Clonmel, Co Tipperary, became a town of 10,000 musicians at the weekend. Chris Dooley lent an ear and an eye.
Country music may claim to have the best song titles, such as She Got The Gold Mine, I Got The Shaft or You Can't Have Your Kate And Edith, Too. But the naming of Irish traditional tunes is surely a neglected area of study.
They are usually introduced in the following fashion: "This is a tune I learned from a blacksmith in Donegal who was a great fiddle-player in his spare time, 'I buried me wife and danced on top of her'. Here we go then, one, two, three . . ."
There were no reports of that particular number in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, at the weekend, but old favourites like The Peeler's Jacket and The Pigeon On The Gate were much in evidence.
They were played by some of the 10,000 musicians who occupied every available space, indoors and out, to entertain the massive crowds who congregated in the town for the 52nd Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.
No one really knows how many people go to the fleadh, but a good indication is provided by the fact that the organising committee sourced 180,000 beds in Clonmel and surrounding towns in advance of the event. By Saturday evening, hotel rooms and B&Bs had been booked in places as far away as Waterford, Tramore, Dungarvan and Thurles.
Of course, the traditional Irish music fans attending the festival come from even farther afield. "We had inquiries this year from Bermuda and Tokyo," said Mr Peter McAuley, chairman of the fleadh committee and a member of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann since the 1950s.
Musicians playing in Gladstone Street on Saturday afternoon have an equally long association with the fleadh, which Comhaltas has been organising since 1951. Mr Noel Clyne, a button accordionist from Longford, played at his first Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in his home county in 1958, when he won the all-Ireland under-15 accordion championship. He has not missed one since.
He was playing alongside an old friend, fiddle-player Mr Michael Shannon from Sligo, who has been at every national fleadh since 1956.
"It's going well so far," said Mr Clyne. "I came down yesterday at about five o'clock. We're playing away since and meeting old friends, which is what it's all about."
For others the event is all about trade, and stalls selling everything from bodhráns to mobile phones were to be seen all over the town. Not all were happy with the level of business.
Mr Colm Manifold, a resident of Lanzarote, was selling musical instruments from outside the fleadh office in Kickham Street.
"Trade is slow enough. The town is too big, and things are too far apart. Listowel last year was much more compact and it was easier to get around," he said.
Mr Manifold had had to let The Irish Times down gently when it optimistically approached asking if he was "the bodhrán maker".
"You won't find him around here. Sure 95 per cent of these bodhráns are made in Pakistan," he confided.
At €35 to €40, the instruments are made from a variety of animal skins, including greyhounds, and are generally sold as souvenirs to non-musicians. And what do they think when they hear most of them are manufactured abroad? "Some of them ask where they're made. They're very surprised, but that's life. You couldn't possibly make them for that money here. The labour costs would be too high," Mr Manifold said.
For Mr Michael Igoe from Ballina, however, trade in Eminen, Metallica and Bon Jovi T-shirts, at €10 each, was going well in O'Connell Street. "A lot of them are going for the Fleadh Cheoil T-shirts as well, but out of the others Metallica are selling really well," he said.
There was no appearance by the heavy metal group on the main "gig rig" stage in front of the Main Guard on Saturday night, but Clonmel was rocking as a succession of musicians and dance groups put on an electrifying show. It drew roars of appreciation from a crowd revelling in the Mediterranean temperatures.
In pubs all over the town, many of which closed their doors early as they were already full to capacity, similar performances were being delivered on a smaller scale. While such informal sessions are the main attraction for most people attending the Fleadh Cheoil, the national competitions in musicianship, set dancing and singing continue to form the core of the event.