Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde admits that the publication of his new children’s song book, ‘Preab sa Cheol’ took a little longer to get over the line than he initially expected.
It’s a project that was the best part of three years in the making, so it’s no surprise that he was so keen to get his hands on the new book after it arrived in Dublin from the publishers in China last weekend.
“I’m thrilled with how it turned out,” Doimnic declared.
“It’s taken a while to get there because I started with this book over three years ago. But it looks really well.”
A talented musician and renowned sean-nós singer, this isn’t the first children’s book that Doimnic has been involved in. However, this latest publication is a little bit different from the others.
He says it’s the first ‘pop-up’ book to be created in Ireland – and the first to have a musical instrument built in that can be played.
It also contains a selection of fun and educational Irish songs composed by Doimnic. There are accompanying videos with dances performed by children from the Donegal Gaeltacht along with instructional videos explaining the dance moves.
Each page pops up with exciting characters – these were made by Doimnic himself with the help of graphic designer Caomhín O Scollaí.
“I actually started out on the book before Covid,” he said.
“To be honest, when Covid came it helped me concentrate a bit more on the book because everything else had come to a standstill. Obviously I wasn’t working on the book for the entire three years. Over time, there were other things going on. It even took a while for the books to come from China. They arrived in Dublin a few days ago and I drove up to the depot in Santry to pick them up myself. I’ve only shown it to two or three people so far, but the reaction has been great. I think it looks really well.”
A beautifully designed new website at preabsacheol.ie was launched this week ahead of Saturday’s book launch.
The website offers a simple guide to the seven songs in the book and as Doimnic points out, it’s something that will help parents as well as the children improve their Irish.
“The songs are so nice and the dance moves for the different songs are really simple. It’s just a bit of fun and it’s something different that will hopefully be of interest to children and their parents,” he said.
Saturday’s book launch will take place at Amharclann Gaoth Dobhair at 3pm. Renowned author Róise Ní Bhaoill from Ranafast will perform the official launch.