G-Town Records' Shampain to host documentary series on the sub-cultures of Ireland

DJ and G-Town Records co-founder Shampain will be presenting a new documentary series Éire Eile exploring the sub-cultures of Ireland.

The eight-episode docu-series is airing today on the Irish-language channel TG4 with this first episode focusing on Belfast’s long-running queer punk scene.

Other episodes, all presented by Shampain, look into Galway’s Historical European Martial Arts clubs, Cork’s wheelchair basketball club, its drag scene and much more.

Read this next: KETTAMA and Shampain to curate new day festival in Ireland this summer

A broad range of Irish music is also covered in Éire Eile, including episodes delving into punk rock, traditional Irish music, hip hop in Limerick and the series finale in which Shampain returns to his roots in the electronic music scene.

This last episode includes Shampain speaking with legendary Irish DJ Sunil Sharpe, who co-founded the Give Us The Night Campaign which aims to keep the Irish nightlife community thriving.

"The most moving part of making the series was witnessing the strength of communities and the empathy that exists within them," said Shampain in a press statement.

"I grew up in a very rural area and people who didn't understand me often made no attempt to understand my interests and just thought I was weird.

Read this next: 30 years of Irish dance music celebrated in four-part radio series

“Meeting these groups of people and doing it all as Gaeilge was an extremely positive experience and something that has really changed the way I see the world, because if people have each other's backs and don't give in to fear we could all get along with each other but more importantly learn from each other's experiences in life” added Shampain.

Éire Eile will be available today (June 2) via the TG4 Player and the TG4 YouTube channel.

Check out the trailer below.

Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Multimedia Editor, follow her on Twitter