195 episodes

Dispatches from a not so dead language. Hosted by Darach O'Séaghdha and The Irish For… @theirishfor (https://twitter.com/Motherfocloir) Follow the show on twitter @motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuff.org

Motherfoclóir HeadStuff Podcasts

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.8 • 93 Ratings

Dispatches from a not so dead language. Hosted by Darach O'Séaghdha and The Irish For… @theirishfor (https://twitter.com/Motherfocloir) Follow the show on twitter @motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuff.org

    Back From The Dead: Translating Transylvania

    Back From The Dead: Translating Transylvania

    With thanks to the Bram Stoker Festival, the Motherfoclóir Podcast was resurrected for one afternoon in October 2022 to discuss the translation of Dracula into Irish by Seán Ó Cuirreáin.
    In this recording of last year's live show Darach is joined by Peadar and Siún as they consider the different motives of the politicians who commissioned the translation and the writer asked to carry out the work.
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    • 1 hr 3 min
    Introducing | Words To That Effect

    Introducing | Words To That Effect

    Motherfocloir is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network and there are lots of other shows on the network we think you might like. Words To That Effect is a show that tells stories of the fiction behind popular culture and if you're a fan of Motherfocloir we think there's a very good chance you'll like this show too. Here's a full episode, all about the history of dragons in fiction and popular culture. Enjoy!

    For more, and all the eps of Words To That Effect, go to HeadStuffPodcasts.com

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    • 32 min
    #186 | Last Orders - The Residents' Bar

    #186 | Last Orders - The Residents' Bar

    Thank you for your support over the last four years. 


    Thank you for inviting us into your headphones and into your head. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. 


    Thank you to Brian and Kirsten for making each episode look and sound amazing. Thank you to Éimear, Clodagh, Caitlín, Siún and Ola, and all the members of the extended Motherfoclóir family. 


    Thank you to our guests for teaching us so much. Much love to anyone who sent us messages of encouragement. 


    Go raibh míle maith agaibh. 

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    Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ 


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    Contact the show:


    Darach - @theirishfor

    Gearóidín - @GaRoDean

    Peadar - @TheKavOfficial

    Kirsten - @KirstenShielART

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    Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/jZSJZKN2



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    Want to record your own podcast? 


    Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie



    Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 
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    • 1 hr 32 min
    BONUS | Amy Louise O'Callaghan and the Irish Arts Center NYC

    BONUS | Amy Louise O'Callaghan and the Irish Arts Center NYC

    If you follow Darach's Word of the Week project with the Irish Arts Center in New York, you'll have seen the artwork of Amy Louise O'Callaghan - @amylouioc on Twitter, Instagram and Etsy - who reimagines Irish mythology in the style of Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli. More recently she has reimagined the iconography of tarot cards using well-known tales and characters from Irish mythology. She chats to Darach about her influences, her work process, her interest in Japan and her favourite Irish and Japanese words.

    https://irishartscenter.org/event/irish-word-of-the-week-chapter-3

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    • 36 min
    #185 | Last Orders - The Grass Beard: Finn Longman and Queer Readings of An Táin

    #185 | Last Orders - The Grass Beard: Finn Longman and Queer Readings of An Táin

    Join us for the final episode of Motherfoclóir, live on Zoom tonight: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55377967

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    Every artistic/visual representation of Cúchulainn presents him as a hulking, ultra-masculine figure. But is this interpretation justified by the text? In the Táin, Cúchulainn is frequently described as a small lad, girly in some ways, a person who has to change his appearance to present as a "normal man" but does not wear this disguise when he does not have to. 


    In today's episode of Motherfoclóir, Darach talks to Masters student Finn Longman about queer readings of the Táin. Once we suspend assumptions about binary genders when considering a work of literature that predates this construction, we are free to engage with the deeper meanings of the Táin. Why is the "pillow talk*chapter only in one version of the Táin? What is the significance of Cúchulainn's relationships with Ferdiad and Laeg? And why does this Irish legend talk about bodies and feelings so much? 

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    Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ 


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    Contact the show:


    whatsapp - +353894784713



    twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor


    email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org



    ---


    Want to record your own podcast? 


    Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie



    Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 49 min
    #184 | Last Orders - Motherfoclóir Meets Blindboy

    #184 | Last Orders - Motherfoclóir Meets Blindboy

    The re-release of Professor Terence Dolan's Dictionary of Hiberno-English didn't happen by accident, but was nudged into existence by a writer who also happens to be one of the most seminal and relevant voices in Irish podcasting. And he's our guest this week! 


    Before we folded the podcast forever, we are delighted to bring you this conversation between Darach and Blindboy Boatclub, one half of the Rubber bandits and author of two collections of short stories. Blindboy talks to Darach about the Dictionary of Hiberno-English, the idea of resistance in language through dialect and satire, the origin of his love of Flann O'Brien and the future of Irish podcasting. 


    Check out his books and his podcast!

    ---


    Get Kirsten Shiel art prints here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/kirstenshiel/ 


    ---


    Contact the show:


    whatsapp - +353894784713



    twitter - @motherfocloir and @theirishfor


    email - motherfocloir@headstuff.org



    ---


    Want to record your own podcast? 


    Check out our studios at https://thepodcaststudios.ie



    Or do it online at https://remotely.fm/?coddle 
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 1 hr 12 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
93 Ratings

93 Ratings

thatjamesboy ,

Makes Friday Awesome

A charming podcast about Irish, Ireland and Irish peoples. If you’re new to the Irish language, the presenters talk about Irish in such a way that breaks down myths about the difficulties of learning it. It’s hilarious and I couldn’t recommend it enough.

AlderneyMan ,

A podcast with heart

Funny, interesting, entertaining: this podcast is my absolute favourite.

If you are at ALL interested in Ireland, listen to this podcast, as it examines a huge variety of topics through the lens of the Irish language. With a range of guests from all over Ireland, the team of hosts always draws out the most interesting threads of inquiry in a charming and hilarious way.

It cannot be understated how brilliant the hosts are - some podcasts can barely have 2 hosts before it gets annoying: Motherfoclóir effortlessly runs with between 2 and 4 hosts each episode, never straying into self-satisfied or smug conversation. The production team must also be doing a great job, because the edits are always great.

This podcast has real heart!

The City Kid Manchester ,

Brilliant altogether

I have only listened to 2 episodes but they have both been delivered with great warmth, humour and personality from all the participants. I am listening from Manchester in the U.K. and shall continue to listen in chronological order on my long daily commutes. I am fully Irish in terms of blood but I was born and raised like many of the diaspora in Manchester. The second episode which featured a "Prodigal Son" type anecdote (loosely of course) really struck a cord with me and I'm a little embarrassed to say I shed a tear on the M56 motorway but I really appreciate the candour of the speaker in sharing his evocative story. Thank you so much. Slán. *P.S. I have now almost caught up with all episodes and it remain an amazing podcast. However I just wish that it would provide a note in the show notes of sources that its guests quote in the episode. For example episode 80 featuring Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha was a brilliantly insightful instalment but I could not quite make out the title or the author’s name of the new Christian Brothers grammar book the guest quoted and my online searches have drawn a blank. I am hopeful that the show notes can be updated in due course and that new episodes detail all sources quoted. Go raibh maith agat.

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