I volunteer at a folk/world music club. Yesterday was St. Patrick’s day and we had two groups–one a young woman, singer/songwriter from Ireland and a pair of fiddlers. The young woman from Ireland had an amazing voice–harmonies with her drum player were wonderful. But OMG…every song she wrote/sang sounded the same: dismal. Love gone awry. Lovers dead. Jeesh… nothing cheerful. Nothing foot tapping. And definitely nothing happy. Pity as she is obviously very talented.
The second group was in stark contrast–much more fun. Thank heavens. And a range of styles, and tunes. Whew. They asked the young Irish woman to sing with them and again, another dismal song. YOIKS.
That’s disappointing. However I’ve always thought St Paddy’s day is over rated and largely without fun. My worst was being stuck, due to work, in Chicago over the St Patrick’s day weekend. I watched a dismal parade of overweight locals plod down the water front. In the rain. With pretty awful bands on flatbed lorries following. Then once that scene of local self-congratulation was finally done, I strolled into town. Only to find great groups of drunk college kids queuing to get into rubbish bars. Oh, and they put green dye into the river for some environmentally dubious reason.
Awful, not Ireland, not Irish and not any fun at all. I blame the Guinness marketing department.
Not sure whether to laugh or cry at your account. I had hoped for something more from an Irish artist.
There’s a Chicago in Ireland? I’m a bit confused about the story.
If this is in the US, St. Patrick’s day is not celebrated much, depending on the area, I guess. I’ve never seen a huge celebration here.
Interesting observation as I’ve witnessed the one held in Chicago (the one on Lake Michigan, US), and seen those held in Boston and New York on TV. The New York one is proudly cited by the organisers as being held each year since 1762. All involve thousands of marchers, many more viewing it, lots of Irish theming in bars and restaurants. I’d guess that you are correct about the location as all three cities have significant number of Irish descendants. I hope that helps with your confusion.
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