17th April 2024: We had our April session on Sunday 14th. The music selected was virtually the same as the March session. I think the players felt more comfortable, so I will leave the selection untouched until the autumn. The combination of Dubliner and session/gig seems to have put a jinx on Liverpool, who have lost on successive occasions now while Vasilis and I have been playing with one eye on the screen.
On 12th and 13th Peter Moynahan, the Romanian-Irish singer, was supposed to play. He was unwell on 12th but sang on Saturday. To our pleasant surprise, he joined us on Sunday. I didn’t think to invite him to sing as sessions tend to be mainly instrumental. Admittedly, playing standards can vary, but the problem with singing is that there is always the possibility of a tone-deaf drunk dominating the proceedings with a variety of dirges about exile, dead mothers, or famine. Fortunately, Peter is a professional and our own resident singer, Kathleen, is no slouch. On this occasion, however, Kathleen did not sing as she has returned from a sailing trip with a throat infection.
Anyway, Peter did a few of the old standards, which got me thinking. We need to develop “Request Portfolio” for the few occasions we are asked to do a song. If we cannot do the Leaving of Liverpool, we will lose a lot of folk cred. More about this in a later post.
We have a gig on 28th April, so right now I’m trying to rally the troops for a practice.
Finally, in the early 60s I was hospitalised with pneumonia in Ennis. The other boys (no girls) in the ward were in for either tonsillectomies or treatment for ringworm. One of the lads sang this repeatedly while he was there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63POOF39ulY Is it any wonder the Clancy Brothers are often referred to as the Chancer Brothers? However, this next version of the Moonshiner is great. Seamus Kennedy knows how to work an audience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GIFDJgzDGA There is also a video on YouTube, but the audio quality is better here.