Cassandra Voices In the presence of great music we have no alternative but to live nobly … and indeed one can hardly think of life without music. Sean O’Faolain In March the live music industry essentially ground to halt in Ireland. Sadly, owing to safety concerns, live music remains prohibited under current restrictions, and now even buskers … Read more
‘They sang Cuban love-songs and moonsweet madigrals and selections from the best and finest of Italian opera’. Flann O’Brien At Swim-Two-Birds Edited by Ronan Sheehan under the imprint of Cassandra Voices, Cuban Love Songs is a joint effort of the Writers and Artists Union of Cuba (UNEAC) and a variety of Irish writers and poets, … Read more
A zoom panel discussion organised by Lindau, which included two other Nobel-prize winning scientists, provided Stanford biophysicist and Nobel Laureate Michael Levitt with a platform to vent his fury over the global scientific community’s flawed response to the Covid-19 pandemic, as he saw it. In particular, he condemned Imperial College’s Neil Ferguson for failing to … Read more
Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 20th, 2020 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM (IST), Documentary Filmmaker Fellipe Lopes and Producer Catriona Rogerson will host a preview of their new documentary TEXTILE MOUNTAIN: The Hidden Burden of our Fashion Waste Below is an abstract of its press release: We in Europe throw away 2 million tonnes of textiles … Read more
At Cassandra Voices we uncover stories behind stories. Just occasionally these accounts reach the mainstream. So it has proved with what is being popularly referred to as ‘the riddle of Ballinalee’. Let’s recall the adventure so far. Last week our then anonymous sleuth advanced a theory as to the origin of the words in the … Read more
London-based Barrister David Langwallner, the founder of the Innocence Project in Ireland, responds to the latest interview with Edward Snowden. He distinguishes between private concerns and socio-economic rights; with the latter more urgent than ever during this period of crisis. By comparison, he says, privacy considerations are not essential: ‘the most important human rights are … Read more
Despite a mortality rate not far off Ireland’s (107 v 150 per million), Sweden has come in for a lot of criticism over its response to Covid-19 of leaving responsibility in the hands of civic society, with little acknowledgement of potential health benefits of not imposing one. Interestingly, nor did neighbouring Norway impose a full … Read more
Butterflies continue to fly from septuagenarian Bob Dylan’s cocoon. Last week the Bard of Duluth released yet another song ‘I Contain Multitudes’ after his long hiatus. The opening lyrics piqued our curiosity: Today and tomorrow and yesterday, too, The flowers are dyin’ like all things do, Follow me close, I’m going to Ballinalee, I’ll lose my … Read more
Poetry editor Edward Clarke selects poems from Paul Curran, Billy O Hanluain, Haley Hodges Schmid, Ned Denny and his own work to mark Holy Week. A corona Sonnet With no less haste than the crisis deserves, All faces one mask of consternation, We’ve learnt, through conversing in spikes and curves, This virus respects no … Read more
Sé Merry Doyle’s 2001 documentary film, ‘Alive Alive O – A Requiem For Dublin’ chronicles the lives of Dublin Street Traders. Their patron saint ‘Molly Molone’ became the inspiration for Dublin’s unofficial anthem, ‘Cockles and Mussels, Alive Alive O’. The final stanza remains poignant in our troubled times: She died of a fever, And no … Read more