp0E0WpnOvFxDAylikntp-sPJhnYuJQO9XxvkA2jcpey3C1zk

7. Irish Times The Ticket 2 December 2023 “Down to the Finest Detail” Henrietta McKervey

8. https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/catalog

9. Irish Times The Ticket 20 January 2024 Una Mullally

10. RTÉ News 16 January 2024  https://www.facebook.com/rtenews/videos/6954537057993222 

11. Manchán Magan "Listen to the Land Speak" 2022  

12. www.focloir.ie  https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/odhar 

13.  https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Irish-Antiquities-Division-Collections/Irish-Antiquities-Articles/

The-Winter-solstice-at-Newgrange

14.  BBC4 4 Mar 2024 “Discovering the Music of Antiquity. The search for period instruments”

15. Reflected in the modern surname MacConUladh McCullagh - son of a hound of Ulster

16. The Táin Translated from the Irish Epic Tain bó Cuailnge Thomas Kinsella 1969

17.  "The Celtic Gods Comets in Irish Mythology" Patrick McCafferty & Mike Baillie. TempusPublishing 2005

18.  BBC Radio3 Invitation Concert 29 February 2024 D Byers Programme Notes C.V Stanford Irish Rhapsody no.1

19.  BBC News 8 March 2024 Lough Neagh: toxic algae potentially waking again

20.  https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Irish-Antiquities-Division-Collections/Irish-Antiquities-Articles/

The-Winter-solstice-at-Newgrange

21. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/lir 

22.  "The Celtic Gods Comets in Irish Mythology" Patrick McCafferty & Mike Baillie 2005

23.  The Archaeology of Ulster: from first colonists to modern times Ruairí ó Baoill QUB O/L Jan-Mar 2020

24.  P C Woodman 2015 "Ireland’s First Settlers. Time and the Mesolithic" Oxbow Books

A Musical Epiphany

As winter takes its grip and snow falls, what better way is there to grow into the new year than to reflect on some of the best of last year's exceptional concerts.

Allow me therefore to highlight a small number of musical gigs from 2023.  Having listed a personal selection of its best books last month (1) just before Christmas, it feels appropriate to emphasise the joy of live musical entertainment.  

And, following the recent feast of the Epiphany, a quotation from the great bard's Twelfth Night fits the bill - 

    "If music be the food of love play on, give me excess of it...."

There is no particular order of priority except to say that every single one of the following four concerts warrants special mention.  That's because each gig makes the list because of some unique quality, as will be revealed.

Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil Clonard Monastery

On 31 March last year, a choral group from Dublin performed Rachmaninoff's epic All Night Vigil, or Vespers, in Belfast.  The venue for this masterpiece of the Russian Orthodox liturgy was the hallowed surrounds of Clonard Monastery.  I had never heard Chamber Choir Ireland perform live previously.  The artistic director is Paul Hillier from England who, for example, established the Hillyard Ensemble back in the 1970's.  I had once previously heard the Vespers sung in Omagh by the celebrated Chorus of the Mariinsky Orchestra from St Petersburg.  

My abiding memory of the latter's rendition was the startlingly deep sounds of the basso profundo voices.  I did not think that an Irish choir could achieve the same or even similar quality, but Chamber Choir Ireland did so with aplomb.  Adding to the uniqueness of the occasion was the fact that late March 2023 marked the 150th anniversary of many people's favourite composer. 

Chamber Choir Ireland Rachmaninoff's Vespers Clonard Monastery

Harps Alive Rosemary Street First Presbyterian Church 

Exactly six months later on 30 September, another unique event took place in a different ecclesiastical setting, this time in the First Presbyterian Church at Rosemary Street in Belfast.  Entitled Harps Alive (An Chruit Beo as Gaeilge), this was the finale concert in a series of events demonstrating the history and beauty of the Irish harp.  The impact of hearing a mixture of groups such as from the fifteen students drawn from both jurisdictions to a pair of award-winning experienced harpers was intense and gorgeous to hear.

The Harps Alive Ensemble Rosemary St Presbyterian Church

A particular purpose was to showcase the early Irish music collected by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century organist and collector Edward Bunting, whose archives are now stored safely in Queen's University Belfast (2).  The original Belfast Harp Festival had taken place in July 1792 with Bunting recording the music and noting the techniques of the harpers.  His archives are to this day quoted regularly by big name traditional musicians of the modern era as the key source in their performances.

