MICHAEL: Hello and welcome to Ireland with Michael.

I'm Michael Londra, and in this show, I get to tell you everything I love about my home country the best way I know how, through music.

Today, we're in County Galway, a snapshot of the Irish culture and landscape, encompassing large swaths of the Gaeltacht, where the Irish language is kept alive and flourishing, and Galway City, home to some of the best traditional music in the country.

The county also includes the fullness of Irish terrain, from rolling farmlands in the east, to bogs, mountains, and heathered hills in the west.

It's a place to go from the bustle of the city to the rugged beauty of Connemara, and all the time drinking in the richly preserved culture of the Irish west.

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael is made possible by: ♪ MICHAEL: The music, the folklore, and the hospitality.

It's all in Ireland.

♪ ANNOUNCER: CIE Tours, sharing the magic of Ireland for 90 years.

♪ ANNOUNCER: Aer Lingus has been bringing people home since 1936.

If you're thinking about Ireland, Aer Lingus is ready when you are to take you home.

♪ ♪ MICHAEL: So, Ireland with Michael has been to Galway City before, but I thought it'd be fun to bring some friends along from the city to give me some of their Galway.

♪ The Fahy family is one of Ireland's leading musical families and the heart of my favorite music show, Trad on the Prom.

Chris and Máirín have roots in Galway going back generations.

Chris, Máirín, life from the outside looks pretty alive and vibrant in Galway.

I can see why you're drawn to the place.

MÁIRÍN: Definitely, it's full of life and fun and great humor and lots of wonderful things to do.

CHRIS: As well as being vibrant, it's really the cultural capital of Ireland.

I know- I know that demographically Dublin is the capital of Ireland, but Galway is the real cultural capital of Ireland.

Arts, music, restaurants, craic.

Craic meaning good fun.

MÁIRÍN: Yeah, and drama, everything.

Yes, definitely.

MICHAEL: So what do you think the secret to that is, like?

CHRIS: There's something subconscious in Galway.

If you think of the geography, you've got 3,000 miles of the Atlantic, and artistic people, for some reason, it's like a magnet.

They're drawn to Galway.

Artists don't like boundaries.

Here- here you can just look out into 3,000 miles of the Atlantic, no frontiers.

It's terrific.

MICHAEL: Whether it's the influence of Galway or the influence of his family, Chris and Máirín's son Dara is one of the founders of dance group Cairde.

With their latest TikTok video generating over 90 million views, what do you do for an encore?

How about performing for the president?

CAIRDE MEMBERS: Hey!

(audience applauding and cheering) JOE BIDEN: You guys are incredible.

MAN: It was an honor.

JOE BIDEN: I don't have one-third of the athletic ability you have.

MAN: Oh, stop that.

JOE BIDEN: Oh, no, I'm serious.

You guys are great!

♪ MICHAEL: Okay, so it may not be the White House, but back in Galway, the Fahys have invited me into their gorgeous house for a bit of trad music.

When you started this, you had this idea a few years ago, and it's turned into what I, in my opinion, is the best traditional music show in Ireland.

MÁIRÍN: Oh, thank you very much.

You're very, very welcome.

Fáilte romhat.

(laughs) CHRIS: We're delighted to have you, Michael.

Yeah.

MICHAEL: When you started this, did you have a notion what it was going to be?

CHRIS: I suppose having lived out of suitcases for 10 years, our main objective was to continue to do what we love, that's playing music, but sleep in the same bed for more than one night, right?

That was the very basic idea.

But, you know, we surrounded ourselves with not alone family, but very dear friends, but they're all world-class artists.

And I think the secret to good business is, number one, surround yourself with really special people, and number two, treat them really well.

And the same crew are with us for the last- we're celebrating 20 years this year.

♪ ♪ ♪ (musicians hooting) ♪ MICHAEL: For a lot of people, it's a very emotional time because their family have come from here.

CHRIS: I think they don't even realize.

Some people come up crying and it releases an energy, but you must realize that maybe six generations ago, that's where their bloodline, that's their ancestry, and that whole Irish culture is locked inside in them.

And sometimes it doesn't get a chance to release until you immerse yourself in a cultural experience like Trad on the Prom.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: I'm here in the middle of the Twelve Bens, the mountains of Connemara, and behind me is a residence that I've wanted to stay in for quite some time.

Ballynahinch Castle, built in 1754, is now a luxury hotel with an incredible story and, even better, a world-class art collection.

♪ Mr. Lally, we're only in the front hall and already there's something here that's jumping out at me.

What is this?

DES: Well, Michael, this fireplace, apart from myself, is the oldest thing in the house, and it dates, if you look closely at the tiles there, 1613.

And I often think of the people that have passed by this fireplace in the last 250 years and come in that hall door as well, and the great parties and soirées that happened here over the years.

(fire crackling) MICHAEL: So Des, it seems to me that there is wonder and a story behind that wonder in every corner.

DES: Well, yeah, and this is a great corner by here, Michael.

Richard Martin, who was the head man in this house, you know, but is well known for getting the parliamentary act for the prevention of cruelty to animals through the English Parliament.

And it was kind of not very popular in those days, but it shows the character of the man.

MICHAEL: Certainly ahead of his time.

DES: Very much so, Michael.

(fire crackling) MICHAEL: So Des, yet another grand fireplace in another great room.

DES: Indeed, Michael, beautiful fireplace, quarried locally in a place called Barnanoraun, Connemara marble, and it is original to the house here.

MICHAEL: You've got another story that sounds pretty interesting to me.

I'd like to hear more about it.

DES: Well, yeah, when I worked here many years ago, a young waitress, she was a girl here from Kerry, and she came in to me and she said, "I met a man "out in the garden who told me all about the flowers and the plants, and he gave me all the names."

And I said, "Oh, sure, that was Gerald the gardener."

"No," she said, "it wasn't Gerald the gardener.

It was a very strange- looking man."

And I said, "How do you mean?"

"Well," she said, "he wore a long gray coat "down to his feet, and he wore a very strange collar."

And I said, "What kind of collar?"

"Kind of like a wing collar here, and a tie."

I said, "That's very strange."

I said, "I think those things went out years ago."

But she said, "He was a very nice man, and I felt very comfortable."

So I did a bit of investigation afterwards and I asked Gerald, the old gardener, and I described this figure, and he said that was Morby, M-O-R-B-Y, who was a Scottish gardener in Ballynahinch and who had died here around, oh, 1930.

And his body was taken from the garden on an old door, and he was brought over to the graveyard and buried.

Now, he was Scottish and people said that the fact that he wasn't buried in Scotland, his spirit wasn't at peace.

But I asked the girl again, I said, "Were you frightened or were you scared?"

Mary was her name.

She said, "No."

She said, "It was the most beautiful experience I had.

"He told me the names of the flowers, and I'll never forget them."

MICHAEL: So the moral is for me not to walk out into the garden tonight.

DES: Well, you could, and you'd never know who you'd meet.

You know?

(both laugh) But it will be a happy ghost.

I guarantee you that in Ballynahinch.

There are happy ghosts here.

♪ MICHAEL: The marble in that fireplace didn't have to go far from where it was quarried here, just up the road from the castle.

But the distinctive Irish green has found its way all over the world, taken home as souvenirs, worn as fine jewelry, and used as an ornate building material.

Once muddy marine sediment in an ancient shallow sea that was here some 400 million years ago, the forces that shaped the rugged Atlantic coast also transformed that muck into layers of limestone and finally marble, compressing it at a high pressure and temperatures over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit into the beautiful layers seen today.

The striking patterns found within the stone are each unique to their formation, and tiny crystals of minerals like serpentine are what gives Connemara marble its characteristic green color, a perfect match for the 40 shades of green to be seen in the landscape in which it was found.

