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 Roscommon deep in Ireland's hidden heartlands.

It's a place steeped in memories of the past from archaeological sites that transport you back to an age when legends were made, to country estates where the fates of thousands were decided, to the birthplace of a national hero, and it's a place waiting for you to make new memories as well with endless activities that are tied to the land.

So let's go make some memories of our own and take in how musical artists here commemorate the past then forge ahead.

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael is made possible by... ♪ ANNOUNCER: Whether traveling to Ireland for the first time, or just longing to return, there's plenty more information available at Ireland.com.

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

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

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

(birds calling) ♪ MICHAEL: Although Ireland's coasts occupy visitors to the Emerald Isle, (water splashing) ♪ the middle of the country fed by mighty rivers and trickling streams flowing from majestic mountain lakes into the valleys and expansive bogland at the heart of the country, provides just as stunningly verdant views.

♪ Much of this land has been farmed historically, which made its landowners very rich at one time before spelling disaster for those that worked the land during the hard years of the Great Hunger.

♪ All of this can be seen in the faded grandeur of our first stop.

♪ We are in the big house at Strokestown Park, an estate which dominated northeast Roscommon following its, ahem, acquisition by the Pakenham-Mahons in the, you guessed it, Cromwellian conquest.

But now that we've taken it back, the library's been transformed for one night only into a concert hall for a great bunch of young lads with a fresh take on some traditional songs.

Let's meet the guys.

About a year ago, my friend Nathan Carter, who a- appeared in season one of Ireland with Michael told me about this great band from- where a bunch of lads from all over Ireland who are creating amazing traditional music.

And so I'm delighted to have ye here in Strokestown House.

First of all, tell me the name of the band.

DARYL: The name of the band is Ceol.

MICHAEL: And I know what Ceol means, but North America won't know what Ceol means if you tell us.

DARYL: So the word Ceol means music in Irish.

MICHAEL: I mean it's straightforward as you get, lads.

DARYL: Yeah.

MICHAEL: So will you give us a tune?

DARYL: Absolutely.

MICHAEL: Alright off you go, lads.

CATHAL: One, two, three, go.

♪ ♪ As I walked by the dockside ♪ ♪ One evening so fair ♪ To view the still waters and take the salt air ♪ ♪ I heard an old fisherman singing a song ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, won't you take me away boys ♪ ♪ Me time is not long ♪ Wrap me up in me oilskins and jumper ♪ ♪ No more on the docks I'll be seen ♪ ♪ Just tell me old shipmates ♪ ♪ I'm taking a trip, mate ♪ ♪ And I'll see you someday on Fiddler's Green.

♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Tell me about your style of music because I- I see the traditional instruments, but I don't get a traditional vibe from ye.

(hands clap) DARYL: Well yeah, well we play Irish folk and trad, but we're trying to modernize it and give it a new twist, you know, almost like a new lease of life, but still paying respect to the songs.

So that's the direction we're going, you know?

MICHAEL: Yeah because you're- you're taking songs from great artists like the Clancy Brothers, that the whole of North America will know.

And while you want to respect those traditions, it's lovely to see young lads taking it and giving it a fresh new approach.

♪ Now Fiddlers Green is a place I've heard tell ♪ ♪ ♪ Where fishermen go ♪ When they don't go to hell ♪ ♪ Where the skies are all clear ♪ ♪ And the dolphin do play ♪ ♪ ♪ And the cold coast of Greenland ♪ ♪ Is far, far away ♪ Wrap me up in me oilskins and jumper... ♪ MICHAEL: Ye are young ambassadors for Ireland and Irish music.

How do you feel about that?

You're- you're essentially carrying a legacy forward.

How does it feel to be that?

CATHAL: Well, it's great to be able to you know play these great songs that we all woulda heard growing up at parties.

And I know my grandparents would have listened to these songs and played them.

And just being able to play them around the world for people our age, as well who may have emigrated.

And, you know, it might remind them of home and bring them a special memory or something like that.

MICHAEL: As someone who lives over in America, certainly that's what it does for me, it takes me home in a heartbeat, an Irish song in two seconds flat to take- can take me back to Wexford.

♪ ♪ With the wind in the riggin' to sing me a song ♪ ♪ Wrap me up in me oilskins and jumpers ♪ ♪ No more on the docks I'll be seen ♪ ♪ Just tell me old shipmates ♪ ♪ I'm taking a trip, mate ♪ ♪ And I'll see you someday on Fiddler's Green ♪ ♪ ♪ I'll see you someday on Fiddler's Green ♪ ♪ (birds chirping) ♪ MICHAEL: That rousing performance is almost enough to make ye forget the setting in which it's played, a hall where the fates of those that came before was decided as a matter of bookkeeping.

