In the early 2000s, trudging through the static of mainstream radio, I stumbled upon RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, the Irish-language outpost of Ireland’s national broadcaster – and a programme that flipped the script on radio as I knew it. Presented by Cian Ó Cíobháin from the Atlantic-hugging Galway coast, a fair stretch from my home in rural Northern Ireland, An Taobh Tuathail (“The Other Side”) still feels like a portal to a far-flung realm.
Broadcast every weekday since May 1999, Ó Cíobháin expertly blends leftfield music: it has championed ambient and electronic pioneers such as Mexican composer Murcof and the late Japanese musician Susumu Yokota, and spotlighted the curveballing instrumentalism of Irish artists including cellist Eimear Reidy and revered Limerick producer Naive Ted. Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys is one of many artists to have hailed An Taobh Tuathail’s influence, calling it “one of the most radical radio shows in the world”.
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