Studio Symphony Orchestra 75th anniversary

It's impossible to ignore the invaluable contribution of the Ulster Orchestra to life here, both in its major series of platform concerts and with its multi-faceted programmes reaching out into the wider community.   Every year contains so many highlights.  For this article's purposes, however, it's opportune to mention another orchestra.

This example takes us back again to March 2023, to a concert featuring classical music performed by the Studio Symphony Orchestra.  Celebrating its 75th anniversary in Belfast's Elmwood Hall close to Queen's University, this orchestra comprises of non-professional musicians from all across Northern Ireland.  As such it always attracts a big audience of families and friends leading to a particularly convivial atmosphere. 

Under the baton of David Openshaw, formerly principal timpanist with the Ulster Orchestra, the concert featured Shostakovich's festival overture, Mozart's piano concerto in E Flat, and Shostakovich's boistrous 12th symphony.  The orchestra's guest was the renowned Belfast-born pianist Michael McHale, himself celebrating his 40th birthday at the time. The combination of excellent music with two big birthdays resulted in a well-earned and rousing standing ovation.

The Maxwell Quartet with Bríghde Chaimbeul & Linda Buckley Duncairn Arts Centre

The most recent of these four musical gigs took place in November just past, part of the attraction for me being that I hadn't been in the venue before.  The Duncairn Arts Centre is a former Presbyterian Church on the north side of the city with easy access off the westlink road - especially on a Sunday as was this concert (3).  Following this moment of revelation, I've become aware that this year the Duncairn will be celebrating its tenth anniversary.

The event's novelty was that The Maxwell Quartet is an string ensemble from Scotland best known for classical and baroque repertoire.  Tonight's programme, however, offered something new and different.  The audience was treated to a mix of Scottish traditional music with the quartet preceeded by a solo set with Bríghde Chaimbeul playing Scottish smallpipes.  The Maxwell renditions of a number of pieces included Hebridean dances and a haunting plainchant from Inchcolm Abbey (4), a 12th century monastic priory prominently sited on an off-shore island in the Firth of Forth.

The Maxwell Quartet & Bríghde Chaimbeul at Duncairn Arts Centre

In the second half the quartet treated us to a new trad-styled Irish piece entitled Thar Farraige (Gaelic for Over Sea).  It was composed by the Munster musician Linda Buckley who introduced it as well as adding the musical electronics.  Inspiring to sample not just a fine new venue but also uplifting to witness performers pushing our own boundaries, perhaps even towards further musical epiphanies.

 

©Michael McSorley 2024

References

1. https://michaelmcsorleyculture.blogspot.com/2023/12/books-of-year.html

2. https://omeka.qub.ac.uk/exhibits/show/edwardbuntingcollection/edwardbuntingpublications

3. https://www.theduncairn.com/events/maxwell4

4. https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/inchcolm-abbey-p247601

Books of the year

It's always inspiring to read so many pages in the weekend newspapers with recommendations from authors journalists and critics listing their favourite books as the year ends.  

So, let me suggest a few titles that might appeal, potential Christmas presents.  It's two and a half years since I last compiled such a list (1).  Most of my selections are of books published in 2023, the best of those that I have read this year.

Before this, however, I must pay tribute to all of the authors whose creativity transports readers so vividly, setting us as witnesses into places actions and time-zones, both real and imagined. At the same time, I'm reminded of what may or may not be some people's image of writers.

This time last year "Act of Oblivion" written by Robert Harris was selected by the Times as its historic fiction book ot 2022. As soon as the paperback edition was published this year, I snapped up a copy and - was not disappointed. Set in Cromwellian England, this 550-page epic novel tells the spell-binding story of the murder of King Charles I and the ruthless pursuit of fugitives by the secretary of the regicide committee. Set in the context of his work across different and more recent eras in our history, Harris's genius for narrative warrants public attention and respect. As such, this is a candidate for my novel of the year.

Another classic - in my opinion - albeit hailing from the previous year is "Klara and the Sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2017.  As a sign of the author's prescience, his superb novel's theme has become an even bigger theme in many ways this year - Artificial Intelligence.  Set in the near future, relevant to our era, this novel is both topical and worrying in equal measure.

