Voices and Poetry of Ireland

[Ace]

Taoiseach contributes to CD of Irish poems

Online.ie

2003-11-19

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has made a contribution to a CD of Irish poems recorded in aid of the homeless charity Focus Ireland.

Mr Ahern recorded the poem in memory of his mother, who died in 1988.

Other contributors to the CD include Bono, Bob Geldof, Pierce Brosnan, Niall Quinn, Gay Byrne and Enya.

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Ace

[Ace]

More info from Amazon.co.uk:

Voices and Poetry of Ireland



Hardcover 208 pages (1 November, 2003)
Publisher: HarperCollins; ISBN: 0007174071

Synopsis

A rich and colourful celebration of the poetic heritage of Ireland, this CD and book anthology features classic and contemporary Irish poems read by 100 of the best-known voices in Irish life. A rich and colourful celebration of the poetic heritage of Ireland, this CD and book anthology features classic and contemporary Irish poems read by 100 of the best-known voices in Irish life, including Maeve Binchy, Bono, Pierce Brosnan, The Corrs, Bertie Ahern, Bob Geldof, Seamus Heaney, Marian Keyes and Sinead O'Connor. The collection includes famous poems such as Yeats's "The Fisherman" and Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" alongside new work from Ireland's finest living writers.As well as forming a living testament to the best of Irish writing, the collection is also a reminder that words, both oral and written, do make a difference with all royalties going to Focus Ireland, the country's largest and most respected charity for the homeless.

[Ace]

And some more info from U2log.com


PRESS RELEASE

VOICES AND POETRY OF IRELAND: A UNIQUE BOOK AND 3 CD PACKAGE IN AID OF FOCUS IRELAND.

Harper Collins PDF of Book Excerpts

A collection of over 100 best loved Irish poems featuring recordings by many of Ireland’s famous names.

Voices and Poetry of Ireland is a 3 CD and beautiful hardback book anthology of classic and contemporary Irish poems from poets such as Yeats, Kavanagh, Wilde, Kennelly and Heaney read by over 100 of the best-known voices in Irish life such as Bono, Colin Farrell, Pierce Brosnan, Bertie Ahern, Maeve Binchy, Bob Geldof and Terry Wogan. The objective of this rich and colourful celebration of Irish poetic heritage is to raise much-needed funds for Focus Ireland, one of Ireland’s largest voluntary agencies solely dedicated to combating homelessness. Founded by Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy in 1985 it helps over 4,000 people each year throughout the country.

The original concept was by Lunar Record’s Brian Molloy and the project was produced by the company with the full support of Poetry Ireland. Voices and Poetry of Ireland is scheduled for world-wide release in November 2003 with Harper Collins. The CDs feature over 100 readers from such diverse backgrounds as the arts, broadcasting, politics and all aspects of public life and together with the Book comprises a living anthology of the best of Irish writing while capturing the wide range of registers that make up the Irish speaking voice.

The poems, drawn up in consultation with Poetry Ireland, reflect something of the diversity and variety of poetry from Ireland and includes both famous and historical poems alongside new and even unpublished work from among our finest living writers. The Book contains photos and biographical details on the well-known readers and the text of the poems which they bring to life on the accompanying CDs.

