A few weeks ago, Myself and Andrea took a day trip to Galway city to visit the Black Gate Cultural Centre.

In 2020 both Andrea and I were big champions of Niamh Regan’s debut album Hemet which was released on Black Gate’s label, Indeed, we talked to Niamh on the show that summer, and the record went onto receive a Choice Music Prize nomination last year.

Last year the Black Gate venue was streaming live concerts from its small venue space, and this week, it will debut its TV show on TG4 - called Cumasc: Seisiúin sa Black Gate, the show pairs up disparate musicians for a series of collaborative days resulting in performances in the Black Gate.

 There are 12 episodes of Cumasc featuring the likes of Rhiannon Giddens / Róisín Elsafty and Francesco Turrisi, Rachael Lavelle and Peter Broderick, Seamus Begley and Junior Brother, Jinx Lennon and The Mary Wallopers, Sam Amidon and Siobhán Peoples, Anna Mullarkey and David Kitt's New Jackson and much more.

Cumasc is available to watch on the TG4 player from today, before TV broadcast on February 26th.

So, Black Gate - is it a label? Is it venue? Is it wine bar? Is it a recording studio?

Well, it’s a bit of everything. I’ve always thought that multi-use spaces are the way forward in terms of music and entertainment venues, and when it comes with wine and a cheese board too, well, we thought we better go down to Galway and have a look for ourselves.

So Andrea and I did just that, and it just happened to arrive on Black Gate’s fifth birthday.

We spoke to Niamh Regan once again, talked to the director of Cumasc Mia Mullarkey, as well as her little sister, the musician Anna Mullarkey, who appeared on the show with David Kitt and wrote the theme song. 

And we met the people behind the Black Gate including Co-owner Peadar King to hear about how it all came together and their plans for the space, and we’ll hear a bit from one of their upcoming releases too from Rodney Owl.

Let’s drop in…

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