Gearoid Mac Lochlainn

[sfacknitz]

Hi. I thought I'd say a few word in praise of my favorite performance poetfrom Northern Ireland. I've only seen Gearoid Mac Lochlainn once (in Dublin), but he was very impressive. I'm never sure who does and doesn't qualify as a performance poet, but he does put on a performance! His reading style is very musical and very intense. He reads mostly in Irish although his poems are usually published with facing page translations. And the book I have came with a CD of him reading. Some of his poems interweave English and Irish for some really interesting effects.

There's an interview froma while back here:

www.ashevillereview.com/v10n1/Interview_Mac_Lochlainn.php

The Interviewer begins with an excerpt from a letter from Gabriel Rosenstock:
In Gabriel’s e-letter to me, he praised Mac Lochlainn’s new book Stream of Tongues, saying: “Mac Lochlainn dances with coyotes, with pipers in the heather. Stream of Tongues is a waltz, a side-step, a tango, a Highland fling… Such lovely lunacy is as rare as good watercress these days. For fifteen measly euro, you can enjoy the book and the CD. The CD, you say? Yes, it’s a riot, a rattlebag, and if it doesn’t attract a cult following, I’m giving up on cults. I, for one, believe that this stream of tongues, this crazy confluence, deserves a wide readership, at home and abroad.”

I've given a few papers on his work. But I'm sure you know more about him than I do!
svf

[gerard]

I saw Gearoid Mac Lochlainn read in Bookfinders cafe in March. Very impressive. I liked the way, though I wasn't an Irish speaker, I could still pick up a sense of what the poetry was about from his reading of it. Very talented guy. He also had a musician collaborating with him, can't remember the guys name but it worked really well and added atmosphere (again enhancing the effect mentioned above).

I'll check out the link later cause I'm in the library at the mo but looking forward to it.

[misterlane]

My irish is wild, I've only heard Gearoid perform in English once and Christ it was good, hearing it once in English just made me sit back and appreciate the classness of his delivery full stop.

He used to play rythym guitar for Breag, so did I (actually my #1 claim to fame)


(not that I played guitar for Breag per se, though many notable genii have, but that I shared this role with such a undisputedly class bastard as Gearoid. )

[Brian Bailey]

I saw Gearoidat bookys too. Magnificient. One to whom we should all aspire.