Retail Price Euro 40


VOICES & POETRY OF IRELAND

Contributor - Poem - Author

Bertie Ahern - The Mother - Padraic Pearse

Robert Ballagh - A Glass of Beer - James Stephens

Patrick Bergin - The Mystery - Amergin

Maeve Binchy - Pangur Ban - Anonymous

Charlie Bird - Danny - J.M. Synge

Tara Blaze - Nuala - Brendan Kennelly

Luka Bloom - Mirror in February - Thomas Kinsella

Bono - God’s Laughter - Brendan Kennelly

John Bowman - A Little Boy in the Morning - Francis Ledwidge

Paul Brady - 4 Voices without an Instrument - Medbh McGuckian

Pierce Brosnan - Father and Son - F.R. Higgins

Vincent Browne - A Christmas Childhood - Patrick Kavanagh

Gabriel Byrne - To L.L. - Oscar Wilde

Gay Byrne - Mid Term Break - Seamus Heaney

Liam Clancy - The Second Coming - W. B. Yeats

Paddy Cole - The Friction of Feet in Time - Michael Coady

Andrea Corr - Never Give all the Heart - W.B. Yeats

Sharon Corr - First Annual Report - Gerry Corr

Phil Coulter - The Man from God knows Where - Florence Wilson

John Creedon - The Bells of Shandon - Francis Mahony

Anthony Cronin - The Fisherman - W.B. Yeats

Jeananne Crowley - An Old Woman of the Roads - Padraic Colum

Bill Cullen - Shades of Ranelagh - Macdara Woods

Dana - The Christmas Rose - Cecil Day Lewis

Ian Dempsey - Duffy’s Circus - Paul Muldoon

Dermot Desmond - My Land - Thomas Davis

Moya Doherty - Winter Birds - Moya Cannon

Theo Dorgan - Death of an Irishwoman - Michael Hartnett

Anne Doyle - Nude - Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill

Danny Doyle - Pity the Islanders - David Quin

Ronnie Drew - Ode - Arthur O’Shaughnessy

Joe Duffy - Someone - Dennis O’Driscoll

Myles Dungan - To My Daughter Betty, the Gift of God - Thomas Kettle

Eamonn Dunphy - excerpt from The Paddiad - Patrick Kavanagh

Paul Durcan - The Lovers - Anthony Cronin

Dave Fanning - July in Bettystown - Gerard Fanning

Colin Farrell - Dublin Made Me - Donagh MacDonagh

Marian Finucane - Night Feed - Eavan Boland

Brenda Fricker - The Pride of the Coombe - Seamus Kavanagh

Gavin Friday - The Ballad of Reading Gaol - Oscar Wilde

James Galway - The Rainstick - Seamus Heaney

Bob Geldof - Bagpipe Music - Louis MacNeice

Des Geraghty - Speaking to my Father - Theo Dorgan

Brendan Gleeson - Emotions - Rory Gleeson

Larry Gogan - She Moved Through the Fair - Padraic Colum

Adrian Hardiman - Seals at High Island - Richard Murphy

Mary Harney - Sunday’s Well - Vona Groarke

Richard Harris - Ode to Christy Brown - Richard Harris

Shay Healy - How to be my Heart - Pat Boran

Seamus Heaney - What Then? - W.B. Yeats

Michael D. Higgins - Dark Rosaleen - J.C. Mangan

John Hume - Claudy - James Simmons

Neil Jordan - I Grabbed an Education - Patrick Kavanagh

Fergal Keane - All of these People - Michael Longley

Frank Kelly - Stony Grey Soil - Patrick Kavanagh

Gerry Kelly - Ulster Names - John Hewitt

John Kelly - The Singers House - Seamus Heaney

Brian Kennedy - The Tree Speaks - Cathal O Searcaigh

Sen Ed. Kennedy - Fiddler of Dooney - W.B. Yeats

Sr. Stan Kennedy - To A Child - Patrick Kavanagh

Brendan Kennelly - My Father - John B. Keane

Pat Kenny - Antarctica - Derek Mahon

Marian Keyes - Thems Your Mammy’s Pills - Leland Bardwell

Mick Lally - Omos do John Millington Synge - Mairtin O Direain

Des Lynam - There Are Days - John Montague

John Lynch - The Sunlight on the Garden - Louis MacNiece

Ciaran MacMathuna - To a May Baby - Winifred Letts

Jimmy Magee - I Will go with My Father - Joseph Campbell

Tommy Makem - Requiem for the Croppies - Seamus Heaney

Paddy Maloney - The Country Fiddler - John Montague

Eamonn McCann - Christ Goodbye - Padraic Fiacc

Charlie McCreevy - Literary History - Rita Kelly

