Tír na nÓg"The tune is brother to the prayer."
The nÓg Session
The Tír na nÓg traditional Irish music session meets every Sunday from 3:00-6:00 PM, either in the back left of the pub near the fireplace, or in the “Cottage”, unless otherwise noted.
The nÓg session differs from other local sessions in that it is traditional and is both a teaching session and a playing session. The format loosely follows this schedule:
| 3:00-4:00 | The session leader teaches a traditional dance tune by ear—the traditional way. |
| 4:00-5:00 | Slow jam where we practice tunes learned in past sessions. |
| 5:00-6:00 | Inclusive session where every player gets a chance to start their favorite tune(s). Singers are welcome, too. |
| 6:00-whenever | Open session until we get asked to leave. |
Sometimes the pub has events that affect the session. Check Session News frequently for session cancellations, changes to session times or format, special guests, and to find out what tune will be taught at the next session.
Scroll down this page for news, current and past.
House Concert: Angelina Carberry & Martin Quinn - 7/10/2008
The concert was fantastic!!! Next time they're around, don't miss them. And, we'll try to get them to do a concert at the pub. I'll add a link to where you can purchase their CDs after I find out.
There will be fliers for this event at Sunday's session. The concert is in a wonderful house for music in Saxapahaw (roughly 12 miles west of Chapel Hill, off Rt. 54). Learn more about Angelina and Martin.
For reservations, tickets ($15), or information, contact Paul Mitchell at 919/644-0912, or email pmitchel@email.unc.edu.
Too bad Annie will miss this; Martin's from County Armagh!
The great east Clare fiddler Paddy Canny (1919-2008)
Paddy Canny passed away on June 28. Check out these links to learn more about him and hear his music:
- Irish Times
- ARCmusic (contains a YouTube video)
Summer Schedule
The session continues throughout the summer. However, so many of us have vacations, music weeks, and other events that take us away, that attendance has dwindled to a low point. There will be no teaching unless we have at least 5 melody musicians present. We'll continue the slow jam for those who want to review tunes. We'll kind of take one week at a time until the fall, when the format will change somewhat. Some new ideas are brewing, like monthly fiddle workshops and a free reed club. Details in the fall.
Welcome, Baby Molly!
Baby Molly arrived (date?). Congratulations to Trish and Jason. Trish, we'll miss you at the session until you feel ready to come back. And, we look forward to meeting Molly when you feel up to bringing her 'round.
Kitty Hayes passes (obit by Cormac MacConnell by way of Myron Bretholz)
There is a new duet in Heaven this weekend. Kitty Hayes and her son Joe are playing away together again for the first time in a decade. Kitty is swaying away behind her beloved concertina, Joe is on the banjo. There are surely angels listening to the nuances of the old Clare tunes.
Kitty left this earth, in her eighties, last weekend. Joe, in his early thirties, died about a decade ago of cancer in London. His final days were eased by the duets they played together in his London flat when she came over to mind him. She had not played the concertina for nearly fifty years but he encouraged her to start again and, sure enough, the music came flowing back into her fingers. It was good. They played together up until a few days before he died.
Kitty Smith was born in Moy on the West Clare coast near Lahinch back in the '30s. There was a concertina already in the house because her father Peter was one of the local musicians who supplied the music for the country house dances of that era. He travelled on foot through the parishes with Gilbert Clancy - father of the piper Willie Clancy - and knew his daughter was mad into the music. Every chance she got she was playing his concertina. He gave it to her altogether in the end. She took to it like a duck to water. She was very good.
She married another musician, fluter Josie Hayes, when she was 21 years old. Babies started to arrive, Joe and six more, and there were calves and hens to be fed as well on the farm. That stopped the music. She left down the concertina and forgot about it. (I am indebted to Clare People journalist Andrew Hamilton for these details drawn from his splendid interview with Kitty last November). Josie died of a stroke when she was in her late sixties. It was as a widow she went to London to care for her ailing son. He went out one day and brought her back a concertina and, after a half-century, she began to play again. And then those poignant duets began as they buried their pain in music.
Back in Ennis in her seventies she got into the habit of dropping in to Custy's famous music store in Francis Street just to admire the concertinas. Her friends Eoin O'Neill and John O'Connor eventually began to seat her on a chair when she came in and put a new concertina in her hands. She played away and eventually that led to a new career in music, a new beginning, national and indeed international fame. But always, she told Andrew Hamilton, she felt she was playing for her lost son Joe. She said: "I'll keep playing the music as long as I can. It still has the healing feeling, that I am doing it for my son. He's still enjoying it with me. I know that he is looking down on me. Every time I go to play I can see his face smiling. It's a wonderful feeling…..the thing that gave me healing when I was broken-hearted".
I knew her through my friend Eoin O'Neill. She was good, she was gentle, she was gifted. When she played, I often noticed, she seemed further away from us than any other Irish musician, swaying on a journey to another dimension. And now I know where she went. And who was with her. And where she is now this minute.
Footnote: She left two CDs behind. The first is called "A Touch Of Clare" and the second, with piper Peter Laban, is entitled "They'll Be Good Yet". They are available through all good music stores.
Is it time for Raleigh's own concertina band? (5/3/08)
One Sunday we had 3 concertinas, an accordion player, and small pipes—NO FIDDLES!...until later. It was a hoot! There was some serious talk of starting a free reeds band. Perhaps the likes of that hasn't been seen in nearly 100 years (for good reason?). The Wake and District Pipe Band needs some competition. The only trouble is, we can't march. But, I'm sure we can make some serious noise and ride on a float next St. Patrick's Day! OK, first a catchy name—The Tír na nÓg Squeezers??? Then...what about uniforms...jeans and T-shirts? Who's going to play the gigantic drum?
Featured musician: Kevin Burke (4/13/08)
The Kevin Burke event on the 2nd was a delightful success, and his fiddling inspired many of the local players who attended the workshop. We have learned a few tunes from his lovely new CD, Across the Black River.
St. Patrick's Day Sunday Session: 3/16/2008
The Tír na nÓg session players kicked butt for two solid hours on stage on St. Patrick's weekend Sunday!!! Annie said we sounded like a real ceili band. Allen Baker, a fine concertina player himself, told me he wished he had recorded us. Thanks so much to all who came out to play! These performances are how we give back to the pub for all that they give us every Sunday, so I appreciate the great turnout we've had at all of these events. If you didn't get a chance to play this time, please give it a try the next time we're asked. We always have fun, too!
Featured musician: Jack Coen (posted 2/16/2008)
Since we're learning a tune from the playing of Jack Coen this week, you might want to learn more about him.
Picure postcard (posted 1/16/2008)
This sweet card was found in an antiques store in Raleigh. It reminds me of sitting in front of the fireplace at the session last Sunday—a cold wind was blasting from the chimney. Too bad the fire is fake.
I wonder what he's playing—a Lachenal, Jones, or a Jeffries? A jig or a reel?
World's largest trad session!
Check out this link to the World’s Largest Traditional Irish Music Session.
Featured musician: Padraig O'Keefe (1/7/2008)
This photo of Padraig (Patrick) O'Keefe, taken by Liam Clancy in 1955, is very famous and reveals a lot about this man. We can tell that overstretched bow hair won't stop him from playing his fiddle (that's a wine bottle cork rigged up to make the bow hair taut). He likes his pint, too. What you may not know is that Padraig O'Keeffe (1887-1963) spent over half of his life as a wandering music teacher.
Read more about this fascinating and influential Sliabh Luachra musician.