John O'Driscoll, you are the general manager of this incredible Palladian structure.

Could you tell me about the beautiful library that we're in and the life inside of this building?

JOHN: This is Strokestown House.

It was home to the Pakenham-Mahon family from the late 1600s right up to the 1980s when the last member of the family sold the house and moved out.

I suppose the most important part or the most talked about part of the history of the house is during the Great Irish Famine here in Strokestown Park.

Major Dennis Mahon inherited the estate in 1845.

He inherited a debt- ridden estate, the beginning of the Great Irish Famine, no rents coming in, what was he to do?

On the advice of an agent, he began an eviction and emigration scheme.

At one point, he gathered 1,490 of his tenants, men, women and children, about 290 families, gathered them here in Strokestown.

And he walked them from Strokestown to Dublin along the Royal Canal.

From Dublin ships to Liverpool and from Liverpool to Q- Quebec.

By the time they arrived at the quarantine station on the island of Grosse Isle, about 1/3 of these tenants had passed away.

♪ MICHAEL: From the house to the museum next door.

Here, state-of-the-art exhibits enhance the impact of the impressive and diverse collection of objects nearly 200 years old.

The aim is not only to deliver the facts, but also to evoke the emotions and make felt the difficult choices of the people that were here.

Their fear and bitterness, as well as their perseverance and humble hope.

♪ ♪ The seagulls are calling ♪ ♪ The wind is in the sail ♪ ♪ She's fast moving out to the sea ♪ ♪ ♪ On a ship bound for St. Johns ♪ ♪ Three thousand miles away ♪ ♪ A human cargo, my comrades and me ♪ ♪ ♪ Fare thee well, green valley ♪ ♪ God keep you the same ♪ ♪ If in only my mind, you'll be ♪ ♪ ♪ I'm sailing dark waters to far Americay ♪ ♪ ♪ Never more my green valley to see ♪ ♪ ♪ It hurts me ♪ To think of the friends I've left behind ♪ ♪ ♪ Though the famine has blackened the land ♪ ♪ ♪ The plague is a shadow ♪ That lingers night and day ♪ ♪ ♪ Former thoughts of green valleys I see ♪ ♪ ♪ Fare thee well, green valley ♪ ♪ God keep you the same ♪ ♪ If in only my mind you'll be ♪ ♪ ♪ I'm sailing dark waters to far Americay ♪ ♪ ♪ Never more my green valleys to see ♪ ♪ ♪ Never more my green valleys to see ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: You know, the arts are thriving here in the heartlands.

ÚNA: This one is the base piece for Janet Jackson.

MICHAEL: And in Roscommon, there is perhaps no more famous practitioner of her art than Úna Burke... ÚNA: Cindy Crawford... MICHAEL: Whose leather fashion accessories have been seen on everyone from Beyoncé to Lady Gaga and everywhere from the bridge of the Enterprise to the Districts in Hunger Games.

Úna, I tend not to get too starstruck when I meet people who are hugely talented around the world, but I am a mad fan of yours.

How did you build your r- your reputation?

Did you start small in a... 'Cause I know you designed in London for a long time.

ÚNA: I worked in a shop to pay my bills.

And, you know, in the evening, lived the other side of my life, which was like sending my first- My first call in was for Lady Gaga.

And I was like, okay, (laughs) I didn't see this coming.

MICHAEL: I mean for an opening shot, that was... ÚNA: Yeah, yeah.

MICHAEL: Probably the biggest pop star in the world at the time.

ÚNA: I know, at the time, yeah, she was literally just like taking over.

So yeah.

So that was rather exciting, and it was like a schizophrenic life.

I was a terrible employee in the shop that I worked in.

(laughs) MICHAEL: So you're working in a shop to pay the bills.

ÚNA: Yeah.

MICHAEL: Meanwhile, you're working with Lady Gaga on the side?

ÚNA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MICHAEL: That is crazy.

( Úna laughs) ÚNA: So bizarre.

MICHAEL: And with that then, of course, you got all of these features in magazines around the world.

ÚNA: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And other pop stars, and rock stars, ÚNA: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And movies started to make the calls.

ÚNA: Exactly yeah, so it was like a domino effect.

So a one person kind of discovers you, and then the next kind of wants to be involved.

