[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-23121106m14sculturefile-pid0-374448.mp3]

Is there anything worse that a year-end “Best of” list? Perhaps a list of year-end “Best of” lists, suggests Luke Clancy.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-22121105m57sculturefile-pid0-357456.mp3]

Luke Clancy reviews Neil Hannon ofThe Divine Comedy’s first shot at a West End musical, Swallows and Amazons.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-21121107m00sculturefile-pid0-420768.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Richard Skelton about the artist’s long running commemorative project for his late wife, Louise.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-20121107m08sculturefile-pid0-428424.mp3]

How do you follow up a cult novel written entirely in questions? Would US author, Padgett Powell know?

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-19121106m48sculturefile-pid0-408480.mp3]

If you think the odd mobile phone going off during a performance is a new low, you clearly need a course in bad manners in the 17th century Dublin theatre, with Prof. Christopher Morash.

[audio http://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/culturefilepod/14460556246/tumblr_lwgmnhYNCG1r3x39e?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio]

A special Hanukkah treat. Here is the full version of song that ended our piece with soprano, Judith Mok last week, featuring Judith, accompanied by Shane Booth on guitar on his arrangement of Una Pastora Yo Ami. We even enjoy the police sirens at the end.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-15121107m38sculturefile-pid0-458184.mp3]

If it’s good enough for De Falla and Llorca! Soprano, Judith Mok, guides us through the passion of the Sephardic tradition of Jewish song.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-16121105m56culturefile-pid0-356832.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to bird-fancying recorder virtuoso, Laoise O’Brien about her collection of ornithologically inspired music, How Happy for the Little Birds.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-14121106m19sculturefilemp3-pid0-379344.mp3]

Let’s partita! Culture File talks to musicologist, David Ledbetter, about the buried secrets of Bach’s Clavier-Übung I.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-13121107m08sculturefile-pid0-428520.mp3]

Willie Doherty talks about his latest video work, Ancient Ground, set in an ancient Donegal bog.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-12121107m09sculturefile-pid0-429864.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Jes Benstock, director of The British Guide to Showing Off, a documentary about the Alternative Miss World.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-09121111m15sculturefile-pid0-675624.mp3]

Stand up comedian Maeve Higgins talks to Luke Clancy about the fine art of the comedy record.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-08121107m14sculturefile-pid0-434880.mp3]

In the final part of our Van Gogh special, we get all CSI Auvers, as we hear about a newly constructed theory of the painter’s death. (Part 4 of 4).

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-07121106m32sculturefile-pid0-392712.mp3]

Van Gogh wasn’t a good mixer — to put it mildly — and instead filled his days with hour upon hour of reading, much of which shows up in his paintings one way or another, according to his biographers, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. (Part 3 of 4)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-06121107m14sculturefile-pid0-434256.mp3]

Van Gogh-biographer, Gregory White Smith, explains how contemporary theories of colour and emotion fed into the painter’s work. (Part 2 of 4)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-05121107m10sculturefile-pid0-430944.mp3]

Culture File lends an ear (ouch!) to Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, authors of a blockbusting new biography of Van Gogh. (Part 1 of 4)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-02121106m56sculturefile-pid0-415968.mp3]

Samuel Pepys has 22,000 followers on twitter - not bad for a guy who hasn’t written anything in 300 years. What explains his enduring attraction?

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-01121106m06sculturefile-pid0-366600.mp3]

Luke Clancy reviews the opening of Carpet Remnant World, the latest stand up show from Stewart Lee.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-17111106m08sthursculturefile-pid0-368808.mp3]

Falling behind on your readings? Prof John Sutherland estimates there are around 12,000 new novels each year. So which ones to read? (part 1 of 2)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pod-v-30111105m47sculturefile-pid0-347640.mp3]

Consider the currach. Osaka-born sculptor, NaoMatsunaga did when creating his ceramics, for CGI’s Modern Languages show in Kilkenny.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-29111107m32sculturefile-pid0-452352.mp3]

Luke Clancy discovers how Opera North changed the meaning of the word ‘Leeds’.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-28111107m08sculturefile-pid0-428496.mp3]

Culture File listens to former Irish dancer Colin Dunne and his (radio mic-equipped) shoes.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-25111107m25sculturefile-pid0-445848.mp3]

How did a British avant garde composer and founder of the Scratch Orchestra, Cornelius Cardew, become a fan of Father Murphy and the Croppy Boy?

