Case Study
The Celtic Songlines
Dingle Publishing Working for Publishers
The Celtic Songlines
The companion book to the RTÉ series
with Dónal Lunny by filmmaker, editor and author David Forsythe published by Currach Press.
With a wonderful opportunity, but an impossible deadline, Garry O’Sullivan of Currach Press contacted Dingle Publishing. He asked for help to achieve the near–impossible: a book of exceptional quality from scratch in time for the RTÉ series broadcast deadline. Always up for a challenge, and with decades of experience producing high-quality books while working to tight deadlines, Dingle Publishing co-ordinated the publisher, the author and the RTÉ production team to produce this beautiful book of exceptional quality in advance of the series being aired.
Dónal Lunny takes us on a journey of musical discovery as he travels 1,000 miles from the Outer Hebrides to Galicia following The Celtic Songlines.
Is there such a thing as ‘Celtic music’ and if there is, what exactly is it?
These are some of the questions that Dónal Lunny sought the answers to in RTÉ’s four-part series The Celtic Songlines. Dónal travelled to all of Europe’s Celtic nations from the Hebrides in the north to Galicia in the south, visiting the Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany as well as Ireland. Along the way he met with musicians, historians and folklorists who helped build a fascinating picture of what Celtic musical identity means in modern Europe.
“Celtic music has developed a cultural identity of its own in recent years, but what really gives it life and unites all these places is the spirit and love that Celtic people have for their own traditions.” – Dónal Lunny
David Forsythe is a journalist, author and film-maker, born and brought up in London, the son of an Irish mother and English father. Throughout his career he has been fascinated by the influences that shape our cultural identity. He is the author of The Celtic Songlines (with Dónal Lunny) and What Have the Irish Ever Done for Us?, and a scriptwriter for RTÉ. He lives in West Cork, Ireland.
David Ian Bickley, born in Manchester in 1961, is an award-winning artist, film-maker and musician with more than 30 years’ experience working in the fields of the creative arts and media production. As a producer and director for film and television he was the winner of the BBC Short Film Award; first prize for video at the Sony Film Festival; best documentary / best director at the Fastnet Film Festival; and has been the recipient of two film project awards from the Arts Council of Ireland. He has worked extensively as an independent producer and for the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ as a producer and director in a wide range of genres from studio to magazine and documentary, and was a senior producer with RTÉ Cork for six years.
“The Celtic Songlines was a major four-part documentary series produced for RTÉ Television in 2017. Late in the production process it was decided to produce a book to accompany the series and as series writer the task of writing the book fell to me. The publisher employed Siobhán Prendergast from Dingle Publishing to project manage and edit the project and her input proved invaluable. Working to a very tight deadline and dealing with vast amounts of information Siobhán made sure the book was completed on time and to the highest standards working with myself, the publisher and the series producer.”
David Forsythe
Dingle Publishing Services, Árd na Caithne, Ballyferriter, Tralee, Co Kerry
Email: info@dinglepublishing.com • Tel: +353 89 483 3793