And then like the magazines came.

And I was invited to Milan to show- by Vogue to show at Milan Fashion Week, and then I was showing them.

Eventually, I was actually so terrified because it was all happening so fast, that I was scared to do anything new because it was there was this expectation.

I could see people writing on the internet going, "I can't wait to see what she does next."

And I'm like, "Oh God."

(laughs) MICHAEL: Watch it, I might know what you do next.

ÚNA: No pressure, no pressure.

MICHAEL: Alright.

I know ye sell retail.

So people can buy your- your stuff in- in the US, right?

ÚNA: Yeah.

MICHAEL: Where?

ÚNA: Yeah so we've got a store in New York called Shop Untitled.

MICHAEL: Can people order it online?

ÚNA: Yes, yeah and that's the best.

We've got a lot of customers in the States who will order the bigger, more theatrical pieces as well, which I love because they're the most fun to make.

MICHAEL: How does your surroundings influence your design?

ÚNA: I would say, in all honesty, is the people that inspire me, MICHAEL: Ah.

ÚNA: The Irish people.

Because the essence of this brand is about the warrior within and the survival instinct within us and the storytelling.

And Irish people are- are all of those things especially.

You know, we've survived some tough times.

MICHAEL: Well, you are inspiring me.

I'm wondering really, do you think I could wear one of these harnesses for my next tour?

ÚNA: Yeah, no problem.

MICHAEL: Not sure this will fit.

ÚNA: I've made them for men before, yeah.

MICHAEL: Probably, not for this man.

I don't think it's for me.

( Úna laughs) Those cows have no idea what's happening inside and all the better for it.

I haven't the heart to tell them.

But if I were you, Betsy, I'd stop chewing the grass and hightail it.

It's not worth meeting Beyoncé or on second thought, maybe it is.

♪ ♪ Leaving Úna, we're headed to a place dedicated to another famed figure, someone instrumental in the founding of this very nation.

Roscommon is also a proud birthplace of Dr. Douglas Hyde, first president of Ireland, an honor which only capped off the academic's life work, reviving interest and pride in Irish culture, and especially the Gaelic language at a time when apathy under England threatened to totally extinguish both.

If it weren't for his elders here in Roscommon speaking their native tongue, sparking in a young Dr. Hyde an enduring love for it, there may never have been a Republic of Ireland at all.

♪ Pat Casey, I can't believe that I had to travel 5,000 miles from Chicago to the heart of Roscommon to find a Chicagoan (Pat laughs) who's going to tell me all about Douglas Hyde here at the Douglas Hyde Center.

PAT: It's a small world, isn't it?

MICHAEL: Douglas Hyde is a key person in the revival of Gaelic as our national language.

PAT: Yes, yes, that's right.

And he learned that from the neighbors, the small cottages, the thatch cottages around here.

He would visit and learn the language from the neighbors.

And he saw that it was not being promoted anymore, it was a dying language, and he didn't want to see it go.

So part of the reason he started the Gaelic League was to save the language, the culture, the heritage, to bring it back to the people's consciousness.

If it hadn't been for Douglas Hyde and this Gaelic League teaching people about- they can be proud of their tradition... MICHAEL: Yes.

PAT: Their heritage, their culture... reviving that.

If it hadn't been for that, it might not have come to what happened in the 1920s.

And it was when they were starting, as a country, to write the Constitution, to create the state of presidency as a role in the government.

They decided unanimously it should be Douglas Hyde who was the first president of Ireland because if it hadn't been for him, we wouldn't be in a Republic of Ireland today.

♪ MICHAEL: As it happens, one of the richest sites of the ancient cultural heritage, which Douglas Hyde worked so hard to preserve is just a stone's throw away from where he was born.

We're at Rathcroghan, a sprawling archaeological site with monuments ranging from Neolithic through the Bronze and Iron Age.

It's a scattering of burial mounds, ring forts, the inauguration site of kings, and the mysterious Cave of Oweynagat.

But if you don't want to risk getting soaked on a day like this, just up the road is a museum with artifacts, recreations, and some of the best- informed guides and finest storytellers you'll find anywhere.

Seriously, the history here is palpable, but so is the rain.

So I'll be moving on to that great museum to learn just why exactly it's all here and its importance to an ancient, almost mythical Ireland.

Mike I know that unlike the mythology of countries all around the world, Irish people have the unique ability of being able, as humans, to cross over into the underworld, am I right?

MIKE: Absolutely.

And if we would say actually what we have here is very unique to Ireland because it's another world.