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-24111106m39sculturefile-pid0-399984.mp3]

Some of the original members of composer Cornelius Cardew’s remarkable 1970s ensemble, The Scratch Orchestra, talk about the group’s founder.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-22111107m47sculturefile-pid0-467112.mp3]

With the chatter about the Best Doc Oscar shortlist centring on the absence of Senna, we focus again on one that justly made the cut: Pina.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-23111107m06sculturefile-pid0-426936.mp3]

Its no crazier than a credit default swap spread! Aisling Kelliher onBitcoin, the p2p currency anyone can create on their home PC.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-21111106m37sculturefile-pid0-397824.mp3]

Pots on the barricades? Confrontational ceramics from 1960s “Ceramic Funk” to contemporary Irish makers, with Prof Judith Schwartz.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-18111107m19sculturefile-pid0-439752.mp3]

If nobody has time to read any more, where are we finding time to write all the web’s “fan fiction”? John Sutherland on the online novel. (part 2 of 2)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-17111106m08sculturefile-pid0-368736.mp3]

Falling behind on your readings? Prof John Sutherland estimates there are around 12,000 new novels each year. So which ones to read? (part 1 of 2)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-10111107m16sculturefile-pid0-436680.mp3]

Culture File learns to tell its Tssk-Tssk-Tssk from its Ti-Ti-Ti with Irish beatboxer, White Noise.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-16111106m16sculturefile-pid0-376800.mp3]

Heard any good oaks lately? We listen in to the soundworld of an Irish cabinetmaker, with Presidential chair creator, John Lee.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-15111106m44sculturefile-pid0-404232.mp3]

Can the arrival of the “troika” be a source of joy? Yes, if the troika is Austrian string fusion trio, Netnakisum.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-11111106m49sculturefile-pid0-409392.mp3]

The Art of Dying at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, with art historian, Philip Cottrell,

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-pod09111106m47sculturefile-pid0-407664.mp3]

The end of the world as we know it - but in a good way. CorkBrazilian-Indian fusion duo, Bangsambra, explain the significance of 2012

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-07111105m53sculturefile-pid0-353568.mp3]

Luke Clancy reviews “Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman” - Turner Prize-winning potter Grayson Perry’s shot curating at the British Museum.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-08111107m02sculturefile-pid0-422856.mp3]

The unexpected impact of Stravinsky on Scandinavian pop music with Ane Brun

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-04111106m59sculturefile-pid0-419376.mp3]

A little history of the V for Vendetta mask with digital academic, Aisling Kelliher.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-03111106m10sculturefile-pid0-370728.mp3]

The author of “The Users’ Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life” tells about his project for Galway’s Tulca festival.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-02111106m18sculturefile-pid0-378984.mp3]

How hard is it to write an academic study of the highly secretive Church of Scientology? We ask Prof Hugh Urban, who has done just that.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-30101152m34sskelligsdoconone-pid0-3154128.mp3]

Wade into the Atlantic soundworld of Skellig Michael while walking through the streets of your favourite metropolis (or country lane!). Simply download the podcast version of Skelligs Calling and you’ll have in your iPod (or similar device) all the lighthouse keepers, poets, boatmen, gusts, swells, auks and words - that fill the isle with noises… 

A radio documentary by Kevin Brew, Luke Clancy and Chris Watson, for RTE Radio1 and made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-28101106m09sculturefile-pid0-369168.mp3]

Choreographer Rosemary Lee takes us through the autumnal squares of Bloomsbury for her latest work, SquareDance.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pod-v-01111106m43sculturefile-pid0-403200.mp3]

Ódhrán Ó’Casaide tells Culture File about the twisted threads of Ireland’s classical and folk traditions.

