Saturday 21/06

03:00 - Dijaka - Still in Search of Solstice

The celebration of the solstice has existed in Irish traditions since Pagan times, often marked by gathering around the bonfire to share stories, singing and dancing until the rising of the sun. To mark the moment of solstice at 3.41am, dijaka will broadcast live from a secret beach location for a glimpse into the revelry of a contemporary solstice celebration. Who knows what will unfold?

09:00 - Spooky Beore - Megalithomania: Stone Mad

A pair of chaotic art Hags from the cursed and ancient east threatened to steal our luck and plunder our portion if we didn’t put their show in the schedule. We didn’t want to risk it.

10:00 - Sarah Partington - Lonrú

Recorded at sunrise and sunset, interdisciplinary artist Sarah Partington blends environmental sounds—sea, wind, animals—with spoken word, archival excerpts and experimental instrumentals, tracing the slow, luminous rise of energy across the season.

11:00 - Laurie Shaw - Magnetosphere

Magnetosphere is an unveiling of prolific Cork artist Laurie Shaw’s new record of the same name, framed by an interview with his mum. Dreamt before it was written, the album is rooted in Cork City lore, tracing surreal misadventures through familiar streets. Songs like “I Just Pray You’re A Licensed Swindler” and “State of the Art Space Shuttle Glass” evoke the anxieties around the current housing crisis while elsewhere “Just Buy The Coat” mythologises the indecision around clothes-buying under the scrutiny of an ‘Easter Island Head Peig Sayers’. Inspired by the magnetosphere’s invisible resilience, the album releases on 4th July across streaming platforms.

12:00 - Paul Dylan - Interim Ray

Poet and DJ, Paul Dylan plays sunshine themed music from jazz to folk, ambient to rock and roll, local to international, interspersed with relevant poetry.

13:00 - Maitiú Mac Cárthaigh - Ballybent bacchanal (co-op sponsored)

Blending satire, sound and storytelling, this piece expands on the essay Ballybent Bacchanal (Co-op Sponsored)—a fictional account of a young cis gay farmer balancing sectoral upheaval while his partners plan an orgy back at the farmhouse. Narrated by Mac Cárthaigh, it explores queer return to rural Ireland against a backdrop of patri-linearity, ecological destruction, and the myth of queer absence.

14:00 - Donagh Kavanagh - Raidió Réad

Everything is cyclical. New mythologies, and how Roko’s Basilisk is a modern recycling of “I think therefore I am”. Seasonal lags and the cross-quartet of Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasadh, and Samhain. Donagh interviews Caoimhín once again, about the unfixed nature of mythology and astrology, while linking the cyclical elements through language.

15:00 - The Department of Energy - Ambient Harvest

The Department of Energy previews ‘Ambient Harvest’, a forthcoming landscape mixtape set for release on 1st August. Featuring over 20 artists working across folk, drone, ambient and experimental music, including Ian Nyquist, Ian Lynch, and a new collaboration from Jonathan Deasy & Susan Geaney. The tape weaves together pre-Christian atmospheres and post-modern sensibilities; listen to it here for the first time!

16:00 - Totes Aux: Friendship, with Aisling & Barry

Barry Mullins and Aisling O’Riordan have never met… until now. For a special Radio Solstice show, the two prospective BFFS mark the beginning of a new friendship: celebrated through tunes, conversation, and a playful back-to-back on the aux cable.

17:00 - Radio Activity

First-rate Cork DJ Gilbert Steele brings some Radio Activity to our Saturday evening time. Various tempos, moods and textures to compliment the day that’s in it.

18:00 - Si Edwards - The Worshippers and The Worshipped

There is no greater way to acknowledge the influence of a musician or artist than to reinterpret their own works in a new form. This acts to both celebrate the work of one whilst showcasing the adaptability of another, bringing old sounds to new ears in a way that may (or, in some cases, may not) make them more accessible, and also guiding the new initiates towards the wider works from the past. This show will look to unite these factors, featuring versions of classic songs interpreted by other artists, together with the original, lesser heard recordings of songs which have become deeply embedded in popular culture.

19:00 - Jonathan, Róisín, Iarla & Joseph - Talechasing

A collective of four artists return to radio with a new improvised audio-theatre piece for Radio Solstice. Following their surreal variety series Celtic Reflections on Éist Radio, this show traces the imagined path of a fictional Irish character on a hero’s journey. Blending interviews with entirely fictitious scholars, artists and passers-by (all played by the collective), the piece unfolds as a playful, atmospheric odyssey through landscape, memory and myth. Built from improvisation and experimental soundscapes, the show draws on Ireland’s storytelling traditions to explore legacy, invention and the creative joy of making it all up as you go.