On the international front, Scandinavian noir continues to grab the imagination if only because there is a continuing supply of excellent authors and of icey locations catering for that bleak atmospherics fix.  This year I found "You Can't See Me" by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir.  It's part of the author's "Forbidden Iceland" series.  A family reunion in remote Iceland turns out to be at least as scary as you might desire and expect.

Towards the end of the year, I examined the bookshelves at home for another read, being too lazy to brave the winter storms to buy something new.  To my delight, and with thanks to my late wife's book-buying habit, I have discovered an author familiar to many but new to me.  One novel is entitled "Leaving Home" published in 2005, the other "Undue Influence" is from 1999. Their author (now deceased) is the art historian Anita Brookner whose style and pacing is such a contrast to Noir, to crime or to political fast-paced and page-turning thrillers. She tells stories using proper prose and syntax about seemingly uncomplicated everyday lives and featuring few characters. Both novels centre on a thoughtful female lead who is preoccupied with internally analysing life and relationships. She communicates in a calming manner. 

Examples of the opposite style - rapid, action-packed crime thrillers - came my way this year from two well-known American authors. David Baldacci's published his latest "Long Shadows" about FBI agent Amos Decker and the murder of a federal judge. It is complete with all sorts of twists and turns which kept me going with 575 pages to be turned; as did his 600-page crime thriller "The 6:20 Man." I learned much about the rasping greed of some New York traders. His novels may be long but time flies as each involved plot evolves relentlessly. 

The other author that fits broadly into this category is John Grisham. Two new books by him grabbed my attention. "Sparring partners" marks a change of style consisting of three stand-alone shortish stories. Their themes concentrating on legal dramas will reassure Grisham fans. His other book this year was "The Boys from Biloxi." This involved a more apparent style change in which Grisham has written an almost Baldacci-esque blockbuster. A first novel from his pen running to over 500 pages, this one is a legal drama set in a coastal location with dire complications unfolding for owners of gambling casinos and strip joints.

Another author deserving of a mention has two unrelated and thematically contrasting novels on my list.  One is "The Undertaking" and the other is "The Colony."  Both are the work of Audrey Magee.  The former is a love story against the backdrop of the German invasion of Russia in World War 2; while the latter, which was long-listed for the 2022 Booker Prize, is a movingly haunting tale about survival and romance on an idyllic island off the west coast of Ireland as threats to the Irish language lurk.   

My choice for the non-fiction book of the year is Manchán Magan's "Listen to the land Speak."  Magan is an acknowledged expert on Irish folklore and linguistics. The originality of this book is its stunning ability to bring pre-historical verbal accounts from Irish mythology to intersect with archaeology.  Using clues from a range of sources such as place names geography and local legends he manages to place certain myths to ancient sites that local people have always known about.  This book is a follow-up to his earlier work about Irish linguistics "Thirty-two Words for Field."

By coincidence the next book I read bore on a similar theme - as if I had been subconsciously directed to read one after the other.  The ironically entitled novel "Haven" written by Emma Donoghue, the Irish-Canadian screenwriter whose earlier "Room" was a Booker Prize finalist and adapted as a movie winning an Oscar. "Haven" is a story of early Irish Christian monks in 600AD Ireland establishing a monastic base on a rugged and bare island.  A fictional account of events follows, which may or may not bear a resemblance to the actual occupation of Skellig Michael, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2).  This international asset was infamously used a few years ago as a location on two episodes of the fantasy Star Wars (3). "Haven" is another candidate for my top novel of 2023.

I conclude with a discovery of another new author. Earlier in the year this book caught my eye, being special for two reasons.  The first was that it was stamped on publication by the Times reviewer as its novel of the month; the second was the surname of the author.  "Squeaky Clean" is the debut novel by Callum McSorley.  It's reminiscent in some ways of the Booker prize-winning "Shuggie Bain" insofar as it is a gritty story set in Glasgow and at times a difficult story to observe. Callum's book is an assured debut recounting life and survival in the midst of organised crime and violence.  Powerful stuff and scarily realistic.

©Michael McSorley 2023

References

1. https://michaelmcsorleyculture.blogspot.com/2021/06/summer-books.html

2. https://heritageireland.ie/places-to-visit/skellig-michael/

3. https://www.skelligmichael.com/star-wars/

Music makes the World a Better Place

"If music be the food of love play on, give me excess of it..."  When William Shakespeare wrote these words, he may or may not have had in mind the recent series of concerts performed live in venues close to me during August 2023.

