The Doolin sessions

I’ve stayed on an extra few days in Doolin, the surf is good and the music second to none. Most nights I have a tune in O Connor’s Pub, the only pub left in Doolin that has truly spontaneous sessions, with different musicians every night.

The tradition of the session is the huge strength of Irish traditional music. Essentially, two or three local musicians are paid a few bob to play a few tunes in the local pub on a certain night, without rehearsal or amplification. Because it’s spontaneous, visiting musicians can join in if they know enough of the repretoire. In this way, visiting musicians get exposed to Clare tunes and styles, while the local players get to hear music from all over the world. It’s a wonderful tradition to observe or participate in.

Late night jamming in O’ Connors

Sadly, a great many pubs have now gone the route of ‘gigs’: employing one or two musicians to play a rehearsed show using mikes. This ensures a certain standard every night, but effectively prohibits visiting musicians from joining in. Even in Doolin, there is really only one pub left where one can join in and have a relaxing evening with tunes, songs, jokes and stories. As for the tourists, I’m pretty sure from their reaction they can tell the difference between the rehearsed and the contrived..

Waves and music in Doolin Co. Clare

I’m spending the last week of the holidays in Doolin, Co. Clare in Ireland, one of my favourite spots in the world. Right on the westmost edge of Europe, Doolin is a tiny village that has a very special landscape and tradition. It’s also a mecca for traditional music, not to mention one of Europe’s best surfspots. What a place.

Doolin, Co. Clare

Most evenings I get my fiddle out in O’ Connors pub, jammin with old friends and new. The standard of playing is very high – Clare is the birthplace of much of Irish music – but the locals are always very welcoming. It’s a different crew every night, so it’s great experience for a Dublin musician like me, playing tunes I rarely hear. There’s also a fantastic atmosphere in the pub every night as it’s packed with international tourists who have travelled to Doolin specifically to hear the music.

During the day  there’s the surf. Few of the tourists realise that Doolin is neatly sandwiched bewteen Fenor and Lahinch, two of the best surf beaches in Ireland. At the moment I’m teaching the manager of the hostel and his kids to surf, it’s very satisfying. That said, there are bigger waves coming on Thursday, so it’ll be out back for me from then on..

What a place, I’ll be sorry to go back to being a boring scientist. I’ve even got fit again without really trying!!

Update: photo for PW

Festival Interceltique de Lorient

I spent last week in Brittany, France at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient, the largest celtic music festival in the world. The festival was as good as ever, with parades, concerts and performances from pipe bands, music groups and dance troupes from all the great celtic nations.

Le grand defile interceltique

The sheer scale of the celtic world could be seen from the number of delegations – from Asturias (Spain), Galicia (Spain), Brittany (France), Cornwall (England), Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Acadia (Canada), Australia and the Isle of Man. There were concerts every day in the afternoons and evenings, not to mention the Nuit Magiques, chereographed performances on a giant scale in the local football stadium – some say the Lorient Nuit Magiques were the inspiration for Riverdance.

Nuit magique at the Stade Moustoir

Best of all were the sessions in some of the local pubs, with Irish, Bretons and others swapping tunes into the early hours (this is where where yours truly comes in). The sessions were a treat for any musician, with tunes in Quay St orThe Galway Inn, not to mention monster sessions with performers fresh from their gigs at the Pub Glen late into the night. This was the best part for me, as I enjoy playing music with musicians from slightly different traditions. I think folk music has an edge over other types of music when it comes to this sort of jamming – and if there is one thing better than a lively Irish session, it’s a session where there is a mix of cultures and traditions. Also, it’s very moving to hear a tune/song you’ve known your whole life played in a more minor, modal key – an older, deeper version that makes your version seem like a pale modern echo.

Fast tunes and sad songs with Brian Coombe in Quay St

In the thick of it in the Pub Glen.

This year I was asked to do a short solo gig, in a beautiful old mill by the river. It was really good fun to do, and the practice I had to do left me on top form for the sessions. Nothing quite like sitting in a session with friends new and old when it suddenly goes supernova. Not to mention the wired social life when the musicians finally down their instruments…

Overall, this is a great international music festival – a feeling of an inheritance that is shared, yet different. I’m constantly amazed at the sheer diversity of European culture and its effect on the world…there’s a nice discussion of this on the festival website