Now that I had fully moved in, I had a view to rival Meng's. We had our first bit of intense rain, but it ended abruptly.
The truly memorable part of today came later in the evening. Alex, who had told me of a certain weekly event at An Spailpin Fanach was returning for his second time, and I accompanied him. At 9:45pm they opened the upper level of the pub, and a crowd of us marched upstairs, drinks in hand, to the dim, stone-walled upper room. We all sat in chairs that had been pre-arranged in a large circle, and waited in anticipation. Finally, everyone had taken their seats, and it was time to began. A single male voice rose above the crowd in song, and the general murmur ceased at once. I sat, captivated by the voice, and many stared somberly or closed their eyes while enjoying the song. After he had finished, he introduced himself and the guest singer for that evening. The club had only one rule, that no instrument be used except for the human voice. The guest singer started the session with some folk melodies, which were quite beautiful. Then, the coordinator directed some other members of the circle to begin a song. Some were in Irish, some were comedic, others were tragic, but all were beautiful. Many of the attendees were older, but there were a handful of young people and a few middle aged people. During some of the songs, the entire room would erupt in song as the chorus was popular or familiar. As the night continued, we worked our way around the room, and almost everyone in attendance was able to sing.
The session ended around midnight, and I had my first taste of the real Cork.
It sounds like a step back in time, or into another world.
ReplyDelete"Washing up liquid" seems to cover all items, whereas "Dish soap" may give the impression that it's only for dishes. What about the pots, pans, flatware, glasses, etc. I'll have to pose this question to my friends in the UK.
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