Paul McGrath - The Game of your Life - Gabriel Fitzmaurice

Paul McGuinness - Shapes and Shadows - Derek Mahon

Pauline McLynn - The People I Grew up With - Michael Gorman

Van Morrison - Solstice for my Daughter - Gerry Dawe

Mike Murphy - The Village Schoolmaster - Oliver Goldsmith

Kevin Myers - Fontenoy - Emily Lawless

Christina Noble - The View from under the Table - Paula Meehan

Michael Noonan - A Kind of Trust - Brendan Kennelly

David Norris - The Jackeens Lament - Brendan Behan

Miriam O’Callaghan - A Woman Untouched - Frank McGuinness

Sinead O’Connor - Pride - Paul Williams

Daniel O’Donnell - Poem from a 3 Year Old - Brendan Kennelly

Ardal O’Hanlon - Plaisir D’Amour - Patrick Galvin

Deirdre O’Kane - School Friends - Susan Connolly

Olivia O’Leary - Ship of Death - Kerry Hardie

Micheal O Muircheartaigh - The Boys of Barr na Sraide - Sigerson Clifford

Milo O’Shea - Peter Gilligan - W.B. Yeats

Morgan O’Sullivan - Canticle - John F. Deane

Fintan O’Toole - Ceasefire - Michael Longley

Maureen Potter - The Fairies - William Allingham

Deirdre Purcell - Bewleys Café - Paul Durcan

Niall Quinn - Swineherd - Eilean ni Chuilleanan

Ruairi Quinn - A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford - Derek Mahon

Gerry Ryan - The Did-You-Come-Yets - Rita Ann Higgins

Jim Sheridan - Peter Street - Peter Sirr

Dick Spring - A Drover - Padraic Colum

Niall Toibin - Everything is going to be Alright - Derek Mahon

Sile de Valera - I See His Blood Upon the Rose - Joseph Mary Plunkett

Ted Walsh - The Aluminium Box - Frank Ormsby

Kathleen Watkins - Beannacht for Josie - John O’Donoghue

Bill Whelan - Anseo - Paul Muldoon

Terry Wogan - The Planters Daughter - Austin Clarke

[Ace]

Father and Son
by FR Higgins
(1896- 1941)


Only last week, walking the hushed fields
Of our most lovely Meath, now thinned by November,
I came to where the road from Laracor leads
To the Boyne river--that seems more lake than river,
Stretched in uneasy light and stript of reeds.
And walking longside an old weir
Of my people's, where nothing stirs--only the shadowed
Leaden flight of a heron up the lean air--
I went unmanly with grief, knowing how my father,
Happy though captive in years, walked last with me there.

Yes, happy in Meath with me for a day
He walked, taking stock of herds hid in their own breathing;
And naming colts, gusty as wind, once steered by his hand,
Lightnings winked in the eyes that were half shy in greeting
Old friends--the wild blades, when he gallivanted the land.

For that proud, wayward man now my heart breaks--
Breaks for that man whose mind was a secret eyrie,
Whose kind hand was sole signet of his race,
Who curbed me, scorned my green ways, yet increasingly loved me
Till Death drew its grey blind down his face.

And yet I am pleased that even my reckless ways
Are living shades of his rich calms and passions--
Witnesses for him and for those faint namesakes
With whom now he is one, under yew branches,
Yes, one in a graven silence no bird breaks.

www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/Poetry/FRHiggins.html

[sparklingblue]

Brilliant! Even without PB's contribution this would be a jewel.

:: puts on wishlist for Santa ::

[curious george]

The whole project sounds very cool.

cg

[Ace]

www.examiner.ie/breaking/2003/12/12/story125298.html

12/12/2003

Irish poetry CD set for third week at top of charts

A CD of Irish poems read by prominent politicians and celebrities looks set to spend a third week at the top of the charts.

Voices and Poetry of Ireland features readings by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Bono, Bob Geldof and others.