Connemara marble has been named the national gemstone of the Emerald Isle.

Appropriate, given that it can't be found anywhere else in the world, a real gem.

♪ Back up at Ballynahinch, we've got a little time to look around before the evening's entertainment starts.

You know, one of my favorite things about the castle is the incredible art collection that this castle holds.

Included are some of my favorite Irish painters like Gerard Dillon, Louis le Brocquy, and my absolute favorite, Jack Yeats.

♪ ♪ So, about that evening's entertainment.

Here's accordion champion James Canavan, and Pat Coyne on guitar.

♪ ♪ So, James, first of all, I know you'll probably be embarrassed that I'm bringing this up, but what age are you?

JAMES: I'm 16 years of age.

MICHAEL: Oh, my God.

JAMES: 16 years of age.

MICHAEL: I have socks older than you.

(James laughs) And how are you just such a master here at the box?

Obviously, it's in your family, it has to be.

JAMES: It's going back to the early 1900s now, on my dad and my mother's side, actually.

My mum and dad's grandparents, they all played in America, yeah.

MICHAEL: What- what age were you when you started playing this?

JAMES: I went down to a man called John O'Reilly in his music shop when I picked up my first single-row accordion when I was four years of age.

MICHAEL: I'm sure the box was bigger than you, probably.

JAMES: Yes, it was bigger than me.

MICHAEL: You were playing it like this.

You're playing in competition and you're playing in what's called the fleadhs, the competition for musicians, and you've achieved a few prizes already.

JAMES: I've achieved a few prizes, I suppose, just from great practice.

I've won the Connacht title now two years in a row, and the under-15 accordion, I've won the county once.

♪ ♪ MICHAEL: When people look at traditional musicians, like, there's no sheet music there in front of you.

You know, most traditional musicians don't even read music.

PAT: No, no.

MICHAEL: So how does it feel for you, 'cause you're accompanying these artists, and there's no dots in front of you, so how do you feel it?

PAT: Yeah, every person I play with and sing with, they're all different, so I'm listening to what they're doing and I'm trying to accompany what they're doing.

I'm not trying to get ahead of them, just trying to feel what they're doing.

And that's what it's about for me, you know, as I was saying.

But especially singers, you don't push them, you're just accompanying them, you know?

And musicians, and they're all different, you've just got to get into that zone as quick as you can and...

BOTH: And hope for the best.

PAT: That's it, yeah, that's basically it.

♪ ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Jack, the crew here like to put me through things that make me a little uncomfortable.

JACK: That's fair enough.

MICHAEL: But I think I'm going to give this a shot today.

What are you going to put me through?

JACK: I think you should.

So what we're going to do today is just learn a little bit about fly fishing, what's in the river, and just a real standard cast.

We don't need to overcomplicate things at all today.

We just need to learn the bare bones of it.

MICHAEL: Oh, we will.

Let's go.

JACK: Yeah, that sounds good.

♪ MICHAEL: So Jack, I want you to give me the basics.

Now, you're dealing with me, I need the very basics.

JACK: I can dumb it down, no problem at all.

That's perfectly fine.

So what we're gonna learn today is that we are gonna learn something called a standard cast.

So, there's a clock on our right-hand side.

That's our kind of gauge, okay, of how far we need to go back.

MICHAEL: Yeah?

JACK: Okay?

And it's only to 12 and it's only to 10.

MICHAEL: Okay.

JACK: Okay?

We keep our wrist lovely and straight and our thumb on top, okay?

Nothing can go wrong at this stage.

Nothing can go wrong, okay?

MICHAEL: You don't know me.

JACK: Well, we'll see.

We'll see.

Okay, that allows the line to shoot out behind us and out in front of us.

MICHAEL: Okay?

JACK: Does that make sense so far?

MICHAEL: No, but we're going to go anyway.

JACK: We'll give it a go.

