This Friday 2 June, a new series titled Éire Eile will be launched on the TG4 Player and on TG4’s YouTube channel. Presented by DJ Shampain (Cóilí Collins), the series explores a range of subcultures and alternative scenes throughout Ireland, from hip-hop in Limerick and queer punk in Belfast to wheelchair basketball in Cork and historical European martial arts in Galway. Shampain also spends time with the band The Mary Wallopers and examines the popularity of new Irish folk groups, and the eight-part series concludes with an exploration of the electronic music scene in Ireland and the recent campaigns for its survival.

Produced by Black Gate Productions, Éire Eile is about ‘what happens when people get together to create, compete, express themselves and indulge their passions.’ A preview of the first three episodes took place at the Pálás cinema in Galway city last Thursday 25 May – with Collins, producer Jake Tiernan, director John Conway, and Black Gate producer Peadar King in attendance – and all three programmes demonstrated a fresh look at Irish society today.

The strength of communities
Collins, from Indreabhán, Co. Galway, has a growing international reputation as a DJ and through his work with VSN World and G-Town Records. This summer, he will perform at the Galway International Arts Festival Big Top with Kettama on 23 July. Commenting on the series, Collins said:

The most moving part of making the series was witnessing the strength of communities and the empathy that exists within them. I grew up in a very rural area and people who didn’t understand me oftentimes made no attempt to understand my interests and just thought I was weird. Meeting these groups of people and doing it all as Gaeilge was an extremely positive experience and something that has really changed the way I see the world, because if people have each other’s backs and don’t give in to fear we could all get along with each other but more importantly learn from each other’s experiences in life.

This is the second series produced by Black Gate for TG4, following the 2022 music series Cumasc: Seisiúin sa Black Gate, which was nominated for a Royal Television Society Ireland award. 

Watch the trailer for Éire Eile below. To view the full series on 2 June, visit https://www.tg4.ie or www.youtube.com/tg4.

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