Miltown Malbay
Thursday, we went to the King’s Inns and had dinner with barristers and judges and what not. It was fun, very fancy and the food was great (if perhaps a little inoffensive). The high point for me was at the end where they brought out a stuffed ram’s head and offered snuff from it’s brain cavity to everyone. (It’s an after-dinner tradition at the Kings Inns, apparently.)
Yesterday, we rented a car and went out to Miltown Malbay in Clare to the Willie Clancy festival to see/hear what it was all about. We were told to expect a “madhouse” and that’s exactly what we got. We met up with our friend (and fellow WSHSO member) Linda Hood and hung out talking, drinking and listening to music until late. It was tiring (basically because I got a little sick yesterday) but fun. Here is an assortment of pictures:
The music was great, the bars absolutely mobbed and it rained just about the entire time. Here are a couple of recordings where you can get a sense of the music and how crowded it was (you won’t have to listen hard to hear it). This is from the back room at Friel’s:
This begins in the middle room at Friel’s. We decide to leave (you can hear Gail suggest it) and work our way out through the crowd. The recording ends up in the street out in front of the bar:
Working our way out of Friel's
Later on, we found ourselves at a place called Cleary’s. Lots of great musicians, including a guy who sang the following sean-nós song. (He also played flute.) Have a listen to this short excerpt–the people whispering in the background are annoying, but the song was great:
We arrived back in Dublin around 2:30, dropped the car off and bought some food for dinner.