Mistakes are a good thing.

You perhaps maybe take the rod there.

MICHAEL: Okay.

JACK: I'll stand on your left.

MICHAEL: Now, you said thumb in front.

JACK: Yeah, thumb, yeah.

And we're going to put our trigger finger, I call that actually, just there, okay?

MICHAEL: Okay, right.

JACK: And with a good amount of energy, I want you to lift the rod up into the air.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

JACK: Go ahead, whenever you're ready.

MICHAEL: Okay.

JACK: Whoa, a bullwhip.

MICHAEL: Okay.

JACK: That was good, that means- MICHAEL: That was a bullwhip, that.

JACK: It's not the end of the world, but- MICHAEL: It needs to be a bit more subtle, am I right?

JACK: Without a doubt, yeah.

MICHAEL: Okay, all right, so- JACK: Make it look elegant.

MICHAEL: So it turns out that being an Irish tenor prepares you in no way at all for fly fishing.

Who knew?

JACK: Start out a little bit lower.

MICHAEL: Oh, yeah.

JACK: Yeah, great, and then crack on when you're ready.

Fast.

Okay.

MICHAEL: Oh, yeah.

Not great, not great.

JACK: Not great at all, no.

You'll keep me busy anyway.

Just about practice, practice, practice.

A good energy.

Not enough, not enough.

And then we go up to 12, to 10.

Oh.

(laughs) Even with my help, we got it stuck in there.

MICHAEL: This went well.

Twelve o'clock.

JACK: Good.

Excellent.

That was very, very good.

MICHAEL: Okay, we'll do it again.

JACK: Yeah, you have it, you have it.

MICHAEL: Twelve o'clock.

JACK: Fantastic.

MICHAEL: Ten o'clock.

JACK: You're fishing.

You're officially fishing.

MICHAEL: I'm fishing.

Okay.

Have I caught anything yet?

JACK: Not yet, not yet, but- MICHAEL: All right.

JACK: We'll see.

There might be some salmon coming up soon enough.

MICHAEL: Don't get your hopes up, Jack.

Don't get your hopes up.

JACK: I'll have the big net over there as well, just in case.

MICHAEL: As long as I look like Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It, I'm good.

JACK: Well, we can't work miracles here, I'm afraid.

MICHAEL: You're not a magician.

JACK: (laughs) Good bit of energy.

Ready, go for it.

Best one so far, well done.

MICHAEL: Okay.

JACK: Fantastic.

Really good.

MICHAEL: See?

I'm getting the hang of it.

JACK: Exactly.

Where would you be?

Where else would you be?

MICHAEL: I'm just not gonna do it again.

'Cause the rod will end up in the river.

JACK: And I want to be able to catch some fish as well at the end of the day.

MICHAEL: Okay.

So, is this the part where the cameras cut away and they come back and I've got a big fish?

JACK: Definitely.

Without a doubt.

We'll get the divers in there to sort that out for you.

MICHAEL: Don't say a word, okay?

All right, lad.

(clicks tongue) ♪ Okay, the camera crew totally missed it, but I caught a fish.

It was this big.

You should have seen it.

JACK: Give me that back, lad.

MICHAEL: Jack, that's all- JACK: Give me that back.

MICHAEL: No, no, that's- JACK: Come on.

Come on, come on.

♪ MICHAEL: Jack, in all seriousness, what I'd love to talk about are your conservation efforts here on the estate.

JACK: So, for the last three years or so, we've been doing a catch-and-release policy ourselves, as in Ballynahinch has.

But this year, because salmon levels are dropping down so much countrywide and worldwide, really, it's compulsory now.

Inland fisheries have put in place catch-and- release, okay?

And to do that safely, we have a barbless hook policy.

So even though it goes into a salmon's mouth, there is some pain inflicted, but very, very, very minimal.

These are super sharp hooks and they come out very, very easily.

MICHAEL: Cleanly.

JACK: Exactly.

