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Innocence, Sex, and Sophistication: Who Do We Connect With and Why? – Episode 141

In this episode, Dara responds to a music podcast he found surprisingly moving by exploring the idea of connection. Why do certain things or people connect with us more powerfully than others? What is it that speaks to us about a particular individual, or their work? And what is it about music and musicians and movies and actors that can so enrapture us?

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We’ve Been Waiting Such a Long Time, and It’s Still Not Here – Ireland’s Eurovision Drought – Episode 103

In this week’s episode, Dara looks at Ireland’s storied relationship with the Eurovision Song Contest, a competition in which Ireland were once utterly dominant but has long since become an arena in which they are serial losers. He recalls his own experiences of watching the event as a child and how it was a source of great national pride and fascination. Ireland was a different country then, a different entity in a very different stage of its development and one that was about to change beyond all recognition.

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The Attraction of Certain Instruments, or Oh, What a Lovely Wand! – Episode 87

After hearing his wife listening to a selection of different piano pieces in preparation for a class, Dara realised he wanted to talk about motifs. He discusses motifs in the work of film score composers before warming to the idea of motifs in one’s life – what themes and fascinations have recurred over a lifetime? What has been circled back to? What has been underscored and reiterated?

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