So it's not quite an underworld.

It's not a place you always have to die.

You're exactly right, in order to go to... MICHAEL: More specifically when talking about this cave, it's related to a very singular event.

MIKE: Correct, Mike.

This is actually a true origin point for the festival of Samhain.

So Samhain, the original Irish winter festival for a farming population, your last night of celebration before facing a hard winter months ahead because the night in Samhain borders summer and winter.

That's the night traditionally when the borders between this world and the other world that you mentioned are completely open.

And so everything as Arden's entrance to the other world comes out of this cave in Samhain night to make the land ready for winter.

And the reason people used to dress and disguise themselves on this night, you're not supposed to be out on Samhain night.

It's a night for the other world.

But if you did have to go out, they would dress themselves as these beasts, demons, and monsters so they wouldn't be recognized.

And as you mentioned, traditional dressing as something scary at Halloween comes not only back to Ireland, to our country here, but some of the stories and customs directly associated with this monument here in Croghan and one of the most unique monuments we have on this island.

MICHAEL: But as promised, it's not only the past you come for in Roscommon.

In fact, at Lough Key, it's all about living in the present, never minding the 13th century castle in the middle of the lake.

Here, they've developed miles of trails, the chance to get out on the water on kayaks, and yes, even take to the treetops.

Even with my feelings about being high up in the air, somehow I end up high on this show a lot.

♪ Whose idea was this?

♪ You know us Irish don't let a little bit of drizzle get in the way of a good time.

And this place, the canopy walk among the trees, the first of its kind in Ireland, it's just that, a lot of fun.

And besides, the canopy of trees is keeping me dry.

Well, drier.

♪ (birds chirping) ♪ Music is one of the most enduring and effective ways in which us Irish, like all people, have told our stories.

(birds chirping) ♪ Less familiar to me, as anyone who's ever seen me try can tell you, is that expression made movement in the form of dance.

♪ For that, I couldn't be more excited to take to the countryside where Mintesinot Wolde, an Ethiopian dancer who lives and works in Roscommon, pulls together the influences and stories of his two homes, Ethiopia and Ireland.

He's accompanied by my pal, Tiernan Courell.

♪ So what's it like for- for a man from Ethiopia to suddenly land in Ireland, a ridiculously different country from- from Ethiopia?

And what's it like to perform there compared to here?

When you arrive here, it's so different.

MINTESINOT: Yeah, well, it's most likely it's crazy because the- the lifestyle we had in Ethiopia is most likely the same.

I mean... MICHAEL: Ah MINTESINOT: You know, Irish people, they are lovely, they are welcoming, you know, you know, there's caring, they are sociable, so we have that in our culture as well.

(birds chirping) ♪ (birds chirping) ♪ MICHAEL: I see that universal language of dance being a connection.

And from what I've seen of your work, it was- it seems African.

But for me, it's- it's quintessentially Irish because you're connecting to the land here around us.

MINTESINOT: In my work, I have the- the African color because I'm from- I'm from there.

Forget about the movement in the dance, even me myself.

MICHAEL: Yes.

MINTESINOT: It's noticeable, like- it's true.

You can't deny it.

MICHAEL: And I- I just like I look as Irish as you get.

MINTESINOT: Yeah, (laughs) so the same thing.

The things like we share this world together.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

MINTESINOT: There are other cultures, other human beings live in this world.

And we have, you know, different maybe custom, food, lifestyle, but we still the same... MICHAEL: Yes.

MINTESINOT: As human being.

We think, we develop, we create new things, and we strive to make our life better.

(birds chirping) ♪ (birds chirping) ♪ (birds chirping) ♪ MICHAEL: Thanks for joining me on my travels around County Roscommon.

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?

A deluxe Ireland with Michael DVD featuring all episodes of Season One plus bonus concert footage is available for $30.

Season Two plus bonus concert footage is available for $30.

A copy of the Ireland with Michael Companion Travel Guide featuring places to visit, as seen in Seasons One and Two, is also available for $30.

ANNOUNCER: 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... ♪ ANNOUNCER: Whether traveling to Ireland for the first time, or just longing to return, there's plenty more information available at Ireland.com.

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

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

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

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

Come on, let's get a-waving.

♪ In my heart its rightful queen ♪ ♪ Ever loving, ever tender ♪ MICHAEL: That's it.

♪ Ever true ♪ Like the Sun your smile has shone ♪ MICHAEL: Go on, Wexford.

♪ Gladdening all it glowed upon ♪ ♪