EARLY EVENING on Irish TV in the early 1980s - I remember it well. A shot of a bus rolling down a road in Connemara soundtracked by Horslips’ ‘Sword Of Light’ - SBB Ina Shuí was on.
Cut from the opening credits to the studio and there was Sean Bán Breathnach with a shock of electrified sandy hair - looking like a skinny Mick Hucknall - sitting among the audience, ag caint as Gaelige about what would be coming up on his show that evening, and, if he could get away with it, throwing in the odd risqué - for the time - joke as well.
My Irish is unfortunately functionally non-existent, but even back then the good humour of SBB attracted non-Gaelgoirs like myself as well as Gaeilgoirs, and was a major reason why from 1976 to 1983, SBB Ina Shuí was one of Ireland’s most popular shows - a great achievement for Irish language programming.
Now, 26 years on from the final transmission, Sean Bán Breathnach will bring a special live version of the show to the Town Hall Theatre on Wednesday September 7 at 7.30pm.
SBB’s guests on the night will be Shaun O’Dowd of the Capitol Showband; Galway Bay FM's Des Kelly; Sligo fiddle and banjo virtuoso John Carty; London based, Connemara born, accordion champion Seanie McDonagh; ex-Millionaires and Raindrops’ showband trumpeter Jimmy Higgins; sean-nos dancer Emma O’Sullivan; country singer Heidi McCaffrey; and singer Loraine McDonald.
The Conquerors will be the house band for the night and showband fans can also look forward to a performance by The Showband Knights, a band featuring numerous showband veterans.
Tickets are available from the Town Hall on 091 - 569777 and www.tht.ie
