[BAGPIPES PLAYING] Welcome to Ireland with Michael.

I'm Michael Londra.

in the States now, miss about my home country.I get to tell you all about it thow through music.

hometown, Wexford, knowits Maritime history,ets, their love of all things opera.

made me a singer.

[IRISH MUSIC] is made possible by-- (SINspecial in the air.thing Vethe excitementng of sporting events,nt, to venues across America.

for the first time or longing you a warm Irish welcome.

Ireland or to plan a visit, go to Ireland.com.

Fill your heart with Ireland.

[IRISH MUSIC] CIreland for nearly 90 years.f [RELAXING MUSIC] LoSoutheast coast,'s 90-minute drive from Dublin.

capital of the county, the National Opera House.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Hleading opera festivals's and hosting hundreds of and with localsfor throughout the year.

This may look like your av, is the National Opera, House of Ireland.

sing on opening night.

Nsong about my home countyat just love to sing it with me.o [MUSIC - "SLANEY VALLEY"] When first we met.

I can hear the roses yet.

Come on, sing it.

(Sis your happy I can see.at Come on, Wexford.

(Syour sweet voicear sflowers of May.he I whispered back to you.

Will yWhere the summerhore.

are winging homeward in the sky Where the mountains riof gold and greyld We'll go home,to Slaney VI Astyou said yes.hen Brimful was my happiness.

Summeon wings of speed.

fore Never shone the moon at night.

Neath the cloak of starry night.

thrushes so divinely sweet.

OK, come on, Wexford.

The cameras are on you!

(SINwith me asthore ome Whand the Rooks are winginger homeward in the sky.

Where the mountains rise away On a field.

(SINGING) On a field of goldgo home.y We'll to Slaney Valley, you and I. OKup in the air.ds OKup in the air.ds Come on, let's get a waving.

(it's rightful queen, Ever lovever true.tender, That's it.

your smile has shone,n Go on, Wexford.

all it glowed upon,g (SINGING) As it did when back to you.pered (SINwith me asthore,ome is o'er And the Rooks are winging homeward in the sky.

When the mountains rise away O'er a field of gold and grey, We'll go home to Slaneand I.ey, you We'll go home to Slaney V. Come on, Wexford.

[APPLAUSE] This grand opera house replacRoyal, whichheater was originally built in 1832. back then, but that hall plin my childhood.t My early years were full o, were shared with my friend, local actress, Catherine Walsh.

her as the very funny lady she is today, Biddy.

in the rooftop cafe of the The the most spectacular views of the harbor.

Sthe same childhood reallyd big influence in our lives.a Do you have any memories ?

difference there, Michael.

You could sing.

I couldn't really sing.

a singer, but, Yeah, Iof it all for me was I went to school near here.

Faythe school.

And we were taught by nuns.

telling one of them I singer when I grew up.ra but the influence of opera Wexford in the 1960s-- oops, did I say 60s?

It was the 60s-- was huge.

up to the festival,n durperiods, you'dsal over the world And-- That was exciting.

Yeah, of course it was.

We from Wexford.ple knew people on my street.

or any room that was vacantl and hear opera music.

Yeknow what it was.lly No, not a clue.

[OPERA SINGING] that wouldn't even be in our vocabulary, opera music.

it kind of seeped into us bwere involved in the theatere it was our lives.

And then it was OK to sing.

It was OK for normal people.

It was encouraged.

Wasn't it?

take a little stroll with me around the streets of Wexford?

Oh, I'd love to.

It's a gorgeous day.

All right, let's go.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Yopart of the worldly hapretty much everybody.l, 8th century by the Vikings andharbor of the mudflats.ing Amuch prettier than that.

took over in 1169 Dermot MacMurrough, the King of Leinster.

[BIRDS CAWING] Finfamous Oliver Cromwell ltaking over the town as 1,500 civilians.

still evokes a strong reaction from locals.

TBritish dialect of Yolahe was spoken right through .

with some unusual words t of that rather unique accent.

[INAUDIBLE CHATTER] Tthe town, you'll to the 1798 rebellion against British occupation.

town is the bullring pikeman honoring those rebels.

fight the British here in the square, marketplace with stores, pubs, and fishmongers.

best places in Wexford go by is right here in Mackens Pub in the bullring.

that Oscar Wilde's mother was born right over here.

corner, well, that's whemother lived.re's Cheers/ [MUSIC PLAYING] Ithe roads lead downll to the gorgeous harbor.

no surprise that much of the life of the town cen.

from the ocean for the Vikings, to its modern day fleet of , a profound effect onfor over 1,000 years.re In 1962, General Dwight Eis, paid tribute in this very spot tNavy, Commodore John Barry.an by George Washington, isurprise that Johno hailed from this very ch its long, seafaring tradition.

SinI think it isrd, a big influence from the sea.

Go into any pub.

us a bit of quietness andsomebody in that pubg, isto sing to you.le [MUSIC - "THE SPANISH LADY"] down through Dublin city at the hour of twelve at night.

Spanish lady washing her feet by candlelight.

First, she washed them, th, Over a fire of amber coals In all my life, I never sweet about the soul.

Whack for the Too Rye, ooh, Ray lady Whack for theRye ayee, ooh, Whack for the Too Rye, ooh, Ray lady Whack for theRye ayee, ooh, any pub band that will have me, the Opera Festival, twith the annual Singing Pubs, Competition.

of our favorite pubs.

