Sunday’s session was quite
different from usual. It didn’t get off to a good start: when we arrived the TV
was on and a crowd sat around watching the football and providing a very vocal
commentary. We sat at the other end of the pub with a drink each and waited.
Eventually the match finished, and the pub emptied out, most people preferring to
sit out, and we had our usual corner.
The Northumbrian piper
arrived with his wife, who doesn’t play, but she settled down on a sofa by our
table and we had a bit of general chitchat between tunes, which slowed the pace.
A little later a new fiddle player joined us. He was a young chap, keen, really
only starting to come into Irish trad, so not with a large repertoire. He’d
sought us out as a change from the usual English/Morris sessions in the area, and
he joined in the discussion as well as the music. With the general chat and
with the youngster coming and going (he had friends elsewhere in the pub) it
had more of the feel of a social evening with music, which was very relaxing.
Somehow we fell to taking it
in turns to lead a set, which isn’t something we normally do, and not something
I normally enjoy, but it worked well. I played My Home Town, Father John/Whaling Song (the latter rather faster
than intended), and Dargai/Flett (with
a micropause between the two as I weighed up the risks of plunging into Loch Bee). I twice failed to get passed
the first half of the A part of Magersfontein
and ended up with Women instead
(I didn’t even consider trying Sleat
on the end). I played a rather tatty King, partly, I felt, because I was
expecting everyone to join in and no one did, and partly perhaps because I was
nearing the end of a half of Woodford Wherry having already had a half of St Austel Tribute.
The pub was empty for most
of the evening, then a large and lively young crowd came in, and although they
generally talked loudly through all but a song they applauded each set
enthusiastically.
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