BBC Good Morning Ulster on Kneecap, August 7, 2024
BBC Good Morning Ulster on Kneecap, August 7, 2024
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00:00It's 8.29 and the music group Kneecap had the Belfast premiere of their debut film last night.
00:06The trio of rap artists are known for their controversial song lyrics and nationalist
00:10politics and they've become internationally renowned. But their key message is around the
00:15Irish language. Our reporter Andrew McNair was on the red carpet at the Kennedy Centre no less
00:20and he got speaking to them. Why don't you just speak the Queen's English?
00:26If there's one thing that the members of Kneecap won't stand for it's being told what to do or how to act.
00:35Last night they rocked up to the Belfast premiere of their debut film standing on top of a makeshift
00:41police Land Rover complete with riot windshield guard holding flares which billowed emerald green
00:47smoke across the car park. The venue for this critically acclaimed Sundance award-winning
00:52feature Omniplex at the Kennedy Centre in West Belfast. They tried to show it at Wembley
00:58and we were saying no it has to be in West Belfast it has to be where it all started.
01:02Makara is one of the rappers in this provocative music group. I asked what it meant to be Ireland's
01:07entry for the Oscars international feature category and to have won the audience choice
01:12award at the Sundance festival. A huge accolade. He doesn't sound at all surprised that this film
01:18a biography of the group's life and work has got the attention it has. It's just a great chance to
01:23wind people up again do you know what I mean I think we've absolutely smashed it at this point
01:26of people standing on top of bins willing to complain about us so we're just absolutely over
01:31the moon that we're able to do that worldwide now. And as much as they do wind people up the people
01:37who've worked with them have a very different view. Jess Reynolds plays a character called Georgia.
01:42They're big big personalities and I didn't know how I'd get on with them and they were just the
01:47sweetest people ever you know they were so they're so vocal in what they believe in but
01:53there's their softies as well you know they're so open to anyone and so loving. DJ Provy the one
01:59many of you will have seen wearing the balaclava in the colors of the Irish flag told me that he
02:04quite enjoys the provocative approach that's become the group's signature but he doesn't
02:09believe they should be taken that way. If you're getting angry that's your own problems you have
02:13to deal with we're just having a bit of crack here where we're not hurting anybody we're not
02:18trying to annoy anybody well we are trying to annoy some people but that's that's their problem
02:22if they get annoyed you know I mean it's that it's that thing you have a choice of whether you want
02:26to get annoyed or not. People are easily provoked in the north you know I mean all you need to do
02:30is say one wee stupid thing and you can see the results that maybe all this far-right stuff and
02:34people come around and burn in people's shops and they're wrecking their livelihoods it's ridiculous.
02:39They tell me that they feel really strongly about the use of the Irish language in popular culture.
02:45It's important to say now especially with everything that's going on in the last few days that
02:49it's not just a language for one side of the community it's a language for everybody you can
02:52see that over in west Belfast the Skano centre and the Irvine over Newtonards Road the people
02:56are learning it there's massive classes there in the Protestants and Catholics are all learning
03:01it all around the north so it's not just an divisive tool it's not it never was a divisive
03:05tool it shouldn't have been used as that.
03:07Fionnuala Flaherty who plays Caitlin was an Irish language school teacher and she has her own view.
03:12I can't even articulate how important it is that these lads are here and I'm seeing it I suppose
03:18from someone in a school seeing the actual impact in real time like it was the students who
03:24didn't want to do Irish on that day who told me about kneecap and who wanted to actively listen
03:29to a language that they didn't know but they knew they liked the beat they knew they liked the video
03:33they knew they liked the sound and the energy and that was six years ago and look how far the lads
03:38have come now and look what they could do for you know to to motivate a new kind of generation of
03:45people with the language.
03:46Whatever you think about how kneecaps do business
03:50the community here in this part of west Belfast light up when these boys turn up.
03:59And it goes on general release I think Thursday is that right?
04:03I think it's tomorrow yeah.
04:04Brilliant so there you go go see it if you want that was Andrew McNair reporting.
04:07It is 8.33 in the next half hour we're going to be talking about Strictly and it seems.