[wpvideo ye8nXI3X]

Grayson Perry afternoon tea at The British Museum. (And his show, The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman is even better!)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-2610116m57sculturefile-pid0-416448.mp3]

Luke Clancy reviews the London debut of the Michael Keegan Dolan and Liam O’Maonlai collaboration, Rian.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-27101106m50sculturefile-pid0-410160.mp3]

We meet some cultural “Trailblazers” and hear about their “Aha Moments” (while avoiding mention of Scandinavian pop or Alan Partridge).

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-25101107m10sculturefile-pid0-430104.mp3]

Luke Clancy meets David Malone, at the NCAD, Dublin, where the English author and film-maker was speaking to artists about high finance.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-21101105m18sculturefile-pid0-318720.mp3]

Culture File goes to Wexford 3: In which we leave the opera house, to meet some of Wexford’s tree population…

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-21101105m50sculturefile-pid0-350088.mp3]

Culture File goes to Wexford 2: Michael Gieleta, director of the Polish opera, Maria, makes the Markievicz connection.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-21101105m55sculturefile-pid0-355704.mp3]

Culture File goes to Wexford 1: Luke Clancy meets the team behind the short opera, The Telephone.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-24101107m14sculturefile-pid0-433968.mp3]

Luke Clancy visits the Darklight festival to meet the director of a crowdfunded documentary about the last record shop on Teeside.

[soundcloud]https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/26170301[/soundcloud]

A short walk around the Central Bank in Dame Street in Dublin, talking with people, such as English documentary maker, David Malone.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-14101107m18sculturefile-pid0-438168.mp3]

Dublin music producer, Misk, offers an introduction to the fine art of making loops in Garageband.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-12101106m19sculturefile-pid0-379344.mp3]

Helen Oxenbury, talks about the books she made in collaboration with cult Scottish writer and musician, Ivor Cutler.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-11101106m23sculturefile-pid0-383136.mp3]

Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Keegan Dolan and Donnacha Dennehy help us assess the impact of composer, Sean Ó Riada.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-10101106m40sculturefile-pid0-400632.mp3]

Come away to the waters and the wild with Mike Scott and the Waterboys’ latest, An Appointment with Mr Yeats.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-07101106m37sculturefile-pid0-397272.mp3]

Hop on the Irish Architecture Foundation’s Open House Luas Dockland tour, with strategic Planner, Pauline Byrne!

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-06101106m07sculturefile-pid0-371832.mp3]

Playwright, Arthur Riordan, talks about his new version of Ibsen’s epic verse drama, Peer Gynt.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-05101107m57sculturefile-pid0-477384.mp3]

Would it help if An Taoiseach danced more? Choreographer Michael Klien thinks, maybe.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-041011culturefile-pid0-458160.mp3]

Could dance be the art form for the twenty-first century? Dance dramaturg, Steve Valk, looks to Bali and asks why not.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pod-v-03101107m26sculturefile-pid0-446472.mp3]

Dramatist, Grace Dyas, talks about the creation of her play, Heroin, about the history of the drug in Dublin.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/pod-v-30091107m24sculturefile-pid0-387840.mp3]

Do illustrators need to be good at drawing? Of course not, says illustrator and author, Steve McCarthy.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/pod-v-29091106m31sculturefile-pid0-391968.mp3]

We talk to Amy Conroy about her silver years coming out drama, I <3 Alice <3 I.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/pod-v-28091107m11sculturefile-pid0-431928.mp3]

Loughlin Deegan talks about his last program in charge of Dublin Theatre Festival, and about taking over at the capital’s newest theatre, The Lir.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/pod-v-27091107m22sculturefile-pid0-432792.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Aisling Kelliher about Bjork’s latest project, Biophilia, and asks the key question: “What is it?”

