KNEECAP HAVE GIVEN a new insight into the important encouragement they received in the Puball Gaeilge/Gaelic Tent at the Electric Picnic from two pioneers in the Irish language music scene as they started out, the late Ronán Mac Aodha Bhuí of RTÉ Ráidió na Gaeltachta and Rossa Ó Snodaigh who pioneered the Irish language venue at the Stradbally festival.

According to Moglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí, speaking in and interview during TG4′s coverage of the festival, it was the gig they got to play in front of 80 people in the Puball Gaeilge at the Electric Picnic in 2018 that set them on the road to being on the main stage at this year’s festival, where there was an audience of over 40,000.

Now that the Picnic is over and next year’s tickets are on sale, TG4 is streaming three songs from Kneecap’s live set on the main platform and there is an exclusive interview with Moglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí on the programme, Beo ón Electric Picnic, which aired on Sunday but is now on the station’s player.

Production company, Ochto484, were filming in the Hazel Wood/Collchoill and at the Puball Gaeilge and other venues around the Picnic over last weekend for a 90-minute highlights programme broadcast on TG4 on Sunday night.

Interviewed by Síomha Ní Ruairc and John Sharpson, the two Kneecap members highlighted the journey they had undergone since they first arrived in Stradbally in 2018 and credited the two men for the support they had given the group as it started out.

Móglaí Bap had this to say on the subject:

It’s great to be back and, perhaps, we can ‘fact-check’ this – but we may be the first band to start at the Puball Gaeilge but are now on the main stage.

DJ Próvaí said that they didn’t know what their goal was when they started out but it was clear they weren’t thinking about the main stage at the Electric Picnic.

“We know when we started out, one of the first times we were on a stage that big and there were a couple of thousand people present, we were here – that was the first time we felt we could take it further and be on the main stage.”

At that point in the interview, Moglaí Bap made an important point.

Credit to Ronán Mac Aodha Bhuí and Rossa Ó Snodaigh because without the Phuball Ghaeilge there would not have been space for us and these other bands at the biggest music festival in Ireland that has a tent and space to play in Irish and without that we would not have started out.

Many singers and groups performed from both stages  during the weekend – the likes of John Spillane, IMLÉ, Dysania and participants in the new Ráidió Rí Rá scheme, Glór Ár Linne – and there were plenty of other events such as YogaAs Gaeilge, discussion panels and more to enjoy as well.

The coverage went down a storm with viewers – with many comparing it favourably to the BBC’s coverage of the Glastonbury festival. Cian Mac Carthaigh from production company Ochto4/84 spoke to The Journal about how the programme came to be on the air at all.

Mac Carthaigh explained that the conversations with TG4 and festival organisers continued for some time but the ‘turnaround’ from idea to programme was very quick, thanks to everyone who was so supportive of the proposal.

When the big weekend arrived, there were around 30 people working on the programme, including cameramen, editors and others, and editing was taking place in an outside broadcast truck on site so that the 90-minute programme would be ready on Sunday to be broadcast that night.

“I spent the whole day in bed on Monday,” said Cian.

“It was a great effort by the whole team and the EP people and the TG4 people and it was a great success, we’re so happy with that.”

“We’d love to do it again, there’s definitely potential and people are interested and there’s a lot of Irish musicians anyway and we could only cover a small part of that this weekend.

“Nothing has been confirmed yet but I think TG4 and the people who have been working with me here have shown that there are possibilities and a lot of interest as well.”

The Journal’s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme