Cheebah and all that - Limerick, Ireland

Rapido

Video for Rapido - history of hip hop

Know they are a lot of hip hop historys out there but for the Irish viewer this Rapido special will have a special resonance as it was shown here back in the very early 90s. Nearly an hour long , links for part 2, part3, part4, part 5 and part 6.

Shane

1984

Video for Breakdancing on the streets of Limerick 1984

At occasional Cheebah team meetings over the last four years, many projects are talked about. One that is always pencilled in is to get the above footage from 'Reelin in the years' and put it up on youtube and start trying to find out more about the particiapants.

Well finally somebody else has done it. I know that on a thread over at the limerick Blogger a few years ago this was mentioned and some names came out. However those comments are now deleted so if you can shine light on those involved we would love to hear more. Comment below.

UPDATE: Thanks to Colz and Cool C for the comments below. Keep them coming. Colz has also written a great personal account of why 84-85 was so important to many Irish youth. Unsurprisingly not everyone liked Dizzy Footwork. They were once referred to in a Dáil debate in 85. The speaker was Ned O Keeffe, Cork FF TD who would later become famous over his concern about "Babe" and its effects on the Irish Bacon industry and more recently for this outburst. Back in 85 Ned was talking about the need for Youth training and employment skills. He declared that skills like that of the tinsmith should be preserved and then went onto attack an event. The event was called the 'Youth Year Roadshow'  and Ned maintained that it

"is an insult to our youth. Among the Roadshow's many features are... a... breakdancing performances by the Mars breakdancing team — Dizzy Footwork.That is demeaning our youth and is an insult to them"  !! (full transcripts)

This was the only reference ever to breakdancing in the history of the Dáil. Coincidentally, Ned's constituency colleague Sean Sherlock (Labour) made the only reference to hip hop.

Shane

It's a jazz thing

Photo owned by richardkaby (cc)
Big night this Wednesday for the Limerick Jazz Society as Soweto Kinch comes to town as part of the David Lyttle 3. Upstairs in Dolans- full details here. David Lyttle says on his own site "I'll be starting an 8-date Irish tour (April 29th) with rapper and saxophonist Soweto Kinch and bassist Damian Evans. We'll be playing some hard-swinging contemporary jazz and some deep, grooving hip hop."
Definitely music to move to and maybe get 'abnormal' to. That was the fate for jazz followers predicted by one District Judge Coll in Dundalk back nearly 80 years ago.

found in a copy of  Workers Life (1981) archived as part of the excellent Irish Left archive over on Cedar Lounge Revolution

Shane

Know your City

Last Sunday Newstalk covered Limerick in their documentary series urban beauty, urban blight. The emphasis was definitely on the positive with contributions from the likes of Mary Coll, Jon Kenny, Denis Leonard and Shelia Deegan. There was a snappy vox pop bit at the start with people on the street defending the city strongly. Some interesting pointers as to future city direction including a reference to the need to create a real heart to the city and the suffocating issue that is the boundary extension. If you haven't much idea of the citys architectural development or indeed social geography it is worth a listen (click here). Just treat some of the hyperbole for what it is.
The newstalk documentary didn't look at anything much beyond the last thirty years, but there are interesting lessons to be learnt from further back too. Paul Tarpey, myself and the size2shoes duo were amongst a very healthy group of about fifty people who attended a walking tour of the key sites associated with the Limerick Soviet. This month marks the 90th anniversary of the Soviet and Labour historian Dominic Hough will conduct the tour again this Sunday as part of the commemorations. He will be joined by local playwright and actor Mike Finn. Definitely worth an hour of your time. There is also a number of other events happening. Check here for full details.
Sticking with industrial disputes and indeed republicans both of which are intertwined in the Soviet story, RTE recently rebroadcast the fascinating story of the Ferneka plant in Limerick. Interunion disputes, strikes and kidnapping  all feature. Listen back here.

Shane

Ten years ago today

On the night of 11th December,morning of the 12th 1998, dozens of Gardai entered and shut down a city centre club in Limerick City. When they issued their demand to the dj to desist from playing, he was dropping an r'n'b number. It wasn't exactly bangin' techno!. But it was good and memories of those nights still live on fondly in many peoples hearts. In fact, the visit on that night ended a particularly purple patch in Limerick club history.

Striking a blow

Curran Aluminium industrial dispute from DCTV on Vimeo.

Anyone passing Roxboro in the last 8 weeks will have seen the workers from Curran Aluiminium standing outside on the Picket Line in the worst of weather conditions. Despite the long duration of this dispute, it has received little enough media coverage (a search on google news reveals only 4 stories in the last month). Thus it is good to see new station Dublin Community Television coming to Limerick and giving a fair platform to the striking workers in the clip above.

Another person who believed in a fair deal for workers was Peadar O Donnell. A new documentary on tg4 tonight explores his fight for socialist principles and civil rights in Ireland. The programme airs at 9.30 and is produced by Ciara Nic Chormaic ( a cheebah DJ in the past).

Shane

Eist V

• The Hannah Parr arrived from Norway, unintentionally staying in Limerick for 6 weeks back in 1868. Bock has a piece here and we did something as well a few years back. This Friday evening on Lyric FM artszone has a 20 minute audio documentary "great need was our only strength" which revisits and retells this uplifting yet poignant tale. More here
• Brian Cross arrived ahead of the entourage and did some interviews regards Brasilintime shows. He was on Dave Fanning and did well considering the scattergun questioning style Fanning employs. A much more relaxed and enjoyable interview followed that night when he joined Donal Dineen on Today FM. Candid and smooth, I think it really illustrated the passion which B has for this particular project. You can listen back here ( note if link doesn't work- right click- copy link location and open in a media player). Nice buzz building in advance of Sundays show. Be there.

Shane

James Connolly

Rascal Films have been preparing this biopic of Ireland's most famous socialist for a few years now. They have been raising funds in a number of ways, avoiding the corporate route a little bit like the Crude film which shane wrote about before. Now, Mackozer reports that the most realistic portrayal of turn of the 20th  century Dublin is to be found in Poland and Gdansk specifically. Thus the film is to be shot there. I'm sure if Connolly was around today he would be joining colleagues in SIPTU etc in organising the new Polish workers and hopefully this film went it arrives on our screens will awaken many, of all nationalities, to his message.

Bottom Dog

on the street

 
I have been photographing irish markets since the late 80s and always recorded some version of the JFK portrait that would be placed on various stalls, his saintly image often framed with an image of pope pius. There was something aspirational about venerating this american particularly in the late 80s and early 90s when emigration was almost compulsory. I don' t see that image in markets any more.

Paul Tarpey

Photo in Limerick market aug 2007.

Limerick Soviet

Clip on Limerick Soviet from RTE's Urban Tales.  Apparently somebody else was doing another film on this over the summer so more attention in the months to come.

Bottom Dog