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/pod-v-26091107m24sculturefile-pid0-444360.mp3]

We go “In Search of Nick Drake” at an exhibition inspired by the enigma of the English singer-songwriter who died in 1974.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/pod-v-23091106m26sculturefile-pid0-386160.mp3]

Culture File goes on Skypeabout around the island to make some plans for Culture Night 2011.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/pod-v-22091106m12sculturefile-pid0-372960.mp3]

Thursday September 22nd

We ask the team behind Corokinesis, an experimental, surround-sound choral service at Christ Church Cathedral, why pick on Evensong?

[audio http://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/culturefilepod/10520276372/tumblr_lrxkspySxA1r3x39e?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio]

Wednesday September 21st http://bit.ly/pUeSTh

[audio http://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/culturefilepod/10516358892/tumblr_lrxadp4hXz1r3x39e?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio]

Friday September 16th http://bit.ly/qXZfJC

[audio http://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/culturefilepod/10479156973/tumblr_lrvihtGY7G1r3x39e?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio]

Tuesday September 20th http://bit.ly/pLrbyk

[audio http://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/culturefilepod/10444304229/tumblr_lrtwuu4VPD1r3x39e?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio]

Monday September 19th http://bit.ly/ndulcF

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/pod-v-15091108m02sculturefile-pid0-463848.mp3]

[soundcloud]https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/69679041[/soundcloud]

The art and the business of bees, with sound artist, Chris Watson and apiculturist, David Lee.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-18051106m22sculturefile-pid0-382968.mp3]

Culture File meets the real Raymond Scannel, as well as the fake Louis Armstrong, James Stewart and Peter Falk.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-17051105m59sculturefile-pid0-359424.mp3]

Culture File goes in search of “the god shot” with the coffee geeks at Dublin’s International Coffee Conference.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-13051106m31sculturefile-pid0-391248.mp3]

Culture File meets Iseult McCarthy of the National Stamp Design Advisory Committee and contemplates the future of the stamp.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-12051106m07sculturefile-pid0-367680.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to actress, Saoirse Ronan, and Joan Burney Keatings about the Cinemagic young people’s film festival.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-11051107m41sculturefile-pid0-460392.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Martin Bright, the former Observer journalist who set up New Deal of the Mind, an organisation created to stimulate jobs in Britain’s culture sector.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-10051107m23sculturefile-pid0-443784.mp3]

Culture File visits the giant dressing-up box that is the National Theatre’s costume hire division, in Finglas, Dublin.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-09051107m17sculturefile-pid0-437184.mp3]

Luke Clancy talked to Brian F O’Bryne about Mayday Mullagh, a festival of conversation that the actor and his industry friends ran in his home village in Co. Cavan.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-06051106m47sculturefile-pid0-407376.mp3]

Culture File hears about Ink, a photographic exhibition from Aidan Kelly, exploring the tattoos of older people.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-05051106m26sculturefile-pid0-386544.mp3]

Culture File goes eating its way through the undergrowth with forager, Tom O’Byrne

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-04051106m53sculturefile-pid0-414240.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to stand up comedian, Maeve Higgins, about her monthly “knowledgey” club “Enlightenment Night”.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-03051106m08sculturefile-pid0-368064.mp3]

Culture File goes on a “people hunt” with the help of a smartphone app at the Mindfield festival of ideas in Dublin.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pod-v-02051108m00sculturefile-pid0-480576.mp3]

Culture File finds a way to discover new music via food, with the couple behind the San Francisco food ‘n’ music blog, Turntablekitchen.com.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-29041108m52sculturefile-pid0-532752.mp3]

Culture File talks to Michel Bauwens, the “p2p philosopher” who sees in our future p2p property, and even p2p money.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-28041105m48sculturefile-pid0-348720.mp3]

