I have been to Ireland before and I am familiar with some of Ireland, having been a few times, mostly in the Cork and Kinsale area. But I haven’t been back for about eight years and I did not play Irish music or sing it much before now.
I’m returning to Kinsale for a wedding next August and I’m trying to figure out a way to branch out afterward and do a few sessions in the Cork area and maybe elsewhere too. Any suggestions?
Go to a session and ask if you can play… pretty straightforward!
Call ahead? I’d want to know first, if I really wanted to play.
https://thesession.org/sessions/search?day=&q=Cork%2C+Ireland
Just find a pub with music, listen for a bit, and if you think you can play along, play along. Seriously. It’s no big deal. This site sometimes makes “THE MUSIC” out to be much more than it is.
I get it. For you, this might be a once off trip of a lifetime, etc. For us, it’s just a night in the pub playing tunes with mates. No big deal. I’m just back in from a few hours lovely tunes with two friends in the quietest pub in the histories of both pubs, and quietness. You’d have been more than welcome.
If you make it a big deal, it’ll be a big deal. We don’t care. Sit down, tune up, fire away. If you start a set we won’t leave you hanging. If you’re annoying, we’ll deal with it. There’s no such thing as a perfect night. If you’re really annoying, we’ll just play tunes you don’t know. 🙂
Close the window will ya’ EnDaC, you’re letting fresh air in! 🙂
The Sin É, the Spailpin Fanach, and the Corner House in Cork City are a kind of “big three” in terms of pubs that have sessions on most days. They’re generally fairly welcoming, depending on who’s playing (and who’s joining), although all three have a night or two devoted to other types of music as well (old-time, country, etc.). The Gables, the Oliver Plunkett, and Charlie’s also have good sessions to go to; Charlie’s Sunday session is about half expat Americans, so if you’re one of US you’ll feel right at home.
Outside of the city there are a bunch of great places to go, my favorites being the Mills in Ballyvourney and Top of Coom on the Cork-Kerry border, but call ahead for both of those to make sure there is a session on whenever you’re thinking of going through.
I’m a decent player, nothing special, and I can’t say I’ve had a really bad experience around Cork sessions. Some are a bit colder than others, a bit more closed, or a bit more gig-like than session-like, but everyone at least feints towards politeness. If you ask before jumping in, play well on the tunes you know, and generally act like a courteous person, you’ll be grand.
I think that EnDaC has it about right. If I can add Douglas Adam’s advice on learning to fly: “you just aim for the ground … and miss”.
Thanks all. And I get it…stop making the normal bigger than life.
I’m actually a five string banjo bluegrass picker and guitarist going over to Irish. My speed is not at top yet, maybe about 80 percent of typical session speeds. Working on it.
Captacoustic, I don’t directly know where the sessions are near Kinsale. However, following up on Diane Lovejoy’s search/link for sessions in County Cork, I’ve found at least 2 nearby sessions listed on thesession.org.
De Barra’s (Clonakilty) Monday nights
https://thesession.org/sessions/1376
website: http://debarra.ie/listings/174/traditional-irish-session/
&
Tot’s Bar (Ballingurteen) 1st Friday of the month
https://thesession.org/sessions/3539
https://www.facebook.com/totspub
It seems natural to ask here (thesession.org) about sessions in Ireland. Also our webmaster {Jeremy Keith} is from Cork (Cobh).
bigsciota, you say they play old-time music in Irish pubs? I have to see this. Is there a video?
Sunday afternoons in the Cobblestone…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oEZHU7jJXtA
So we’re playing their music and they’re playing ours.
This warms my heart. Doesn’t quite sound like the same music we play at my old-time jam, but then we tend to play Mid-western tunes.
It’s just music. You can say it’s yours, their’s or whoever you like. But it’s still music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PralzWVNj-8
For the record, I wasn’t trying to take or assign ownership of anything. But I think it’s kind of obvious that there are regional and cultural influences in all types of musics throughout the world that make it indigenous to certain areas originally. Particularly within the last 50 years or more, technology and travel have spread this music at an accelerating pace.
Ben, I love that tune! We do it at our contra dance sessions. I mean sessions, not referring to dance gigs, and we mostly play from the Portland Dance books. “Shove the Pigs…” is such a fun tune. Of course the name has nothing to do with a pig! 🙂
One of the bars I went to when in Ireland years ago had a small group of players; 2 guitars, a fiddle, mando I think and? They played a lot of 60’s-70’s folk music. The one guy sang a number of songs I used to do on a folk circuit myself by Baez, Dylan, Fogarty, Lightfoot, etc. Couldn’t believe it, and I could join in for most of them. This was not a “performance,” but just like a casual session set up. I was really surprised (this was in 2001, not 1975) but I loved it, and he was good.
Anyway like cap said… it all gets around.
And thanks to all for the help!
