It may have been a soft Sligo day but rain separated the men and women from the boys and girls at
Fleadh Cheoil
.
As clouds hung low over Ben Bulben, the sound of jigs and reels wafted around every corner, and the organising committee reported that crowds in Sligo so far are “significantly higher” than this time last year .
On O’Connell Street two girls from Cavan did a two-hand reel in the rain while their mother pointed out proudly that more mature buskers weren’t venturing out of the shelter of the shopping centres – or the pubs.
Whistling champion
She said the family had been lucky to get a house overlooking Lough Gill a few minutes’ drive from the town centre.
“This is our main holiday,” she said. “We have already been told that accommodation for Ennis next year is booking out fast.”
Maireád McAnenna from Milltown, near Belturbet, watched her four children busking in the drizzle after a morning spent getting tuition at Scoil Éigse.
“This is probably the highlight for them,” she said. “It’s the notoriety, more than the money.”
Farther along the street in another doorway, 11-year-old Diarmaid Murphy from Wexford – last year's all-Ireland whistling champion – was also braving the showers as his skill on the flute drew a circle of admirers.
His father Fergal joked that they were trying to make enough for a pizza, having identified all the best restaurants at last year’s fleadh in Sligo.
“We are back in the same house – and the shower still does not work . But that is all part of it,” he laughed.
While much of the music yesterday was being made on the streets and in the pubs, musicians from all over the world have spent some months preparing for one of the fleadh highlights – a performance by the world’s first “virtual trad orchestra”.
The Hawk's Well Theatre will host this novel version of Down by the Salley Gardens, regarded as a Sligo anthem, on the final night of the fleadh, this coming Sunday, August 16th.
The Virtual Trad Orchestra will involve performers from Ireland, the US, Britain, Canada, France, Spain, Australia, Austria and Switzerland appearing on screens as Maura O’Connell, Gerry O’Beirne, Séamus Begley, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and Pauline Scanlon perform live on the stage.
"Our virtual performers filmed themselves playing or singing the Salley Gardens and uploaded the clips.
“They will all feature on six giant screens while the live musicians are performing,” said Maeve McGowan, of the Hawk’s Well.
“The whole lot has been arranged by Sligo musician Kieran Quinn and it will be an extraordinary sound. It’s never been done before.”