What makes them stand out is that most were provided free of charge, all have been performed live, and each presented with such perfection as to leave a lasting impression that the world can be and is a better place.

This is in contrast to our daily exposure to a never-ending litany of national and global crises which affect us all.  It's impossible to ignore events ranging from political stalemate at home and upsetting stories from the National Health Service, a horrible cost of living crisis, the horrendous impacts of climate change in so many different places with loss of life, property and natural habitats, the distressing scenes of migrants fleeing persecution and poverty attempting escape across dangerous seas, never mind the security threats posed by a despotic invasion of Europe.  None of these crises makes anyone feel that the world is a better place.

 

Looking at the life's positives for a change, the month's extravaganza of concerts began on 4 and 11 August with two evening events in Belfast's Ulster Hall where the Ulster Orchestra performed beautiful music by big-name composers including Claude Debussy, Robert Schumann, a symphony by contemporary composer David Matthews, a beautiful suite by an "unknown" Swedish-speaking Finn Ida Moberg, a Schubert overture and Jean Sibelius's imposing 7th symphony.  Quantity and quality.

 

 They followed this up the next week with two more free events on the 16th and 18th, both lunchtime concerts again in the Ulster Hall.  The music this time was composed by Maurice Ravel followed by Beethoven's second symphony; with a work by contemporary composer Judith Weir followed by Dvorak's life-affirming 8th symphony completing the four-strong series.

In between times, the Ulster Youth Orchestra presented a celebration concert on 12 August to mark its 30th year annversary.  A packed Ulster Hall heard these gifted "youngsters" play Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto with patron Barry Douglas on piano; and after the interval their other piano patron Michael McHale played Gershwin's piano concerto in F, and the Orchestra completed the programme with a rousing rendition of Bernstein's West Side Story Symphonic Dances.  The outcome was the spontaneous delivery of two standing ovations from a well-pleased audience. 

Bearing in mind that all of these events are taking place ahead of the start of the "New Season" for 2023/24, as the Ulster Orchestra follows its pair of lunchtime concerts in Belfast with a visit to meet its wider audience this time in Dungannon.  Ranfurly House on the historic Hill of the O'Neill's has become the splendid and scenic setting for the local authority's Arts Centre.  The orchestra played a programme of movie music and some classical pieces.  The latter included works by Ravel and rhythmic Slavonic Dances composed by Brahms and Dvorak; the movie music featured popular themes from blockbuster films such as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.  Once again the Ulster Orchestra was rewarded with a rapturous standing ovation from an enthusiastic family audience.

A week later, the Ulster Orchestra performed yet another free concert in Belfast, the Presbyterian Assembly Buildings, a rehearsal event for a Berlioz Festival taking part in La Cote-Saint-André in southern France.   The final article, so to speak, will be given by the Orchestra in France on 31 August.  Rugby teams preparing to visit France in September have been going through arduous "pre-season training" ahead of the Rugby World Cup also hosted by France.  I'm thinking that the Ulster Orchestra is on an equivalent muscular course.

We all love traditional music, or trad - as in "folk music" more generally.  My wife Marie and I have, pre-Covid, attended a variety of literary and music events at Homeplace in Bellaghy, the modern new arts centre inspired by its own Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney.  On a late cancellation, I got a ticket to see the virtuosic fiddle player and composer Colm Mac Con Iomaire on 26 August perform live in the intimate setting of its Helicon auditorium.  It was one of a series of events arranged to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the poet's death.  

©Photo John Melrose

I'd known of Colm's rise to fame when, along with Glen Hansard they established the successful rock band The Frames back in 1990.  To hear him play live, fusing celtic-inspired haunting airs and gorgeous melodies with the seemingly paradoxical addition of modern recording technology was a magnificent joy to experience. The image below is extracted from the Homeplace summary of artists appearing at the weekend anniversary commemoration.

 

Marie had known and admired Seamus Heaney from his short time lecturing lyrically to her English degree class at Queens University Belfast and, I think, would have approved of my return visit to Homeplace.  With the imminent first anniversary of her passing in mind, I dedicate this account with love in musical memory of my late wife. 

©Michael McSorley 2023