Listen: Bryan Dobson like you’ve never heard him before - rapping!
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"I'm keeping reasonably busy but not too busy and I've had a couple of projects which have been interesting and stimulating," Dobson said. "I've been doing a TV documentary on Ireland's missionary priests and nuns."
After a chat about filming the documentary, the conversation took an unexpected turn when Dobson revealed he had made a visit to the Kabin Studio in Knocknaheeny in Cork, home to the young rappers the Kabin Crew who made the viral hit The Spark.
Although Dobson said he's got "pretty broad musical taste", "this was entirely new for me, this was unchartered territory."
Before Callan debuted Big News, Dobson's catchy collaboration with members of the Kabin Crew, the broadcaster explained how it all came about.
"The Kabin studios has a couple of porta-cabins, where it gets the name, beside the local secondary school there. They run rap classes for young primary school students, for teenagers and for adults as well," Dobson said.
"So I went along one of the evenings and they were having a lesson for the teenagers and that was followed by the adults.
"The way it works is, in the porta-cabins there are some studio areas and recording areas, there are some sofas, there's some computers everyone's sitting around and they're writing away when I arrived. The teenagers had been given a theme and then to write a rap on that theme.
"So I came in and introduced myself and we started talking about News, they said, 'How about doing a rap about News?'
"We started playing around with a few ideas, it's a very collaborative exercise. They did their own raps around News and I worked on my one and out of it came what I think we're going to hear!"
Garry McCarthy, the artistic director, brought Dobson back in the next morning to work on the track and "refine it some more".
"It's much more difficult than it seems, you're talking to the beat," Dobson shared. "On the other hand, it's a great way to express yourself, because you don't have to be musical you don't have to have a singing voice.
"If you can talk and you can follow a beat you can rap, and if you have something to say. The essence of rap is about authenticity, it's who you are."
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Dobson said the track, which features Tiny, aka Darren Stewart, and MC Buckie, aka Aaron Hennessy, is a "bit of me, bit of Garry, bit of some of the students, the parents."
Appearing on the radio show, MC Buckie said Big News was "was very fun to make", adding: "Bryan's obviously very sound, he's dead sound."
"He's an absolute natural, fair play to him," agreed Tiny.
"Can I just thank the lads for taking part in this, it was great to meet them and the Kabin Crew", Dobson added.
"It was a real delight and I couldn't have been made more welcome, and felt more at home. It was just a terrific visit overall. I hope to be able to get back soon."
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