The Sky and the Ground.

about the Singing Pubs.

[INAUDIBLE SINGING] Oh, yeah, the Singing Pubs.

Wmemories of the Singing Pubse during the Opera Festival?

all those years ago.

Started probably in the 1990s.

sang in my first pub.

Bar that's no longer there.

And I sang, The Streets o.

We did.

Yeah.

Went down well.

It did.

We didn't win that year, but-- We didn't.

Likhad a Singing Pubs.ord same age as the Opera Festival.

So it's going on that long.

Maybe about 70 years.

Yeah.

60 pubs would take part in it.

Aprestigious thingt the Singing Pubs.

And competitive.

you have a situation where othe pub, and, you know,n guy singing a song.

few minutes later, you'd have an opera singer.

singing something from Boheme or-- mixture of everybody, integrating the Opera Festival where, I suppose, normally, it was a kind of an elitist thing.

Abringing the opera to the local people in town.

And that worked.

Butthat it did isng that it gave the Opera Festhe opera world.to So now, no matter where y, peoOpera for two reasons.val It's famous for rare operas.

about it is that they'll fat the Opera House.ve out of their costume,e ta couple of pintsor and maybe sing a song a.

Yes, yeah.

Tthe Singing Pubs the festival as it ever was.

That's a good thing.

Yeah, it's brilliant.

Yeah, long may it last really.

[CHEERING] [GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING] [MUOF MAGHERALLY"]ERS (SIsummer's morningant when alspringing o's were wee birds sweetly singing on.

My charming, blue-eyed Sally O' queen of the county down.

of my Magherally O'r Golden hair in ringlets clung.

Her shleather O'panish Heribbons clung.ue Her scarlet, cap and fbride she'd appear,s Sally O' She is my queen.

She's my heart's delight.

of my Magherally O'r your life in Ireland.

them for granted.

grand as Johnstown.

About two miles from the tow Castlestown dathe Esmond family arriveden the Norman invasion.

Inotorious Cromwell the night before he sacked the town.

ICromwellian yearse lost the castle because of their Catholicism.

family bought the land.

BuHamilton Knox Grogan builtt the castle that stands today.

the estate to the Irish nation, anof Agriculturent took over running the estate.

was a place to play my brother, Paul.

We'of the Round Table,ghts sword fights with Paul right around this tower.

Victorian revival castle Gentry life in the 19th century.

parlors, and gorgeous studies, stepping through a portal iin another time.d old servants' tunnel.

workings of a living estate.

stretches over 300 feet, anto the basement kitchens.se Not for the claustrophobic.

is housed in the farm buildings of the estate.

This is one of the most cos ofyou'll find anywhere.fe turn of the 18th century, and stretches into the 20th.

So tthrough the Industrialture Revolution is available for.

to expect when I came here.t But, you know, it's pretty cool.

in agricultural production people of Ireland in the 1850s the great hunger.

combination of potato blight, afrom the British government.s Irish and caused a million more to emigrate.

Main the years followingip from the bustling harbor town of Wexford.

[MUSIC - "THE WATER IS WIDE"] (SINGING) Water is wide.

I can't cross o'er.

And neither have I wings to fly.

Giwill carry two.at And both shall row, my love there A ship is, she sails the sea.

Sas deep can be.p But nlove I'm in.s the I know not if I sink or swim.

Giwill carry two,at amy love and I. Oh!

[APPLAUSE] of the 1840s emigranta ship, The Dunbrody.

this carried stones Savannah, Georgia, as ballast timber for the journey home.

By the time the Dunbrody w, driving emigrants from Ireland, the hopeful men and women ilife in America.w Savannah is still stones from the Dunbrody and ships like it.

At one point in the 1850s, there were three dg lines offering non-stop servto Georgia.xford half of the Irish in Savannah have ancestry from Wexford.

biggest St. Patrick's Day be found in Savannah today.

know how to party.

Whunder British ruleed intany developmentury, fishing industry was vithreat to Britain.l to small fishermen, but no grant was availay a boat more than 46 feet long.

subsidizing the poor so on a smaller scale,h growth of a sizeable industry.

One of th storiesmportant imaritime history, steamer, the Kerlogue.

Fired upon despite the coin World War II,ty injured on that vessel.

I never got to meet songs and his stories live on through the family.

His favorite song, Little Pal.

[MUSIC - "LITTLE PAL"] (SIdaddy goes away.l, Profrom day to day.ood Do as mother says.

Never sin.

Be might have been.dy pal, that you will turn out all right, little pal.

So until we meet again, heaven k when,here or tthen, little pal.d Sing it with me.

pal, that you will turn out all right, little pal.

So until we meet again, heaven k when,here or tthen, little pal.d [APPLAUSE] my travels around Wexford.

and I hope to see you next time on Ireland now, cheers.

Slainté.

To learn more about everything to travel to Ireland with me,r go to irelandwithmichael.com.

was made possible by-- [MUSIC PLAYING] of Ireland for nearly 90 years.

(SINspecial in the air--ign Venthe excitementng of sporting events,nt, to venues across America.

for the first time or longing you a warm, Irish welcome.

Ireland or to plan a visit, go to ireland.com.

Fill your heart with Ireland.

Come on, let's get a waving.

(it's rightful queen, Ever lovever true.tender, That's it.

your smile has shone,n Go on, Wexford.

all it glowed upon,g (SINGING) As it did when back to you.pered (SINGING) As it did when back to you.pered