Last night at the Plough and Stars, one of the local venues here in San Francisco where we have a session once a month (“slow session” for the first hour, then goes to full tempo after that), Ciaran Tourish, fiddle player from Altan, happened to be there with John Cutliffe, the band’s tour manager, just hanging out, playing a few games of pool together, apparently making the most of a slow night in our fair city. (Altan has several shows in the SF area this week) Well, I got chatting with John (apparently an accomplished musician himself, and a highly-regarded manager by the band) about the tour, their upcoming shows, my travels in Donegal a couple of years ago, etc., then eventually met Ciaran during a break and casually suggested that he join us for a few tunes. Though he didn’t seem so keen about it at first, as the night wore on, having borrowed a fiddle from one of the other players, Ciaran finally joined in on a set with us! The experience of actually playing with Ciaran Tourish, who I’ve seen countless times with Altan was utterly amazing, an unforgettable night for sure. We were all of course in awe of Ciaran’s driving rhythm, those stunning bowed triplets and juicy double stops so characteristic of Donegal style, but also enjoyed his warm, friendly, and easy-going manner of playing with us mere mortals. So what began as a somewhat ordinary session turned out to be quite a memorable night, and just goes to show to sometimes expect the unexpected. Altan will be playing at the Great American Music Hall tomorrow night, then at the Sebastopol Celtic Music Festival this weekend, where I’ll see them (from the audience this time). Go raibh maith agat, Ciaran & John!
http://www.altan.ie/
http://pweb.jps.net/~jgilder/plough.html