Hinterland - The Podcast

How Irish Music Conquered the World (mostly thanks to Horslips)
In 1972 there were thousands of showbands in Ireland (or that’s how it seemed) cranking out covers. The 60s had bypassed Irish music, bar Van, Rory, Gilbert and Phil. But by 1977 the Rats and Lizzy were top of the British charts and we’d got our own rock festivals. 
Tom Dunne credits Horslips, who introduced us to rock and roll one ballroom at a time, wiped out the showbands, invented U2, and had great hair.

Recorded live at Hinterland Festival of Literature and Arts.
For more episodes and artist information, visit:
www.hinterland.ie 
https://www.facebook.com/HinterlandFestivalKells/
https://www.instagram.com/hinterlandfestivalkells/
music by https://soundcloud.com/xcaliberbeats

Our final dip into the 2024 Hinterland archive for Episode 8 - Stephen Walker.
Peacemaker, politician, Nobel laureate: John Hume was a titan of Irish political history and a key architect of the Good Friday Agreement, bringing peace to Northern Ireland after decades of conflict. But who was the real John Hume? What sustained him during the bloody years of violence and how did he convince the IRA to end its long-running campaign? How did he persuade presidents and prime ministers to take risks and back his vision for Northern Ireland? In his biography of the SDLP leader, former BBC correspondent Stephen Walker combines over 100 interviews with many of Hume’s colleagues, critics and family members, with never-before-published interviews with Hume himself, to present a comprehensive portrait of one of the most significant political figures in Northern Ireland and around the world. Stephen was in conversation with Myles Dungan.
Recorded live at Hinterland Festival of Literature and Arts.
For more episodes and artist information, visit:
www.hinterland.ie 
https://www.facebook.com/HinterlandFestivalKells/
https://www.instagram.com/hinterlandfestivalkells/
music by https://soundcloud.com/xcaliberbeats

Hinterland The Podcast returns to the archives of our 2024 Festival to bring you Episode 7.
Dirty Linen: The Troubles in My Home Place is an intimate, personal history of the Northern Ireland conflict told through the testimony of the friends and families of more than 20 victims who died violently in Martin Doyle’s own rural parish in County Down. The author enjoys access that only a trusted local could gain and layers this with the literary sensibility of a books editor (the job he does for the Irish Times), the storytelling ability of a veteran journalist, and the sensitivity of a writer who has experienced personal bereavement. Martin was in conversation with Myles Dungan.
Recorded live at Hinterland Festival of Literature and Arts.
For more episodes and artist information, visit:
www.hinterland.ie 
https://www.facebook.com/HinterlandFestivalKells/
https://www.instagram.com/hinterlandfestivalkells/
music by https://soundcloud.com/xcaliberbeats

For Episode 6 we delve into the archives going back to Hinterland 2024.
The fact that he was christened in the same Belfast church as George Best might suggest that George Hamilton was pre-destined to become the country’s leading TV soccer commentator. Either way, that’s precisely what happened. Anyone with even the vaguest interest in the great Irish male soccer squads of the 90s and 2000’s and the women’s team of the 2020’s, not to mention Champion’s League football, has been guided through countless matches by this most erudite and cultured of broadcasters (and let’s not forget his twice-weekly Lyric FM broadcasts). George will take us through the stellar highlights of his recent memoir The Nation holds its breath.

Recorded live at Hinterland Festival of Literature and Arts.
For more episodes and artist information, visit:
www.hinterland.ie 
https://www.facebook.com/HinterlandFestivalKells/
https://www.instagram.com/hinterlandfestivalkells/
music by https://soundcloud.com/xcaliberbeats

Richard O’Rawe is a Belfast author, playwright and a former IRA member who was press officer for the Provisional IRA in Long Kesh in 1981 during the IRA hunger strikes. 
His controversial revelation that British terms for ending the hunger strike were accepted within Long Kesh, but rejected by the IRA leadership (in his book Blanketmen) put him at odds with many of his erstwhile Republican comrades. He is the author of two works of comic fiction featuring the memorable Ructions O’Hare
His most recent work Stakeknife's Dirty War: The Inside Story of Scappaticci, the IRA's Nutting Squad and the British Spooks Who Ran the War, made a timely appearance a few months before the March2024 interim Kenova report, compiled by Chief Constable Boutcher and the Kenova team after a number of years spent investigating allegations that Freddie Scappaticci, head of the IRA’s execution squad was a British intelligence assent. 
Richard O’Rawe was in conversation with Myles Dungan in June 2024.
Recorded live at Hinterland Festival of Literature and Arts.
For more episodes and artist information, visit:
www.hinterland.ie 
https://www.facebook.com/HinterlandFestivalKells/
https://www.instagram.com/hinterlandfestivalkells/
music by https://soundcloud.com/xcaliberbeats