Is it a whole month since I’ve posted anything? Our session on Sunday 12th February went very well. Twelve or thirteen of us showed up. Again the bar was busy. Always good to see.
Our next task is to get ready for March and activities for St. Patrick’s Day. We kick off the week with a session on 12th. Tir Fada and a rock band will play on the day itself, Friday 17th. The Dubliner is also hosting another act on the 18th, and a group of us will have the honour of closing the festivities on the afternoon/evening of Sunday, 19th March.
And maybe a hardy band of us will travel up to Grevena on 17th or 18th to do a session.
Someone mentioned recently that the Dirty Glass, an Irish-themed bar, is closing or up for sale. It’s a pity because the owner/manager, Vasilis, had done a good job with the décor; it was Irish rather than “Oirish”.
Here are a couple of pics from Sunday. We have a good age spread from 14 to 73, and I think there were five different nationalities.
We don’t do anything too adventurous in the sessions, usually two or three reels, jigs etc. Occasionally, we’ll do a song leading into a jig or reel. On Sunday we “went Cape Breton”. In Irish music the move from one tune to the next is usually marked with a change of key. The Canadians tend to keep the same key but to change the rhythm. For example, they will move from a strathspey to a reel. Our Cape Breton contribution was to play a hornpipe, The Humours of Tullycrine, followed by an old reel, The Swallow’s Tail, both in a mode of A.
Here is Tullycrine: