An Taobh Tuathail, the underground music programme presented by Cian Ó Ciobháin on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, is moving to a new earlier time slot of 9 pm.

Cian is originally from Kerry, but Galway has been his adopted home now for many years, where he runs the 110th Street club night with Cyril Briscoe, and also staged the legendary Boogaloo parties in the Blackbox from 2000-2006.

Cian has been presenting An Taobh Tuathail, or ATT as it’s affectionately known, since May 1999. The name means the other side and from the beginning he has set out to bring listeners the best in new music, the type of music they won’t find on other stations.

The show’s longevity – it will celebrate its 13th birthday on May 1 – and the feedback from listeners indicate that Ó Cíobháin’s choice of music strikes a chord, and he hopes that the new earlier slot will introduce the programme to a wider audience.

The tendency on radio stations is to push their non-commercial or ‘alternative’ shows later into the schedules, and the fact that RnaG are doing the opposite and putting faith in giving the show an earlier slot will open up the programme to a wider audience.

The music to be heard on An Taobh Tuathail varies across the week, with shows earlier in the week reflective in mood - drawing on electronica, dream-pop, alt-folk, post-rock, neo-classical & soundtracks – and shows towards the end of the week devoted to electronic dancefloor music, predominantly house, techno & bass which Cian also plays at clubs around Ireland.

The show’s listenership is wide, and varied, and the fact that the programme is presented in Irish seems to present little difficulty to those who listen in from all corners of the world for the music.

Cian has put together four compilations of the best music played on ATT, three on CD and one as a download, and An Taobh Tuathail Vol V will be released as a free download before the summer.
You can listen back to any show from the past month at anytime on the RTÉ Radio Player at www.rte.ie/radioplayer, and search the player for An Taobh Tuathail.

Cian Ó Cíobháin is from An Ghráig in the Kerry Gaeltacht. He is passionate about music and has been since a very early age, starting to DJ when he was 14 or 15, and continuing to do so now in his adopted home city of Galway.

An Taobh Tuathail can be heard on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta from 9pm-11pm Monday to Friday.