TV: Recalling the musical traditions around 1798

The year 1798 is etched in the memory banks of the Irish, and a new TV documentary series revisits the time of that fateful failed rising against British rule.

Called Ceol 1798, it starts a four-part run on TG4 on Sunday at 9pm, and sets out to explore the song traditions of the 1798 rebellion.

Combining live performance, evocative landscapes, curated archives, expert commentary and historical reflections, the series re-examines a defining chapter in Irish history through the music it inspired and the stories it continues to carry.

Among the contributors to the series are Stephen Rea, The Rapparees, Onóir, and our own bard of Cork, John Spillane.

Rather than treating song simply as an accompaniment to historical narrative, the series places music at the centre of its storytelling, revealing how memory, politics and identity were shaped, preserved and contested in verse and melody.

Contemporary songs also allow the audience to see how the ideals and vision of the United Irishmen, inspired by the American and French Revolutions, continue to influence artists some two centuries on.

As the great song collector Frank Harte once observed, “the winners write the history, and the losers write the songs.” Nowhere is this truer than in the story of 1798.

Ceol 1798 dives deep into the rich and complex musical heritage that grew from one of the most significant periods of upheaval in Irish history — uncovering songs of victory and defeat, of courage and fear, and of an Ireland striking out for Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.

The first episode looks at the legacy of 1798 in Ulster and the North East, and the radical Presbyterian influence

Programme covers Dublin, Wexford, and the broader Leinster story, episode three explores the lost songs of the Unionist tradition, and the final part heads to Munster and Connacht, and covers the arrival of the French forces.