20:00 - Radio Solstice Deejays

Elinor, John, Aisling, and Caoilian are on the decks downstairs at Plugd Records. Elinor wanted to make this a fancy dress party but no one else was that keen. Dress up (if you dare) and come down to Plugd for some wine poured by Brian and a good time all round.

Sunday 22/06

09:00 - Amy Mac - Rebirth of the Reel

Clare musician Amy Mac takes us from West Clare to the world, mixing old Irish traditional music with newer interpretations of the classics.

10:00 - Alannah Matthews - Downstream

‘Downstream’ is an hour of covers and interpretations (1940s/60s onwards) of old folk standards and ballads. Featuring artists like Karen Dalton, Dave Van Ronk, Ted Hawkins, John Fahey, Mary O’Hara as well as contemporary artists like Lankum, Katy J Pearson with H.Hawkline, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Niamh Bury, the show gathers the songs which have come downstream from generation to generation, bringing with them new interpretations of old mythologies and sentiments.

11:00 - Jennifer Redmond/Matthew Geden - UNDERWATER

Underwater is a sonic monologue reimagining Cork’s geography as submerged mythology. Created by multidisciplinary artist Jennifer Redmond and poet Matthew Geden, the piece follows a returned emigrant navigating rising floodwaters and vanishing infrastructure. As the digital world dissolves, telepathic ties to his sister beyond Inniscarra emerge: new communication born of crisis. Journeying from the city centre to Knocknaheeny’s higher ground, he sheds the material and awakens the mythic.

12:00 - sonic core of new statues

Japhet Santana takes us through his vinyl collection full of hidden gems.

13:00 - Cormac Walsh - memory murmurs

Cormac Walsh presents memory murmurs: a fascination in sustained keys as a means of zoning out / relaxation. Ambient, jazz, minimalism; piano music that floats many genres but sustains a similar atmosphere.

14:00 - esme2k - Tribal Landscapes

Esmé, field recorder and host of bug.core on Éist, presents an open-format DJ set for Radio Solstice rooted in ambient tribal and field recording traditions. Drawing inspiration from artists like Forest Swords, Muslimgauze and Susumu Yokota, the show explores how traditional sounds can evolve into modern, experimental forms.

15:00 - Tino - Leafy Garments

Tino, a Glaswegian blow-in based in Cork, delivers a new audio documentary exploring the River Lee, not through facts, but through gossip, misrememberings, and local lore. Building on his 2024 Cork Fringe piece, which captured the river’s ambient spirit, this edition focuses on the funny, the absurd, and the almost-true.

16:00 - Katie O’Grady - Palace of Humming Trees

Palace of Humming Trees revisits the collaborative project by artist Jack O’Flynn, writer Maria Sledmere, and curator Katie O’Grady, originally conceived in Glasgow, 2021. The show features Maria’s poetry, read by all three collaborators, weaving a vivid tapestry of human, non-human, and more-than-human states amidst ecological and social unrest. Interspersed with music from their shared mixtapes, featuring Björk, SOPHIE, Nina Simone, Patti Smith, Yves Tumor and others, the programme offers an alchemical, poetic exploration of new mythologies and co-existence.

17:00 - Simon McKenry - Plains

Taking inspiration from Summer Solstice in Japan (Geshi), where in Tokyo, all lights are switched off for the last few hours of daylight. As light moves towards darkness people are encouraged to enjoy slow activities, and candles are lit across the city. Simon explores this moment by playing tracks which reflect the transition; from jazz & kankyō ongaku, to downtempo and ambient techno, helping accompany people through as day turns to night.

18:00 - Elysia Tuohy - An ear to the liminal

The show explores the deep connection between Irish mythology and landscape through the lens of queer listening. Embracing ambiguity and non-human perspectives, it invites listeners to engage with both what is heard and what has been historically silenced. Combining field recordings, traditional Irish music fragments, and voice, the piece revisits mythological stories to reconnect with environment and memory amid Ireland’s ongoing ecological and post-colonial challenges. It offers a rich, atmospheric, non-linear sound journey.

19:00 - Jack Howard - In Your Energy

A satirical show from radio host ‘Corn’ and their special guest ‘Gastrid’. Based around spirituality and the solstice, the show features such sections as:

And much, much more!

20:00 - JL Razza - The Hidden Scroll

Closing out the weekend is a 2 hour mix of vinyl which evoke thoughts of mythology and ancient secrets mixed with future sounds. JL Razza uses spoken word records and blends them with other records to paint a picture.


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