Irish Language Broadcast Fund film tells the story of the song The Laughing Boy on TG4
Date Posted: August 17, 2022
An Buachaill Gealgháireach, a new Irish Language Broadcast Fund film, tells the remarkable untold story of an Irish song called The Laughing Boy written by a teenage rebel called Brendan Behan in memory of another iconic rebel, Michael Collins. Produced by Imagine Media with support from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland (Athens), the film airs on Wednesday 24th August at 9:30pm on TG4.
An Buachaill Gealgháireach was written and presented by Theo Dorgan, directed by Alan Gilsenan and produced by Kathryn Baird and Sheila Friel.
The Laughing Boy also had an extraordinary and dramatic afterlife as To Yelasto Paidi, the powerful left-wing anthem of resistance against the dictatorship that ruled Greece in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Translated by the poet Vassilis Rotas, Behan’s words in Greek were set to music by the legendary Mikis Theodorakis, the most famous Greek composer of all time. The song remains an enduring and potent cultural force in the heart of Greece today.
The film takes poet Theo Dorgan on an odyssey of his own, as he attempts to uncover the truth of the story behind the song. It is a narrative that interweaves the tragic and bloody birth-pangs of both modern Ireland and modern Greece. But these histories are also bound together by something more profound and transcendent – the power of a song.
As Theo says in the film, both the Irish and Greek versions of the song capture something unique: “…Some idea, perhaps, of the eternal rebel, some embodiment of revolt against small destiny, tyranny, the forces that tend always and everywhere to diminish if not actually crush our sense of the necessary largeness of life and the imagination…”
Filmed in Ireland, France and Greece, the film also features performances from a number of Irish musicians – including Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, MayKay, Liam Ó Maonlaí and David Power and well-known musicians and singers from Greece, foremost among them Maria Farantouri, honoured throughout the world as the pre-eminent interpreter of the songs of Theodorakis.
An Buachaill Gealgháireach – Scéal suntasach amhráin atá i scannán nua de chuid an CCG ar TG4
Insíonn scannán nua de chuid an Chiste Craoltóireachta Gaeilge, An Buachaill Gealgháireach, scéal suntasach amhráin nár insíodh riamh. Amhrán Éireannach dar teideal The Laughing Boy a scríobh reibiliúnach de dhéagóir darbh ainm Brendan Behan, in ómós reibiliúnach aitheanta eile, Micheál Ó Coileáin. Is léiriúchán de chuid Imagine Media é do TG4, le tacaíocht ó Údarás Craolacháin na hÉireann, agus ó Ambasáid na hÉireann, an Aithin. Craolfar é ar an Chéadaoin 24ú Lúnasa ag 9.30.i.n ar TG4.
An Buachaill Gealgháireach Arna scríobh agus arna chur i láthair ag Theo Dorgan, arna stiúradh ag Alan Gilsenan agus arna léiriú ag Kathryn Baird & Sheila Friel.
Ach bhí saol suaithinseach agus drámatúil eile ag an amhrán seo freisin, mar amhrán dar teideal To Yelasto Paidi, arb aintiún cumhachtach frithbheartaíochta den eite chlé é i gcoinne na deachtóireachta a rialaigh an Ghréig ag deireadh na seascaidí agus tús na seachtóidí. Rinne an file Vassilis Rotas focail Behan a aistriú go Gréigis, agus cuireadh iad le ceol leis an gcumadóir mór le rá, Mikis Theodorakis, an cumadóir is cáiliúla riamh as an nGréig. Tá cumhacht chultúir sheasmhach láidir ag baint leis an amhrán fós i gcroí mhuintir na Gréige sa lá atá inniu ann.
Tugtar an file Theo Dorgan ar aistear dá chuid féin sa scannán, agus é ag féachaint le fírinne scéal an amhráin a nochtadh. Is scéal é a thugann tús tragóideach agus fuilteach na hÉireann sa Nua-aois agus na Gréige sa Nua-aois araon le chéile. Ach tá na startha sin ceangailte le chéile le rud éigin atá níos doimhne agus níos tarchéimnithí – is é sin an chumhacht atá ag amhrán.
Mar a deir Theo sa scannán, cuirtear rudaí speisialta ar leith in iúl i leagan na hÉireann agus i leagan na Gréige araon: “…Smaoineamh éigin, b’fhéidir, den reibiliúnach síoraí, ar léiriú é, ar bhealach éigin, ar éirí amach i gcoinne na tíorántachta a chuireann srian ar a bhfuil i ndán do dhuine, na fórsaí a mbíonn claonadh acu i gcónaí agus i ngach áit an flosc chun na beatha agus an tsamhlaíocht atá sa duine a chur faoi chos, nó deireadh ar fad a chur leis…”
Is é atá sa scannán freisin, a ndearnadh scannánú air in Éirinn, sa Fhrainc agus sa Ghréig, taibhithe ó roinnt ceoltóirí na hÉireann – lena n-áirítear Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, MayKay, Liam Ó Maonlaí agus David Power agus ceoltóirí agus amhránaithe mór le rá as an nGréig, a bhfuil Maria Farantouri i measc na gceoltóirí is iomráití acu, a thugtar ónóir di ar fud an domhain ina príomhléirmhínitheoir d’amhráin Theodorakis.
