An Evening of Traditional Tunes - of course NOT OT

Trad Irish Music
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This Sunday, July 23rd, the Irish Music School of Chicago (see www.irishmusicschool.com http://www.irishmusicschool.com/ ) will host a delightful evening of traditional tunes. The concert will be held at the Irish American Heritage Center in the Fifth Province Pub, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. The Irish American Heritage Center is located at 4626 West Knox Avenue, just East of the Edens expressway (I-94) Wilson Avenue (4600 North) exit. For information about the IAHC, its location, and its activities, see http://www.irishamhc.com/.



Tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for kids (17 and younger) and $75 for a family of 5 or more. The benefit concert will also feature performances from many of Chicago’s top Irish musicians, like Liz Carroll, John Daly and Jackie Moran, the teachers, and of course the students themselves.

Proceeds from the concert will go to help to fund the Irish Music School students traveling to compete in the all-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, Ireland’s biggest international music competition; this year’s edition will take place in Letterkenny, County Donegal, in Ireland’s picturesque northwest. It is an outstanding opportunity for these young people to meet and play with their peers from all over the world, deepen their appreciation of their music, learn more about Irish language and culture, and make new friends. The Students will attend a week long school called the Scoil Eigse before the Fleadh begins.

The Irish Music School of Chicago is founded on the philosophy that Irish music students should learn their music through examples provided by peers, instructors, and older musicians, particularly senior immigrant musicians who have been playing music since childhood. The school draws on the collaborative efforts of many different Chicago area Irish music teachers. Tunes are taught by aural transmission (i.e. “by ear”) in a variety of learning situations ranging from structured classroom settings and private lessons, to the rough and tumble of a pub session; instructors and students alike make extensive use of recordings instead of relying on transcriptions. Many students practice together outside of school functions, and it is not unusual for one or both parents of a child student to attend lessons or sessions as participants. Several of the young up and comers in the group have a parent or older sibling that plays traditional music, and some of the parents played traditional music as children and have decided to re-visit the experience. For information about lessons and sessions please email sean@seancleland.com.

Bringing generations together for some tunes helps to create the kind of environment that allows traditional music to flourish, an environment where traditional music making as an activity is not the exclusive preserve of a supremely talented few, but a normal, every day leisure activity shared and enjoyed by many.

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I often wonder what happened to the grand music that used echo through the odd still evening in Ireland when most folks yet travelled by bicycle or pony and trap.

My poor brother went back there a couple of years since to the wesht to be sure of spoiling his imported wife, and to be sure he eventually found it, but not from a local. No this was another emigrant like himself though now in a different continent.

What first offered itself to him was a bunch of tourists from all over the world ‘murdering’ ( his words ) Irish music on fiddles, flutes, concertinas and the rest in the great home of Irish trad Wesht Clare Ireland.

As he did not much like the bad Guinness and his wife is an intelligent being, they retreated from Session Ireland Clare Style for the feed. It was there that they were sphoilt by none other than Joe Burke who just happened ( I had nothing to do with it! ) to be feedin his face at the same place.

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So what does this have to do with an announcement of an event in Chicago?

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:smiley: We can meander a bit round here at times!

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:laughing: Some of us further afield than others. :wink:

djm

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Yeah, you know, it’s really hot out there today – I made the mistake of going out for lunch, and I’m back here in my cube wishing I’d brought a spare shirt to change into. While I was out I stopped by Olsson’s and noticed they had a copy of “Twitch” by Ministry in the sale rack, and I’d never heard of that album before so I bought it, and only now I’m realizing it’s a really early work, not like their (really lame) initial synth-pop stuff, but not anything like their later heavy industrial work a la “Psalm 69.” It’s pretty cool in a kind of musique concrete-cum-Kraftwerk way. I’m also kind of at a loss as to what to make for supper tonight. The weather calls out for cold poached salmon and cucumbers, except I didn’t have the foresight to poach a salmon last night. Hm. I’m craving vegetables. I might just make a nice salad, or boil a couple of artichokes.

Mm. Artichokes.