And it minimizes the amount of time that the salmon is... Well, actually, a salmon should never really come out of the water.

It should stay in the net and the fisherman should actually get in the water with it.

MICHAEL: And I indeed did catch my fish, but I obviously- JACK: Yeah, I didn't want- MICHAEL: I caught it and released it, Jack, when you weren't looking.

JACK: Exactly.

MICHAEL: I just threw it back in the water.

JACK: Well done.

That's my goal.

MICHAEL: You're welcome.

JACK: For you to catch a fish.

MICHAEL: We're wrapping up our tour of County Galway, and so we've come full circle back to where we started, in Galway City.

And for what else?

Some tunes.

You know, Galway City can get pretty crazy in high season.

So if you're looking for great traditional music, head a few blocks over to the Sea Road and find the Crane Bar.

You'll find great traditional music seven nights a week, upstairs and down, so let's head in.

♪ ♪ ♪ So, in listening and looking at the mix of instruments here, like, you have a very, very defined sound that I am absolutely mad about.

Did you pick the instruments specifically, or did you just all get together in a room and see what happened?

MICK: We're actually, we're friends before we're musicians, I think, which is the lovely thing about us.

We've known each other for years in different guises, so two of us knew each other, three of us knew, so friends of friends, playing together at parties and sessions and things like that, and eventually we just came together as a band.

So that's how it formed, quite organically.

MICHAEL: So, as Galway musicians, do you just kind of just show up and start playing, or how does it work?

MICK: That's how it works.

So, you know, if there's a smell of a tune and a smell of a pint, you'll follow your nose and you'll go in and you'll have a bit of a hooley.

And that's it, and a text will be sent out and people will get word, and the next thing is there's a party on.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (band members whooping) ♪ (shoes tapping) ♪ (shoes tapping) MICHAEL: So, why Galway?

Because, you know, every town has a trad scene, but Galway seems to be a hub, and I can't quite put my finger on why that is.

MICK: That's it, and sitting behind you are two lads from, one is from Donegal, Paul, and one is from Tyrone, Declan, and we have Ger, who was with us earlier, from Clare, and Galway just attracts musicians, I don't know why.

It might be that western thing.

People like to run away from the world, so this is as far west as you can get really in terms of cities.

And so it's just a bit of a mecca for trad music, thankfully, and we're lucky enough to live here, it's great.

♪ (shoes tapping) ♪ (shoes tapping) ♪ (shoes tapping) MICHAEL: Thanks for joining me on my travels around County Galway.

I'm Michael Londra, and I hope to see you next time on Ireland with Michael.

But for now, cheers.

Sláinte.

ANNOUNCER: Want to continue your travels to Ireland?

Your choice of the Ireland with Michael DVD Seasons one and two or Seasons three and four with bonus concert footage is available for $30.

Ireland with Michael: A Musical Journey CD with songs from Michael and his guest artists, is available for $20.

The Ireland with Michael Companion travel book, featuring places to visit as seen in all seasons, is also available for $30.

This offer is made by Wexford House.

Shipping and handling is not included.

MICHAEL: To learn more about everything you've seen in this episode, go to IrelandWithMichael.com.

ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael was made possible by: ♪ MICHAEL: The music, the folklore, and the hospitality.

It's all in Ireland.

♪ ANNOUNCER: CIE Tours, sharing the magic of Ireland for 90 years.

♪ ANNOUNCER: Aer Lingus has been bringing people home since 1936.

If you're thinking about Ireland, Aer Lingus is ready when you are to take you home.

MICHAEL: Okay, put your hands up in the air!

Come on, let's get a-wavin'!

♪ In my heart, its rightful queen ♪ ♪ Ever loving ♪ ♪ Ever tender ♪ That's it!

♪ Ever true ♪ ♪ Like the Sun, your smile has shone ♪ Go on, Wexford!

♪ Gladdening all it glowed upon ♪ ♪ ♪