more Ireland

August 2019
Cork and Kerry

Alan showed up after a week at Maugha, bringing the vibes, and taking some photos (this one's of Christy's "moon gate" on the way down to the well):

We jammed in the barn the first night with JohnJohn on acoustic bass, Andy Ra on 12-string, me on saz, Alan and Christy on hand percussion. Absolutely exquisite, and (typically) unrecorded. After one particularly lovely improvisation, JohnJohn quipped in his West Limerick accent "You couldn't make it up!". He had to head back to his smallholding, but we jammed again the next night down at Andy's with his friend Alan O'Rourke and brother Robin. Not quite as good, but still very memorable (and unrecorded). The next morning Kris came down from Sneem to get me, Alan and Robin. We spent the next few days up there. Lots of music. Here's me comparing Robin's recently acquired T-shirt (from the festival Reggae Geel) to the back of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma which Kris had randomly put on the stereo that morning:

Andy Ra came up from W. Cork with his son Barney on motorbikes. Here's us getting a jam started outside Kris and Birgit's house:

...later than night, joined by Sean B on a kind of bass ukelele:

Christy turned up with his brother Seamus and their dad Mike (who had just received his new flute, made from an obscure type of African hardwood). Somehow the jam moved indoors and accompanied a Liverpool FC match with the sound turned down...Alan and Robin are massive LFC fans and couldn't miss it, but it didn't stop the music (the Reds won on penalties!)

   

...and then back outside around the fire with Birgit and the (now adult) kids:

Here are a couple of recordings and a montage of clips, pretty rough, but nice memories:

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