![]() Several months earlier, on August 12th, 1947, she was visited in St Elizabeth's Hospital in Dingle by a BBC Third Programme radio team, headed by the producer and scriptwriter WR Rodgers. The material recorded on that occasion includes the above-mentioned account of their arrival and 13 other items, including two long traditional tales, a verse drama, two supernatural legends, a prayer, songs, reminiscences of life on the Great Blasket Island and a formal address entitledĭespite her expression of surprise, this visit was not Peig's first experience of a radio recording session. The men were the traditional musician and folklore collector Séamus Ennis, the broadcaster Seán Mac Réamoinn and the technician Joe de Lacy, who were joined later by the local man Seosamh Ó Dálaigh (Joe Daly), whom Peig knew well in his role as full-time collector with the Irish Folklore Commission. Triúr strapairí ag teacht istoíche(The night visit of the three boyos), refers to the first recording of Peig Sayers in her own home by a Radio Éireann team. The visit dramatised thus by Peig, and published here under the title The men have come for a purpose, and when Peig realises that the boxes and contraptions they are carrying are radio recording equipment she declares her intention to submit to the challenge of this new technology: “Déanfaimid ár ndícheall chuig pé ní a dh’féadfaimid a chur air, a chur air” (We will do our best to put anything we can on it). When the light and sound arrive at her doorstep, Peig jumps to attention and, despite her many ailments, welcomes into her house – “de réir mar ba cheart dom a dhéanamh” (just as was proper) – three strapping young men who are carrying equipment the likes of which she has never seen before. Her son Mícheál (Maidhc) goes to investigate, refuting Peig’s suggestion that the light, gadgetry and sound that are now approaching the house are emanating from an cóiste balbh, the legendary death coach of oral tradition. She hears noise outside but thinks at first that it is the sound of an aeroplane overhead. ![]() Darkness is falling, and, instead of lighting the oil lamp, she is thinking of taking to her bed. It is November 1947, Peig is 74 years old and she is painracked after seven months in Dingle hospital. THE MOST STRIKING image to emerge from this latest publication relating to the renowned storyteller Peig Sayers is the picture that she herself conjures up of her reaction, as a frail old woman, to the unexpected arrival of a radio crew at her home in Baile an Bhiocáire, Dún Chaoin. There was a great response from Margaret Kent, who identified the boy on second-right as her uncle, and then Pádraig Cronin, who chipped in about his father recalling the old Beamish & Crawford lorries.FOLKLORE: Labharfad le Cách/ I Will Speak To You All: Peig SayersBy Bo Almqvist and Pádraig Ó Héalaí (eds) New Island, 312pp. I wasn't expecting any of it, just sharing the picture after the Peig documentary. "It took all of eight minutes for the first response to come in. All of these contributions have helped fill in the picture in small ways, but there's still much to be learned. ![]() Soon after sharing it on Twitter, a small but significant response emerged, with users identifying family members of their own, and speaking about possible trips to the island on behalf of Beamish & Crawford employees. Peig Sayers: there was more to the master storyteller than your Leaving Cert had you believe, as we saw in last week's TG4 doc This was also when Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, also known as the Irish Pimpernel, the Irish Schindler, is supposed to have saved over 6000 Allied soldiers and civilian Jews from the Nazis." He studied for the priesthood, and was ordained there in the 1940s. ![]() "That photo fell out of an album of wartime photos from Rome. MacCarthy happened across the picture, dating roughly to the 1930s, while researching the man he was to become. OJtfZCYCaN- Flor MacCarthy□□ March 10, 2021Ĭarthach, the tall fellow third from the left in the picture, was there with 'friends and boys from Farranferris', according to the bit of info on the photo's reverse, but as is often the way with these finds, the information is lost to time. The tall ‘boy’, 3rd from the left, was my uncle. The inscription on the back reads: “Peig Sayers (with priests & boys from Farranferris)”. They're nudging each other and giggling in the presence of the great Peig.įound this photo of #Peig in an old family album recently. "When you look at the photo, it looks like she's surrounded by starstruck lads, and a really dignified pose in the middle of it, that gives away that she was a big deal at the time.
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