Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

He’s the Irish-speaking Conamara DJ who’s had a huge impact on Galway’s music and dance scene for more years than he’d care to remember – as well as being a pioneering advocate for reclaiming the night for culture. This man of many parts is also a documentary maker, and now Cóilí Collins’ acclaimed series, looking at Ireland’s niche sub-cultures – first screened online last year – is to get a whole new audience as it goes out on TG4 over eight weeks.

Éire Eile – first available on the TG4 player – is presented by the Indreabhán DJ perhaps better known by his stage name Shampain, under which moniker he has headlined music festivals internationally as well as playing the Big Top at the Galway International Arts Festival.

Éire Eile – which began last Thursday – examines subcultures and scenes enjoyed by Ireland’s youth in 2022; everything from Hip-Hop in Limerick and Queer Punk in Belfast to wheelchair basketball in Cork and Historical European Martial Arts in Galway.

Over eight episodes, Shampain explores a range of communities and the people, clubs and organisations which help build and maintain them.

As our work and social lives become increasingly remote, Éire Eile is about what happens when people get together to create, compete, express themselves and indulge their passions.

“Coming from Connemara, there are a lot of negative connotations to that because it is quite a traditional place, but the only way you’re going to change anything is by doing it yourself… I see myself, a lot of the queer DJs or artists that I follow really lean into their queer identity,” he says.

“Or I see a lot of African artists I follow really lean into their African origins – even if they’re second-generation immigrants, they’re starting to shed the thing of being English or American and saying no, I’m actually Ghanian or something like that.

Pictured: Cultural mining…Cóilí Collins, aka Shampain.