I’ll be moving to the Glasgow area and wondered if anyone knows of any good sessions in the area? I’m ideally looking for one with a mixture of Scottish, Irish and English influences.
I play whistles, (subtle) accordion and melodeon. Any leads would be most appreciated
The ones I personally go to are the Wed night session in the Oran Mor and the Thurs Night session in Uisge Bheatha.
The early evening session in Babbity Bowsters on Saturdays can be good as well.
The most Scottish oriented sessions will likely be in the Ben Nevis and the Islay Inn (if the RSAMD students are in the Ben Nevis session then watch out it will go at a million miles an hour).
For Scottish oriented stuff The Glasgow Fiddle Workshop might be a place to start - they organise the Islay inn Session.
Basically, if you are in Glasgow, there will be a session or sessions available every day of the week if you want one. The quality will vary tremendously as will the level of playing, but you will likely find one that suits you.
Before I was going over to Glasgow for a couple weeks, back in 2007, I posted a query on TheSession about Glasgow sessions.
It was a little confusing sorting through the conflicting information. But I ended up at a great session in that big multi-story pub right off George Square- oh what is it called? The pub is like Disneyland for drinkers. One section is made to look like the interior of an old church, one section is made to look like you’re in a Hobbit hole or something with fake huge tree roots coming down.
Anyhow the session there, with a number of fiddlers and a guy playing Scottish bellows pipes, was great. Pretty much all Scottish music. Every now and then I would start an Irish tune and get blank looks.
The session I went to was on a Friday night, even though 20 people had told me that they didn’t have a session Friday night.