Something For The Weekend: Cara Dillon's cultural picks

In the autumn of 2023, folk favourite Cara Dillon unveiled Coming Home, a show blending storytelling, poetry, and song, interweaving personal memories with stories inspired by her native Co. Derry and the people, places, and customs she holds closest to her heart.

This March, she brings Coming Home on the road, with dates in Westport, Armagh, Derry and Dun Laoghaire. She talks to RTÉ Arena below:

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We asked Cara for her choice cultural picks...

FILM

Dune Part 2. I'm not really a film buff and rarely get the time to indulge in them, other than when it’s something that everyone has been going on about. Sam (my husband) was so excited when the first part of Dune came out that he insisted the whole family sit and watch it with him. I’m so glad he did because I absolutely loved it! Not just the brilliant story, the dense atmosphere and characters, but I was bowled over by the music which was composed by Hans Zimmer. I couldn’t wait to go to our local cinema to watch Part 2, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s an awesome experience, especially on the big screen. It’s not an easy watch, but one I was deeply engaged with. The landscapes, the cinematography… it’s all breathtaking and just blew me away.

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MUSIC

Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love is played at least once a week when I’m cooking or when I’m travelling to gigs, and has been for donkey's years. I’m loving Greta Van Fleet’s album Star Catcher. I wasn’t switched on them until the whole band turned up to one of my gigs in Manchester last year. They were so lovely and totally got what I was doing, even though it’s a world away from their arena filling rock. I immediately listened to everything they did and fell in love with lots of it. Huge riffs and so much swagger.

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It’s interesting when you have teenagers in the house, as they all disappear off into their own musical worlds. When we come together to eat or just chat we uusually have something wholesome and vintage like Oscar Peterson, or vibey like Tinariwen, or introspective and acoustic like Nick Drake and John Martyn.

BOOK

I’ve just finished and really enjoyed Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting. What more can I add that other’s haven’t already said? It’s beautiful, funny, tragic and everything in-between. I found Sharon Blackie’s If Women Rose Rooted almost life changing. It’s wise and profound and totally transformative. I found myself looking at things quite differently after reading it. Maria McManus’ Available Light is a gorgeous collection of poetry in which she uses birds as her heralds, echoing the voices of many, and collecting them in beautiful meditations. She has such a way with words. Also, the Sinead Gleeson-edited anthology The Art Of The Glimpse has been sitting on my coffee table at home for over a year now and I love how anyone visiting can pick it up and immerse themselves in a pool of great Irish writing, if only for a short while.

THEATRE

Akrams Khan’s The Jungle Book Reimagined is the last live theatre production I went to. It was in Sadler’s Wells in London and was an extraordinary and stunning immersion into contemporary dance. It featured the most inventive set design and special effects I’ve ever seen onstage, while maintaining a minimalism that is so hard to achieve.

Slow Horses - just wow! Sam and I loved this sooooo much. It had the perfect balance of slick, high stakes TV along with properly sarcastic humour. Some of the chase sequences would put Hollywood to shame, and it’s extremely well cast - Gary Oldman is a legend in it.

GIG

To be honest, it wasn’t the last one I attended but nothing really beats watching Paul McCartney in my local venue the Cheese & Grain, here in Frome. It was the night before his Glastonbury headline slot and he played a warm up show to 250 people. I’m one of the Patrons of the venue, along with Emily Eavis and Jo Whiley, so Sam and I were lucky enough to be there. It was everything you would imagine it to be and so much more.

The last one I attended was a couple of weeks ago. I went up to London to see Duncan Chisholm perform his Black Cuillin album in Kings Place. There is a soulfulness in his fiddle playing that is unmistakable and transports me every time I hear it. I’m hoping to see The Eagles in June and Stevie Nicks soon after.

ART

We spent four days in Rome during half term. Although Sam and I have been before, it was our kids’ first visit and a much needed break in our currently hectic schedule. With Sam's genuine appreciation and appetite for all things art, thanks to his time at art school, he eagerly led the kids around the churches and fountains to admire works by Raphael, Caravaggio and Bernini. We also took a guided tour of the Vatican, where, of course, we stood among thousands with our mouths wide open, marveling at the astonishing Sistine Chapel. Last year, Sam and I took the kids to see an exhibition in Bath by Nathan Ford, a Welsh artist. We all enjoyed his distinctive grey-washed works, full of expression, character, and less obvious beauty.

RADIO/PODCAST

I’m a big fan of Steven Bartlett’s Diary Of A CEO. His genuine inquisitiveness helps to draw out interesting answers from his guests, although he wears his naivety on his sleeve and there can be eye rolling moments, too. But I suppose it has to be brave and risky, that’s what makes good listening. I also enjoy The Rest Is Politics with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, it’s always thought-provoking and articulate.

TECH

Well, I couldn’t do without my Libra Sensor 2.0 which monitors my blood glucose levels and communicates them to my phone via bluetooth. I’m a Type 1 Diabetic and this single device has completely changed my life.

THE NEXT BIG THING...

Artificial Intelligence! God help us all. We spent a lot of time last year listening to podcasts and reading articles on AI and it scared the life out of me. Sam recently read The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman and (quite predictability) paraphrased the most dramatic sections for me, whether I wanted to listen or not. Within the potential futures lie terrifying prospects, incredible and quite unbelievable discoveries and potential obliteration… very, very sobering.

Cara Dillon is at The Pavilion in Dun Laoghaire on March 23rd, with additional dates in Westport on 20th March, Armagh on 21st March and Derry on 22nd March - find out more here.

Something For The Weekend: Cara Dillon's cultural picks

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