Culture File hears about The Big Fella, a new play written by a native of Hull, produced by an English company, set in New York and dealing with Irish republicans. Go Figure.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-27041107m08sculturefile-pid0-428352.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks songs and sibling work practices with singer-songerwriter, Declan O’Rourke and his brother/manager/songwriting partner, Edward.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-25041107m18sculturefile-pid0-438000.mp3]

Culture File goes in search of the Ommm noise, with music from Parisian vocal group of that name, and finds out how scientific the search for ghosts can get.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-21041106m50sculturefile-pid0-410352.mp3]

Louise Williams concludes her series from the Holy Land with a visit to a restaurant where diners eat in total darkness

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-30061107m05sculturefile-pid0-425952.mp3]

Culture File meets the late Juliano Mer-Khamis, inspirational actor-director behind Jenin’s Freedom Theatre.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-20041106m14sculturefile-pid0-374496.mp3]

Culture File visits Nalaga’at, the world’s only deaf blind theatre group, at their base in Jaffa, Israel.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-1904118m49sculturefile-pid0-529800.mp3]

Luke Clancy walks among the tents, trucks and stables housing Footsbarn travelling theatre company’s latest theatre-cum-circus show, Sorry!

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-15041107m12sculturefile-pid0-431568.mp3]

Luke Clancy’s eyeballs get a tour through a 3D model of the original 1904-vintage Abbey Theatre.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-14041106m52sculturefile-pid0-412272.mp3]

Culture File hears about fundit.ie and about the design powerhaus, Dieter Rams.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-13041107m45sculturefile-pid0-465000.mp3]

How does the internet help us to be happy? Does it even? Luke Clancy asks Pascal Bruckner, the philosopher and author of “Perpetual Euphoria” (part 3 of 3).

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-12041108m06sculturefile-pid0-485904.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to philosopher and writer, Pascal Bruckner, about “the cult of happiness” (Part 2 of 3)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-11041107m51sculturefile-pid0-470736.mp3]

In the first part of a three part interview, philosopher, Pascal Bruckner, talks about “the cult of happiness” (Part 1 of 3)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-08041108m41sculturefile-pid0-521039.mp3]

Hugh Tinney talks Luke Clancy through one of the most difficult piano pieces ever written, Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit, as well as the pianist’s dreams of emulating Freddie Mercury.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-06041106m21sculturefile-pid0-381864.mp3]

Culture File joins in a Hymn to Gaia with organist and composer, Eric Sweeney.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-05041105m45sculturefile-pid0-345792.mp3]

Culture File meets some of those with a stake in the Feis Ceol - a kind of X-Factor as Gaeilge, before there was even an X-Factor as Béarla…

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/pod-v-04041106m00sculturefile-pid0-360072.mp3]

Culture File talks type with Simon Garfield, author of the popular history of letters and lettering, Just My Type.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-01041107m25sculturefile-pid0-445920.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Gerald Barry about the world premiere in LA of his opera version of the Importance of Being Earnest.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-31031106m52sculturefile-pid0-412632.mp3]

Luke Clancy meets the organisers of a Where’s Wally-based flashmob in Dublin.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-30031107m56sculturefile-pid0-476328.mp3]

Luke Clancy traces the Irish roots of English rock.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-29031106m31sculturefile-pid0-391104.mp3]

Culture File visits an exhibition from the heavy metal fan’s favourite English Romantic painter, John Martin.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-28031105m43sculturefile-pid0-343608.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Celtic Tiger legend, Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, about the new economic realities in contemporary Ireland. And about organic Kohlrabi.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-25031105m25sculturefile-pid0-325032.mp3]

Luke Clancy takes the Dublin lettering tour with type historians, Phil Baines and Catherine Dixon.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-24031106m15sculturefile-pid0-375792.mp3]

Culture File meets the student artist behind the collaborative food project, LET (Limerick Eats Together)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-23031105m30sculturefile-pid0-329760.mp3]

