Áine Ryan
THE Mayo News is not normally good at keeping secrets but the line-up for RTE Radio One’s Sunday Miscellany, recorded in Westport over the weekend, will remain shrouded in mystery until December 11.
Okay, for those who were not part of the cultural cacophony at Westport Cineplex last Sunday morning, we concede the programme does feature some of the county’s top musicians and writers. The Sunday Miscellany show was just one element of the second annual Rolling Sun Book Festival, opened by global nomad, Manchán Magan, in the Clew Bay Hotel last Friday night.
The boutique festival evokes, in a quirky way, the deep layers of culture and heritage symbolized by the ancient worship of the rolling sun on holy mountain, Croagh Patrick. The programme is a mélange of readings and workshops, ceol and conversation, drama and cookery, fun and frolics.
Moreover, the Rolling Sun Book Festival is inspired by the wonderful narrative offered by the local landscape and celebrates the local while gazing sideways over the horizon.
Westport solicitor, Mairéad Bourke, a committee member, encapsulated it for The Mayo News yesterday: “This year’s festival was a journey of colour – the taste of apple jelly – our tastebuds were tickled, our musical ears were fine-tuned. We travelled on a magic carpet with Global Nomad, Manchán Magan. We were so exhilarated and enthused by the entire programme.”
This year’s festival provided a colourful programme which brought audiences and participants from the poetic lyrics of Bob Dylan to the engaging cookery of Neven Maguire, the haunting songs of Nóirín Ni Riain and Cór Mhaigheo to the balladery of William Butler Yeats.
The festival closed on Sunday afternoon with a Poetry Slam that attracted many locals and visitors who read their favourite poem and explained its influence. Even, First Citizen, Cllr Christy Hyland waxed lyrical with a poem that has stayed with him since his schooldays, The Village Blacksmith, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.