Raidió na Gaeltachta might not be what first springs to mind when you think of alternative, electronic music, but Cian Ó Cíobháin has been quietly – and sometimes loudly – banging out obscure or forgotten classics from its Connemara studio for 25 years.
First broadcast as a filler when Raidió na Gaeltachta (RnaG ) extended its broadcasting hours on Friday evenings in 1999, An Taobh Tuathail has become RTÉ RnaG’s flagship alternative radio show.
To celebrate this anniversary, Cian will host a night of Disco Dána in Prospect Hill’s recently-reopened Cuba nightclub on Saturday, May 4. Cian is planning to freestyle through his record collection, spinning disco, house, techno, Italo, half-forgotten classics and dreamy bangers to the 1,100-soul venue.
As part of the anniversary celebrations, from next Monday, April 29, to next Friday, May 3, Cian says An Taobh Tuathail (ATT ) will feature exclusive new music, including previously unreleased and unheard studio recordings from Irish and international artists including Peter Gordon, Works Of Intent, Dian Cécht, Blamhaus, Elliot Adamson, The Shen, Meljoann, Man Power, Junk Drawer, Ambient Babestation Meltdown and Borai.
An Taobh Tuathail - the title translates as 'the other side’ - is presented in Irish by the DJ, broadcaster and west Kerry native, Ó Cíobháin: “I grew up with radio”, says Cian. “Before we had a TV in the house, we just had the radio for entertainment, which was playing in the kitchen from dawn to dusk. My father Seán Ó Cíobháin was one of the first local radio journalists in the country, working with RTÉ RnaG. As a boy, I used to love spending time in the radio studio while he went about his work, interviewing the likes of Dolores O’ Riordan of The Cranberries and former Taoiseach Charles Haughey.”
After university, Cian briefly worked as an intern at RTÉ RnaG’s studios in Casla in Connemara, mostly as a continuity announcer and giving weather updates. The station used to wind up broadcasting at 8pm in the evenings, but in early 1999, when it was announced that the station’s hours would be extended for a few more hours each night, Cian pounced at the chance of making a case to his employers to host a night-time music show. Management liked what he had to say, and the rest is history.
British culture website The Quietus wrote in 2010: “It’s an obvious and lazy comparison to call presenter Cian Ó Cíobháin the Irish John Peel, but his laid-back manner, combined with the eclectic and astonishing mix of sounds played on the programme, make him more worthy of the mantle than any other DJ I’m aware of in Britain or elsewhere today.”
Tickets for Disco Dána cost €10 from www.eventbrite.com