Culture File visits Dublin’s Lighthouse to hear reaction about the arthouse cinema’s threatened closure.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-22031108m12sculturefile-pid0-492840.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Jussi Parikka about his book Insect Media, and the rise of Posthumanism. (Part two of two)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-21031108m04sculturefile-pid0-484944.mp3]

How did terms like “virus”, “swarm” and “hive” become our favourite ways to talk about computers and online media? Luke Clancy talks to media theorist, Jussi Parrika, author of Insect Media. (Part one of one)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-17031107m06sculturefile-pid0-426312.mp3]

Culture File gets a tour of the craft bestiary currently scaling the walls of the Ark, Dublin

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-16031106m45sculturefile-pid0-407952.mp3]

Culture File hears about Bill Drummond’s choir project, The 17.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-14031106m25sculturefile-pid0-395616.mp3]

Culture File makes a joyful noise with the brethren and the sistren at Ireland’s first Sacred Harp convention in UCC, Cork.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-11031106m37sculturefile-pid0-397704.mp3]

Culture File drops into shadowy past of barely moving images and morally instructive storytelling, with The Magic Lantern Spectacular, which closes this years’ Killruddery Film Festival.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-10031107m05sculturefile-pid0-425688.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Meave Higgins about her monthly talking club, Enlightenment Night, at the Workingman’s Club, Dublin.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-09031106m25sculturefile-pid0-385560.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Rory O’Neil (alter ego of drag queen, Panti) about the Alternative Miss Ireland contest

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-0803116m13sculturefile-pid0-373824.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to playwright, Vincent Higgins about his stage adaptation of Spike Milligan’s satire, Puckoon.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-07031106m05sculturefile-pid0-365952.mp3]

Culture File talks to artist, James Hanley, about his exploits in speed painting and the status of the contemporary portrait.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-04031107m07sculturefile-pid0-436776.mp3]

Culture File celebrates new Paddy’s Day levels for Angry Birds, and hears about three unsung female pioneers of Irish astronomy.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-03031106m33sculturefile-pid0-393144.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to artist, Maud Cotter about her new book and mini show All Stuff Is Farce, and about the stuff she collectings.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-02031106m54sculturefile-pid0-414456.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to pianist, Finghin Collins, about his three year project to play all of Mozart’s piano concerti.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/pod-v-01031106m58sculturefile-pid0-418272.mp3]

Luke Clancy meets Jota Castro and Christian Viveros-Fauné, the latest curators brought in to run Contemporary Dublin, the capital’s long promised mega art show.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-28021106m46sculturefile-pid0-406128.mp3]

Culture File meets the Irish director of a new documentary film on the lives of Mexico’s child bullfighters.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-25021107m04sculturefile-pid0-432504.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Alan Buribayev, Principal Conductor of the RTÉ NSO, about the place of birdsong in Western classical music.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-24021108m-04sculturefile-pid0-484200.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to biographer, Sarah Bakewell about the publication of Montaigne’s Essays, and about the French writer’s final moments. (Final part of three)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-23021107m28sculturefile-pid0-468912.mp3]

Second part of Culture File’s interview with historian, Sarah Bakewell, about her biography of the man she see as ‘the first blogger’, 16th century French writer, Michel de Montaigne.

[soundcloud]http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/101278212[/soundcloud]

Artist filmmaker, Luke Fowler, on the musical liberties and strange death of avant garde composer, Cornelius Cardew.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-22021106m41sculturefile-pid0-427944.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to historian, Sarah Bakewell about her biography of How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in one Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer. (First part of the three part interview)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-21021106m06sculturefile-pid0-366912.mp3]

Culture File hears about Cornelius Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra, which has inspired a film from artist, Luke Fowler.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-18021106m41sculturefile-pid0-402168.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to design historian, Lisa Godson, about the 20th century Irish architects forced to do their most pioneering work in Africa.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-17021106m37sculturefile-pid0-410136.mp3]

Luke Clancy meets Andrew McGibbon, author of I Was Douglas Adams’ Flatmate, a book about entourages and the stars that hung out with them.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-16021106m43sculturefile-pid0-403248.mp3]

Culture File digs in to discover The Loaves and Fishes Supper Club and Ireland’s underground dining scene

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-14021107m11mcultlurefile-pid0-431352.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to artist, Sean Hillen, about his photomontages and the strange patterns in the world we mostly manage to ignore.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-111021106m40sculturefile-pid0-400584.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks about the therapeutic value of satire with the team behind the satire, Brian Cowen and the Seven Deadly Sinners.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-10021106m45sculturefile-pid0-404424.mp3]

Culture File visits what might just be Ireland’s most nerd-friendly cinema, at Blackrock Castle, Cork.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-09021107m05sculturefile-pid0-423456.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Pat McGarvey of Southern Tenant Folk Union about The New Farming Scene, his band’s (deep breath) alt bluegrass post-Apocalyptic scifi concept album.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-08021107m05sculturefile-pid0-425280.mp3]

Culture File talks to Nick Dear, the writer who has long been carrying a torch for Frankenstein.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-04021106m18sculturefile-pid0-377304.mp3]

Type writer, Simon Garfield celebrates The Beach Boys, Bowie and The Beatles, fontwise.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-03021107m30sculturefile-pid0-458424.mp3]

Culture File talks to Manchester photographer, Kevin Cummins, about his now iconic photos of Joy Division.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-02021106m52sculturefile-pid0-412272.mp3]

Culture File visits the Ice Music Festival held on the first full moon of each year in the mountain town of Geilo in Norway.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pod-v-01021106m453culturefile-pid0-412272.mp3]

Culture File hears of the unexpectedly peripatetic life of Harry Clark’s stained glass masterpiece, The Geneva Window

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-31011106m24sculturefile.mp3]

In his latest Culture File audio diary, sound recordist, Chris Watson visits an Australian arts festival taking place…on a train.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-27011107m30sculturefile.mp3]

Culture File waves hello to Microsoft’s latest gaming innovation, the Kinect, with Aisling Kelliher, Assistant Professor of Media Communication Systems at Arizona State University.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-26011106m23sculturefile.mp3]

Culture File knits one and pearls one with “conceptual knitter” Freddie Robins.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-25011108m07sculturefile.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to Richard Thomas, one of the creators of Jerry Springer: The Opera, about his new opera on the life of Anna Nicole Smith.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-24011106m51sculturefile.mp3]

Culture File meets the man behind, The Blanch, a bouffon assault on the Blanchardstown Shopping centre and its kin around the world.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-20011106m59sculturefile.mp3]

Culture File visits the former Cork Creamery that is now the studio of sculptor, Eilis O’Connell.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-19011106m35sculturefile.mp3]

Gut or steel? Luke Clancy shares the cellist’s dilemma, with Dutch virtuoso, Pieter Wispelwey.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-18011107m03sculturefile.mp3]

Luke Clancy talks to double Tony award winner, Brian Dennehy, about playing “The Bull” in JB Keane’s The Field.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-17011106m37sculturefile.mp3]

Culture File drags and drops in on the world of Apple’s Garageband music software with one half of the underground dance duo, Arveene and Misk, arveenandmisk.com.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-14011107m15sculturefile.mp3]

Culture File goes walkies in Whitechapel to meet Ruairidh Anderson, who has embarked on a project to write and release a song a week (for a year) about the history of the East End of London.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-13011106m50sculturefile.mp3]

Facebook, is it hot or not? Luke Clancy talks to Aisling Kelliher, Assistant Professor of Media Communication Systems at Arizona State University, about the website and the film it spawned, The Social Network. (Repeat)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-12011106m39sculturefile.mp3]

Culture File meets trombone virtusoso, Christian Lindberg, who will be conducting the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra this week

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pod-v-10011106m34sculturefile.mp3]

Culture File talks to playwright, screenwriter and actor, Mark O’Halloran about the little arts of short theatre, and about his new script for a musical about Cuban drag queens.