An Exceedingly Long Entry

Remember how I live next to the Beamish Irish Stout Factory? Yes, that's the one. This past week, they have been hosting the Cork Folk Festival (happens every August), an event that starts rather quietly with a few small performances on a Tuesday night and ends with the bang of the Ceili Mor (pronounced kaylee more) and open-air Celtic Market on a Sunday. In addition to being in Cork for the festival, I also have the pleasure of taking a class (which meets everyday) with someone who arranged a fair amount of the festival, Michelle Finnerty. This meant getting the inside scoop on all of the acts that were to be appearing in addition to (on occasion) having the entrance fee to some of the events taken care of by the Music Department at UCC. As you can imagine, this has made this past week exceedingly busy.

Monday started off with my first class of the year (9:30 AM--not a terrible time unless you consider the fact that you must first walk about 15 minutes, all up hill, to get to class) in which we mainly went over the schedule for the next four weeks and talked about the different events that would be available to us over the next week because of the Folk Festival. That nigher making a "family dinner," most of us went over to An Spailpin Fanach, my favorite pub so far (the upstairs gig venue pictured on the left; pronounced an spall-peen faun-ach). Two minutes from my apartment complex, the Spailpin is really more like the pubs you expect to find in Ireland--nook and cranny rooms, odd posters and signs hanging on the walls, and a very local contingent that loves to drunkenly sing. Also interesting is their masonry--in each stone/brick wall, there are several mugs and plates that have been cemented permanently into place. In any case, every Monday night at the Spailpin there is live music. For free. Come the end of September, it will be where the UCC Traditional Music Society holds it's late night sessions, which is just perfect for me, as the walk home is both short and well lit.

Tuesday started again with a long walk up a long hill--this time for a lecture on Trad Music by Daithi Kearney (Dah-hee; pictured on the right in the striped shirt, dancing with none other than Michelle Finnerty, coordinator of my course), a PhD student at UCC. I honestly don't think I've had a more fast paced introduction in my entire life. Despite his speed, Daithi managed to impart more knowledge than was probably humanly possible--the lecture was a mix of general Irish History (imperative for understanding the context of trad music), trad music history and development, musical and dance styles, performances and demonstrations. During the lecture, Daithi managed to play fiddle, celtic harp, tin whistle, two button accordion, four string banjo, as well as sing in the sean-nos (old-style) tradition and the English Ballad tradition, finally topping off the lecture with a demonstrdation of a particular region's style of step dancing.

That evening, at 8 PM, we gathered again in the Spailpin to learn something else from Daithi--set dancing. Over the course of an hour and a half, all nineteen of my classmates learned how to do a two-handed reel, The Walls of Limerick (a four handed dance), The Siege of Ennis (an eight-handed dance), a Slide Waltz (two hands), and a Fling (three hands). It was the most fun that I'd had yet. I promise that when I come home, I'll teach everyone how to do them (I even wrote the steps down in a field journal I'm keeping for class just so I wouldn't forget).

Wednesday started a little later than the past two days had, as Michelle knew we were bound to be tired after the previous night. Lecture that morning was handled by Brian Miller, another friend of Michelle's, who happens to be a talented trad flautist, guitarist, and singer from Bimidji, Minnesota. He had been here in Cork seven years earlier for the same program I'm in--and he's been back at least once a year, ever since. Again, lecture was a very whirlwind experience, although this time, things made a little more sense as Daithi had helped to give all the information Brian imparted on us some context. Lecture ended a hour and a half later, and we were given an hour and a half for lunch. Not wanting the brave the hill again, Dan (my flatmate), Laura (another Arcadia student), Sam (a fiddler from Maine) and I went to get some sandwiches from a store up the street from the music building, then taking them up to the Cork City Gaol, where there are a few picnic tables and a fantastic view of the city. Around 2 PM, we walked back down to the Music Department, where we had another hour and a half workshop and performance on singing, led by Brian Miller and Nora Rendel (a Canadian with a similar story to Brian's). We were left with the evening free, although a few of my flat mates and I went back to the Spailpin, where we paid the cover charge to see Tommie Cunniffe, newly married husband of Michelle, who also happens to be one of the best "box" players (accordion) I've ever heard. Phenomenal. (They also had this fantastic bodhran player that just blew me away.)

Thursday was most likely a boring lecture day for the other students, although I enjoyed some of it. It was on Thursday that the class met Paul Everett, one of the heads of the Music Department. Mr. Everett lectured on European Art Music in Dublin, specifically Handel and the Music of Georgian Dublin (the Messiah was premiered in Dublin). It would have been more interesting had he actually talked about the Messiah, but we didn't actually get to that until Friday, when he lectured again. Both days had a very similar set up to my music history class at home, so it made me feel very comfortable.

While I didn't spend any time at the Spailpin (or any other live music venue) on Thursday (I chose to create my own music with Dan and Sam), we were afforded the opportunity to see Lunasa, one of the biggest trad music groups in Ireland, for free at the Metropole Hotel on Friday night. It was a truly amazing experience. Oh, and at some point before that, I became a legal Irish visitor. It was a happy day, despite the long wait at immigration.

Saturday was a fairly quiet day--I was supposed to go to a Fiddle Masterclass (held at Spailpin) around 11 AM, but as I was leaving, I ran in to Sam who had just been. Apparently, the fiddle player running the class was terribly ill, and Michelle was unable to find a replacement. So, instead of fiddling the morning away, I cooked, making breakfast for all my flatmates and Sam. It was a tasty experience. I then spent the rest of Saturday cleaning the apartment for lack of things to do. Well, there were plenty of things to do (especially with the festival), but I didn't particularly feel like paying for them.

Sunday opened with a trip to St. Fin Barre's, the cathedral down the street from my flat. It's a part of the Church of Ireland, which makes it a similar experience to Canterbury at school. There also happened to be a Baptism that morning, making service far more lively than it was last weekend. Following the service, I went back to the flat to prepare for the Ceili Mor--my favorite part of the Folk Festival. Cork City closes down St. Patrick's street, one of the main streets of the city, sets up the Kilfenora Ceili Band (one of the most famous Ceili bands in Ireland), and just dances. Luckily for all of us in the music class, Daithi had taught us most of the dances that were to be done that day, so we actually sort of knew what we were doing. For other friends that had no clue, a few of us taught them the basic steps so they could at least fake it. Now, I don't have pictures (I was too busy dancing), but I do have quite a few friends who took a ton of pictures (or so I've been told). I think someone might even have a video. When they put them up, I'll pass them on.

After an hour and a half to two hours of dancing, I was exhausted. I wandered around the Celtic Market for a bit (lots of jewelry, soap, and baked goods), I found my flatmates in a pub, watching the Hurling final. I sat there for a while, then moved back to the flat so I could find some advil for my legs. Thinking about it now, sitting in the pub was probably the worst thing I could have done--no stretching.

This morning's start wasn't actually a morning start: class wasn't until 2 PM. Nora (the Canadian) ran the lecture on Corkonian song styles. After class, I went all around Cork city to try and find a book of comedic songs by Con O Drisceoil titled The Spoons Murder and other mysteries. I still have not found it, although I have gotten two promising leads that I may or may not check out tomorrow.

Oh, yes, I'm moving tomorrow. Not Thursday. Oh well.

Well, in any case, tomorrow should be an interesting day--I have to get up early and go to the International Education Office, followed by an hour and a half lecture on the Contemporary Irish Song Tradition (Nora again), and then a two hour lecture on regional styles in trad music (Daithi). I will then have to high-tail it home to get my new flat assignment and move.

Note about the pictures above: These pictures have been taken from xeer's flicker site.