Playlists down below 👇🌏
Today’s newsletter is brought to you by my 4th coffee of the day, a strong case of climate anxiety, and also some general anxiety!
I took a break from the news recently. Highly privileged and self-indulgent, I know, but we’re all extremely “tuned in” to so many sources of information now that sometimes the noise becomes indecipherable. It worried me that headlines didn’t really surprise or scare me any more, and instead of outrage I was just feeling a bit helpless..
Although I avoided doom-scrolling, case numbers and climate disaster articles, you can’t really escape current affairs, and I stumbled across an old Song Exploder podcast (linked here) with Bon Iver, where Justin Vernon discusses writing Holyfields, on the i,i album. He explains how it had come from a place of disillusionment and spite, almost, spitting a bit at the capitalist push for individual accomplishment while the sea levels are rising. Cheerful.
But unlike newspaper headlines that point out disaster without offering resolutions, hearing artists and other people share their observations or feelings on a world on fire stirs a different kind of worry in us. One that can be harnessed into action and a want for change - internal change and a willingness to rise up. I don’t feel disillusioned when I hear Lana del Rey singing “I wish that it would rain” on Blue Banisters, or when Foals tell of a world on fire in Exits. Even FINNEAS’ “how can you write about love when the kids are dying?” doesn’t feel entirely hopeless - I feel like someone else half the world away is considering the same reality that we are, and that they want to see change too.
It’s nothing new, of course, Marvin Gaye released Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology) in 1971, and, of course, we’ve all heart Big Yellow Taxi so often that we might not always consider why Joni Mitchell wrote it. But they all had the same intention: to create thought and awareness around how we treat the world, and how we’re going to go about it.
Music has always brought people together, whether that be at festivals or in fandoms that span continents online. And community is one of the answers to climate change, I think. We depend on one another, and individualism is only going dig us deeper into disaster - but all is not lost, and a sense of union and togetherness could be the answer to all this, especially after so much time spent apart from our communities in the past two years. Humans have always depended on each other - there is no “one” without “others” - and reclaiming meaningful communities based on connection as opposed to competition is so important in tackling not just climate change, but most of our problems. Moving forward we’ll have to learn to understand this “sacred math for figuring out or problems as human beings” as Justin Vernon describes it - you can hear him speaking about it at this link.
I’ll be chatting about all this on Bladhaire today at 3pm on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta or you can listen back here.
And so with that a hundred other things in mind I’ve tried to do something small.. I’ve been working super hard to organise a new pop-up swapshop and market. All week I had nightmares about empty clothing rails in a dark room, but so many amazing people have donated gorgeous men’s and women’s clothing that I am now having anxiety dreams of drowning in piles of vintage scarves. So if you’re in the city tomorrow, Saturday, 15th of January from 11am please, please pop in to 6 Harcourt Street to pick up some second hand and vintage clothing(!!!) in support of Women’s Aid - all info ANSEO.
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Cúinne Cultúir -my unofficial reviews on random things :
Don’t Look Up
This one received mixed reviews but I genuinely think if you truly hated Don’t Look Up it’s probably because it made you uncomfortable, and that was definitely the intention. It is a ridiculous plot line. And it’s ridiculous how close to reality it is, too. Maybe it makes us aware of the fact that there are some small life comforts and luxuries we should be forgoing, some significant changes we should be making, and most of all, that we should be shouting about climate change and pushing politicians and larger companies not just to “be better” but to stop the destruction of our…. entire eco-system. No biggie. It’s on Netflix at the moment if you’re looking for something to do after 8pm in Ireland…
Faith Healer - Abbey Theatre
(Cliar: Aiden Gillen, Niamh Cusack agus Nigel Lindsay)
An focal a rith liom agus muid ag fágáil na hamharclainne ná “timeless”. Cé gur scríobh Brian Friel an dráma seo sna 40dí, níl aois tagtha ar an saothar. D’fhéadfadh an scéal a bheith fíor sa lá atá inniu ann, agus b’fhéidir go léiríonn sé sin na buntáistí atá ann don uasalaicme agus ár sochaí ag forbairt faoi réim an chaipitleachais ach nach mbaineann le haicmí eile, nó b’fhéidir go léiríonn sé nach n-athraíonn mianta ná nósanna dúchasacha an duine, is cuma cé na forbairtí teicneolaíochta, eacnamaíochta ná athruithe ar an sochaí timpeall orthu.
Léiriú simplí atá ann, ina sheasann aisteoirí, duine ar dhuine, ar an ardán ag reic scéil amháin trí dhearcphointí éagsúla. Athraíonn an scéal ag braith ar an gcainteoir, an rud a thuig siad féin as eachtraí áirithe, an rud a chreid siad ag an am, agus an dallamullóg a chuireann an duine daona orthu féin le go mbeidh siad in ann maireachtáil le tragóid, tráma agus crá croí. Carachtairí spéisiúla an triúr, agus bhí cion áirithe agam ar Nigel Lindsay, atá ina scéalaí nádúrtha agus a chuir an lucht féachana ag gáire agus ag gol lena leagan féin den scéal.
I ndiaidh na cainte ar fad, bhí deireadh measartha tobann leis an dráma, ach d’fhág mé agus mé faoi gheasa ag cumas Friel miontuiscint a bheith aige ar charachtair agus caidrimh, an chaoi a cheaitheann daoine lena chéile agus an tionchar a imríonn muid ar na daoine timpeall orainn. Scríbhneoireacht den chéad scoth agus léiriú cumhachtach.
Beidh sé á léiriú go dtí an 22 Eanáir 2022 in Amharclann na Mainistreach.
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Seinnliosta na Seachtaine
As promised, a playlist of all some great songs ar théama an chomhshaoil agus athrú aeráide: