Duffy’s Bar

The last Friday of every month. All kinds of folk music is played and any level of player is welcome.

The last Friday of the month session is a lovely event, with a very appreciative audience and plenty of beer!
Led by Tony our singer, we do a variety of Christy Moore and Dubliners-style crowd-pleasers (Seven Drunken Nights, Whisky in the Jar etc.) with various tunes interspersed in between. It’s mainly Irish stuff, but not exclusively; anyone having a go is appreciated, regardless of what they actually play.

There’s also a smaller, quieter session on the second Wednesday of the month; a perfect opportunity for someone who’s a bit less confident, or to try out something a bit different.

The atmosphere is friendly for beginners and improvers, with all skill levels enthusiastically welcomed.

Well worth a visit if you want a fun-filled Irish night in Leicester!

Having attended both the Friday ( last of the month ) and Wednesday ( 2nd of the month ) sessions recently this is just a quick line to note both listings are still current.

Friday is generally a led session of crowd pleasers based mainly around the common repertoire from “The Olde Book of Irish Pub Songs” with a few tunes between for good measure. Whilst the Weds sessions still have a good deal of the song book it’s a much quieter night in the bar and there is less emphasis on playing to the crowd and more chance for a few tunes and, as pointed out above, the chance for learners and improvers to play out and not worry about cocking it up. The extent of either highly dependent it seems on university enrolments and the often precarious realities of working life.

Let’s hear it for Duffy’s, after years in Leicester, without much happening on a weekly basis, local purveyors of wig glue, mustard woollens and lead tankards are rooting out their wares and the V.A.F. players are shining their domes again! The Wednesday session is having a bash at going weekly. The year’s first was a cacophony of busted bagpipes, warbling throats and shuddering strings, truly wonderful! I’m sure things will settle again when the hangovers and bugs are gone. For one I can’t wait.

The Wednesday session goes from strength to strength and it’s lovely to see a mix of abilities and instruments creating a fun and welcoming session.
If you are someone enticed to come along, fantastic, please be aware though that this is a traditional music session. It is not a “jam”, a “poetry slam” or an “open mic”. The music played is traditional, it is learnt not improvised. It is drawn mostly from the Irish musical tradition but can include all sorts, Scottish, Breton, English, the odd bit of Americana, not as mainstays but as occassional pieces shared at the spur of a moment or the odd request.
No one is going to be upset with anyone for having a go at a piece of trad and cocking it up it’s called learning and we have all been there or are there. It’s different though to sitting there blithely playing away, over/under or around the music being played without any idea of the actual tune being played. That’s not trad, that’s not session and it’s not going to win you any friends here really.
This is Leicester’s only weekly Irish session, please respect this. You wouldn’t take a baseball bat to a cricket match, pick up and run with a football like it was a rugby match. If you want to recite your latest muse, improvise a piece of blues, that’s truely wonderful. Creativity is a brilliant thing. Just make sure you do it in the right environment. There are plenty of other regular nights for such things around the city. This is a traditional music session night that’s all.