The three-CD package, which also includes a book, is being sold in aid of Focus Ireland, a charity working with the homeless.

[sparklingblue]

I finally managed to get my hands on a copy, which wasn't easy. You can't get it at the regular book shops here which carry English language books, and it's sold out on amazon. I got one used, though.

It is really worth the money imho. Virtually every contributor put a lot of heart and effort into it. It's very enjoyable reading/listening. I loved Pierce's poem and the way he reads it. That may not seem like an unexpected comment coming from me, but he really is great. He should consider doing audio books.

I'd also like to share a tidbit from the foreword by Brian Molloy, which made me smile. He recounts several experieces he had with contributors while working on the project:

"...the unassuming Pierce Brosnan announcing himself to our startled receptionist at the record company with 'Brosnan, I'm working here today'..."

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Ace]

;D Great quote!

So any chance of you making a sound recording of Pierce's reading and making it available for us unfortunate others?

Ace

[sparklingblue]

I can try and make a recording of it on my computer, but I've nowhere to host it.

[Ace]

If it's not too huge you can e-mail it to me and I can host it.

Ace

[sparklingblue]

Alright, that makes my pm to you redundant.

I'll email it to you by the weekend.

[Ace]

Thanks to Sparkling Blue we can now all listen to Pierce's reading of Fathers & Sons[/b] in mp3 form. It's 2 MB and approx 2 minutes. Enjoy!

Oh and please download it if you wish to re-listen since my bandwidth might otherwise explode.

Ace

[migs]

;D Thanks, SparklingBlue, I love it! ;D

I think he should do a whole CD of poems by himself!

migs

[Ace]

Voices And Poetry Of Ireland: Hear The Best-loved Irish Poems is now available in the U.S.

Book Description

Over the centuries, Ireland has produced an astonishing wealth of writers, from Oscar Wilde and Patrick Kavanagh to W. B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney. An island steeped in literary tradition and inspired by its dramatic landscape, history and people, its rich and colorful heritage is celebrated in this unique compilation.

For the first time ever, more than 30 of Ireland's best-loved poems have been recorded by some of the most moving, resonant, and memorable voices to have ever come out of the country and are featured in this book and CD collection. From Bono to Pierce Brosnan, Maeve Binchy to Richard Harris, Colin Farrell to Bob Geldof, figures from every walk of Irish public life have given their own unique slant on poems ranging from classics from Padraic Colum and Patrick Kavanagh to contemporaries like Seamus Heaney and Brendan Kennelly. AUTHORBIO: Folk Promotions is donating all royalties to Focus Ireland, one of the leading charities in Ireland working with and for the homeless.

About the Author
Folk Promotions is donating all royalties to Focus Ireland, one of the leading charities in Ireland working with and for the homeless.

[Ace]

Reading the description the book and CD seem to be different formats.

The UK version has over 100 poem readings and 3 CDs with a 208 page book.

The U.S. version states there are 30 poem readings and the book is 708 pages long. I'm wondering if the 708 is a typo since the book is only .6 inches thick and it is also only 208 pages which seems more reasonable for that width. PB's recorded poem though is in both versions. It looks like they probably kept the readers most known to the US market-- and cut down the cost significantly by putting out only 1 CD instead of 3.

# Hardcover: 708 pages
# Publisher: Sourcebooks (March 30, 2005)
# ISBN: 1402204043
# Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches
# Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces.


Ace

[echo]

Help please, the mp3 link for the poem didn't work for me, can someone send? I'd love to hear it too

[Ace]

Dec 19, 2009 15:41:13 GMT -5 echo said:

Help please, the mp3 link for the poem didn't work for me, can someone send? I'd love to hear it too

Echo, here you go. It's an mp3 zipped in rar form

www.mediafire.com/file/nt5zdk0ywfz/FATHER&SON.rar

[eaz35173]

[rosafermu]

It is wonderful to listen his voice. Thanks