Traditional singers step back in time
THE annual singing weekend organised by the Wexford Traditional Singers’ Circle is one of those self-confident happenings which is quite happy to operate off-radar.
They began to arrive, in dribs and drabs, in Cushen’s Pub, Tagoat. Birds of a feather come together. Bear hugs and bone-crunching handshakes.
As always, at the very heart of the action was the legend that is Paddy Berry. He sang Bagnal Harvey’s ‘Farewell’. Making his debut, with the song ‘Ballyshannon Lane’, was Paddy’s son Ciarán the spritely Glynn nonagenarian Jack Curran sang the ‘The Maid of Ballygow’.
The Saturday evening session at Hotel Rosslare was the high point of the weekend when, following the traditional feed of bacon and cabbage, the singers put their names down with the Fear an Tí and patiently waited their turn. To attend a traditional singing session - while it is called ‘traditional’ most of the singing is in English - is to step back to a simpler time, a time before tv and radio and ‘streaming’, a time when the singer held an esteemed place in the community.
Following Sunday’s afternoon session fond farewells rang out as the crowd began to thin out. There will be many more sessions together before the year is out.
No point over-doing it.