The many and varied ‘voices’ of artists from these shores are the subject of a series of specially commissioned new documentaries and programmes from BBC Northern Ireland.
The new Season Of Arts collection, which will start to be made available on BBC iPlayer from Wednesday 1 February, aims to shine a light on the best of local talent and share their words, music, performances, and stories.
Among the new content to feature in the season will be the story of a trailblazing young woman from Comber who sang the Blues and whose singular voice was celebrated by some of that genre’s legends.
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Paul Muldoon, the multi-award-winning poet’s voice is given new form in music, while a new film uncovers the secret artists whose work speaks for them in a new exhibition where amateurs can hang alongside Northern Ireland’s most celebrated professionals.
And cameras follow the Ulster Orchestra as they perform with artists in locations across Belfast.
Eddie Doyle, Head of Content Commissioning, BBC NI, said: “We continue to recognise the value and importance of the arts and have always been keen supporters and partners of the sector here in Northern Ireland.
“Following on from recent years we wanted to provide our audiences with more new content and help to bring the arts to them during these challenging times, while also providing another chance to see some arts programmes we have broadcast in the past.”
Highlights of new content in the BBC Northern Ireland Season Of Arts include:
My Name Is Ottilie
Soul singer Dana Masters traces the story of Ottilie Patterson, considered by many to be the godmother of British Blues and who - for a few years in the late 1950s and early 1960s - was the rising star of British popular music.
One night in 1959, a 27-year-old female singer took to the stage in front of an audience at Smitty’s Corner, Muddy Water’s renowned blues club in Chicago’s South Side.
After her stunning performance, a member of the rapturous African American audience called out – “Hey lady, you sing real pretty. How come you sing like one of us?”
The singer’s name was Ottilie Patterson. And she wasn’t black. She wasn’t even American. She was from Comber in County Down, Northern Ireland, just 10 miles from Belfast.
The film includes contributions from Jools Holland, Jacqui Dankworth, Dick Taylor (The Pretty Things), Stu Morrison (The Chris Barber Band), and blues musician Ronnie Greer, and features a revealing never-before heard audio interview with Ottilie Patterson.
Paul Muldoon: Laoithe‘s Liricí
Paul Muldoon: Laoithe‘s Liricí is a new musical bi-lingual documentary in which the Armagh-born Pulitzer prize-winning poet, in words specially written by himself, explores life and language in a series of musical collaborations.
Among the contributors featured in the film are Paul Simon, Liam Neeson, PJ Harvey, Bono, Ruth Negga, Paul Brady, and Iarla Ó Lionáird.
The Secret Artists
Comedian Colin Murphy and four others make art, hoping to get into Northern Ireland’s biggest exhibition. They either create for self-expression, identity or mental health but how do they cope with rejection if they don’t get into the RUA?
The RUA is Northern Ireland’s biggest annual art exhibition, giving an opportunity for all artists - professionals and amateurs alike - to have their work shown at the Ulster Museum.
This documentary follows five artists hoping to have their work selected from the competitive open call. For the first time ever, cameras have been allowed behind-the-scenes at the 142-year-old Royal Ulster Academy, including access to the judging process.
Díolta Faoina Luach: Hanged for a Song
This film is the true story of Séamus Mór MacMurphy - an account of the tragic human tale behind one of Ulster’s epic songs.
The poem “Séamus Mac Murchaidh” is one of the most famous and most popular songs in the Ulster Gaelic tradition. It relates the story of the self-proclaimed “most beautiful man in Ireland” who was hanged in Armagh City in 1750 by Sherriff Johnston of the Fews because of a friend’s treachery, a lover’s jealousy and a landlord’s greed.
Who was Séamus Mór MacMurphy? What led him to being hanged for a song? And why does his story still resonate amongst the hills of South Armagh today?
This landmark documentary is presented by Armagh native Antaine Ó Donnaile, who follows in the footsteps of Séamus Mór MacMurphy through the landscape of Armagh and Louth, travelling from Slieve Gullion to Carnally, Dunreavey, Omeath, Carlingford, the Fews Forest and on to Armagh City.
He will interview surviving relatives and historians to find out the facts around the enigmatic highwayman.
Music City Connections
The Ulster Orchestra and Guests
As Belfast celebrates its new status as the latest UNESCO City of Music, BBC NI salutes the city’s vibrant culture and thriving musical diversity in the company of the Ulster Orchestra and guests.
Guiding viewers through this musical adventure across Belfast will be presenter Dana Masters.
Dana, originally from South Carolina, has now made Northern Ireland her home and a place where she too has contributed to a thriving creative community through her own music and song.
She steers viewers through a variety of local performance spaces, from the historic Titanic Drawing Offices to the oldest standing church off Belfast’s Shankill Road.
Not on their own, the orchestra extend a warm musical invite to three very special musical guests – local performers Niamh Dunne, Jordan Adetunji and Dani Larkin.
The Lost Photographs of Mary Alice Young
A new 30-minute factual documentary features an incredible photographic collection of a family and community which has been unseen for over a century.
Once believed lost, the images were taken by Mary Alice Young, a pioneering Ulster-Scot’s photographer - and now her family is delving into her past to examine her extraordinary legacy.
Galgorm Castle in Ballymena was a much-loved home to Mary Alice Young. Born in 1867, she was a member of a well-known, wealthy Co Antrim family.
Mary Alice’s interest in photography started in her early 20s. She had the resources to fund what started as a fashionable hobby - but she quickly developed a flair for taking compelling images.
I Lár an Aonaigh
Magazine show I Lár an Aonaigh returns to TV screens with a new arts and culture flavour. As ever, viewers can expect great live music, stimulating studio chat and fascinating films.
The four-part series will be presented by Máire Bhreathnach and Dáithí Ó Muirí, and will be recorded in front of an audience in Blackstaff Studios in Belfast.
Viewers will also have another chance to watch previously broadcast BBC NI arts programmes including Ulster’s Folk Wonders, presented by Marie-Louise Muir, Emma Spence: The Art Of Surviving, The Narrow Sea, The Farther Shore, Brian Friel: Shyman, Showman and The Brontes: An Irish Tale.
Available on BBC iPlayer only will be James Joyce’s Ulysses shown on BBC NI TV earlier this year, and the five medieval Scots fables, translated by Seamus Heaney, brought into the 21st century as enchanting animated tales.
Narrated by acclaimed comedian/actor Billy Connolly and with a specially-composed score by internationally renowned pianist Barry Douglas, Five Fables, was made by local animation studio Flickerpix, as an ambitious re-telling of stories written 500 years ago by the medieval Scots poet, Robert Henryson.
Each of the five programmes in this series contain an introduction by the late Seamus Heaney, who was very much involved in all aspects of the project from its inception.
It includes his final television interview before his death; a fully animated fable, and some documentary elements about how these morality tales made it to the television screen.
BBC Northern Ireland’s Season of Arts will be largely available on BBC iPlayer from next month, with some programmes to be added over the following few weeks.
There are lots of ways to find the content on BBC iPlayer. Search by programme title or browse the Arts or Northern Ireland categories.
A selection of programmes will also be broadcast on BBC NI TV, beginning on Wednesday 1 February, on BBC One Northern Ireland at 10.40pm with My Name Is Ottilie.
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