Mother’s Blood, Sister Songs
Acclaimed Irish composer Linda Buckley has a personal and professional affinity to Iceland and in this radio series she teams up with documentary maker Helen Shaw to trace the connections between the two places, in story and song. The Icelandic female line goes directly back to Gaelic women, mostly taken as slaves, by Norwegian Vikings who settled the land over a thousand years ago. In this evocative music led documentary Buckley and Shaw travel to Iceland to hear its stories and listen to its singers.
Episode 1- Mother’s Blood
In the first of two programmes, Linda and producer Helen Shaw find out what the ancient connection is between Ireland and Iceland as Professor Poul Holm and Dr Elizabeth Boyle trace the story of the settlement of Iceland by Norwegian Vikings who took gaelic slaves, predominately women, with them. Where are the traces of these women in the story and song of Iceland? In Iceland they unpack the remarkable genetics which show the majority of women in early Iceland came from the gaelic world and talks to composer and singer Bára Grímsdóttir about the rímur song tradition while Dr.Emily Lethbridge brings us into the heart of the Icelandic Sagas and the story of Melkorka, the supposed mute Irish slave princess who features in them and how her son becomes a heroic leader in the story of early Iceland. Is Melkorka myth or reality? Professor Terry Gunnell and Gísli Sigurdsson draw out the Irish influences in story, folklore and song.
Production team: Linda Buckley, Helen Shaw, John Howard
Audio Mix: Pearse Ó Caoimh
An Athena Media Production (Ireland) for RTÉ lyric fm, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland from the Television Licence Fee.
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 29th December, 6pm-7pm