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Irish Traditional Session NewsIn Santa Barbara, California, & wherever our friends are playing |
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Irish Traditional Session NewsIn Santa Barbara, California, & wherever our friends are playing |
No session at Muddy Waters Sept. 4th, we'll be at this concert instead: New local band Shepherd's Pie is playing traditional Irish music at Dargan's Pub and Restaurant, 18 E. Ortega St., a couple of times a month. The band consists of session players Fran Malinoff on fiddle, singer Treasa McGettigan, Bill Hooten on guitar and octave mandolin, and Robert Winokur on tin whistle and low whistle. Becca Holehouse joins them on fiddle this summer, and there have been occasional surprise guests too. See their home page for confirmed dates. The popular local group Foggy Dew is now playing at State and A Restaurant, 1201 State St., several times a month. See their Shows page for their schedule.
The Santa Barbara sessions are now every 1st and 3rd Thursday, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Muddy Waters, 508 East Haley Street. Click for a map to Muddy Waters. The legendary James Joyce sessions are no longer happening, but we still have the photos! Morro Bay: Morro Bay Brewing Company, 280 Harbor Street, has a traditional Irish session every Wednesday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. For more information, contact Morro Bay Brewing Company at 805-772-3534. Ashland, Oregon: The Black Sheep Pub, 51 North Main St., has a session on Sundays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, contact the Black Sheep Pub at 541-482-6414. The pub is on the I-5 freeway corridor, conveniently located for those travelling between the Seattle/Portland area and the SF/LA area. (Nice web site they have!) Several sessions are happening in the Los Angeles area:
Andrew Kuntz's The Fiddler's Companion is a valuable index of tunes and tales for performers looking for something to say to introduce the next tune. Many of the entries give the history of the tune, a list of printed and recorded sources, and one or more versions in ABC notation. See The Earl's Chair, for example. Irish Culture and Customs has, among many other interesting things, a Basic Irish Language reference, handy for a quick word or phrase (with pronunciations) such as "ceoil na hÉireann" (Irish music), "Slán go foill" ("Bye for now"), or "As Béarla led thoil?" ("Could you say that in English, please?") Wikipedia describes the social, cultural and musical aspects of the Irish traditional music session, including this charming quote from Barry Foy's Field Guide to the Irish Music Session: "… a gathering of Irish traditional musicians for the purpose of celebrating their common interest in the music by playing it together in a relaxed, informal setting, while in the process generally beefing up the mystical cultural mantra that hums along uninterruptedly beneath all manifestations of Irishness worldwide." Michael Robinson's Beginner's Guide to Irish Gaelic Pronunciation is a simplified guide for "traditional musicians, radio announcers and anyone else who is interested in traditional Irish music." The Session has links to sessions and tunes, as well as discussions and pages about the music and recordings. "The exchange of tunes is what keeps traditional Irish music alive. This website is one way of passing on jigs, reels and other dance tunes. Some of the tunes are well known, and some are more obscure. It's this mixture of the familiar and the new that makes for a good session." The bi-monthly newspaper Folkworks has calendars of ongoing sessions and suchlike, and all of the Folk news you need (including dance, music and art) for the greater Los Angeles area. You can find Folkworks in print at libraries and music stores. In Santa Barbara, Folkworks can sometimes be found at the Sunday evening contra dances at the Carillo Recreation Center, corner of Carillo and Anacapa streets. Andrew Doerr hosts the Roadtunes Sessions always beginning and ending with Irish music and also featuring a variety of other singer songwriters, both acoustic and electric. It's on every Tuesday morning on KCSB 91.9 FM in Santa Barbara from 10 a.m. to noon Pacific time. Roadtunes Sessions is simultaneously webcast at KCSB's Webcast page. The phone number in the studio is 805-893-2424 for questions, comments, or suggestions for future shows. Thistle & Shamrock, Fiona Ritchie's weekly radio program of music from Celtic lands, can be heard on KCBX-FM, Saturdays at 4 p.m., at 89.5 Santa Barbara, 90.1 San Luis Obispo, or on KCBX webcast. Howard & Roz Larman's FolkScene is back on Sunday nights, 7 to 9 p.m., on KPFK-FM with traditional and contemporary live music, interviews and remote recordings. Tune in at 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, and 98.7 FM in Santa Barbara. See the Folkscene web site for more information, and how to hear the Folkscene webcast. |
