Just got back from the Dervish concert last night in Tarpon Springs…
Wow! What a wonderful show. What a wonderful band. A pure delight, to hear such Pure Drop tuneage!!!
Afterwards, we went to Tarpon’s local pub for an apres-concert session, and in walks the band!!! So we had some pints with Dervish, and it was a real treat to be able to chat with them. Then at one point Seamus (the guitar player) mentions that he plays fiddle as well, and the next thing ya know we’re sitting in a corner with him playing my fiddle and me trying to keep up with him on bodhran…they guy is an A-Freakin-Mazing fiddler! Then came the tough moment when Seamus handed me the fiddle and he took the bodhran and he said “OK, Now its your turn”. Major gulp there, lemme tell ya, but next thing I knew, wow, I was fiddlin with a sweet drumbeat carrying me along. Then more craec and Tom Morrow came over and took a turn on the fiddle, and fellow Chiffie Sunshinesdaughter got out her Burke and we played a few more tunes before the band’s handler hustled everyone off to their hotel (though I think they were going to try to get some Pizza Hut pizza…if so, I hope to God they survived THAT experience).
I really dont have the words to say what a wonderful experience this was. The evening for me exemplified all that is good about this Trad thing we’ve got going here…the ability to really love this music, to be able to see some of the best musicians around, and to meet them and share some tunes with 'em. And of course, I’d like to think that some of their awesome vibes are now imbued into my fiddle, stored like some musically karmic battery, and that someday maybe I’ll be able to draw on that energy as I meander along the path of learning this music.
That’s all I have to say about that, except that the experience has left me truly and wonderfully…
DAZED