A hilly lane curves spherical Bunratty Citadel. By an open window, I hear a harpist plucking notes at a banquet drifting because the solar units low over the battlements. On the opposite aspect of the lane, smoke drifts from Durty Nelly’s pub, the place a singer is midway by The Parting Glass. A brief stroll away, the limestone facade of the Creamery hints at its previous lives – as a stagecoach cease, a dairy, a roadside inn. Tonight, it’s a pub.
Inside, Bríd O’Gorman performs the fluttering melody of The Cliffs of Moher on her flute, accompanied by Michael Landers on guitar – a quiet second earlier than the small crowd erupt into applause as Cian Lally pulls our pints. Simply 10 minutes from Shannon airport, Bunratty village sits within the south-eastern nook of Eire’s most musical county. Alongside the bar, guests from the US and France lean in, quietly captivated – possible having their first expertise of an Irish music session.
It’s no coincidence that County Clare is the centre of Eire’s well-known music scene. Clare is as shut as any county involves being an island. Hemmed in by the Atlantic on one aspect and the Shannon – the nation’s longest and widest river – on the opposite, it was, for hundreds of years, a spot nearly adrift from the mainland. Till the 18th century, when bridges lastly tethered it absolutely to the remainder of the nation, Clare was reached largely by boat or by traversing the Burren’s stony, unyielding panorama.
That isolation additionally formed Clare’s tradition. Past the attain of the capital, this nook of the west grew to become a stronghold for language, music and custom that flourished within the twilight by itself phrases. You possibly can really feel that independence in villages alongside the coast, the place the land abruptly falls into the ocean on the Cliffs of Moher – or farther south, the place Loop Head Peninsula stretches defiantly into the Atlantic, a windswept outpost that seems like the tip of the world.
But even inside Clare, there are actually two tales, as distinct because the landscapes from which they emerge. Draw a line from Bunratty, by the county city of Ennis, all the way in which to the northern tip of the county, and also you’ll see the divide. Locals communicate not simply of Clare, however of east Clare and west Clare – every with its personal rhythm, character and musical soul.
I catch Bríd as she packs away her flute, and the viewers flip again to their conversations and pints. She is aware of this music intimately. A local of east Clare, she is a agency believer that the soul of Irish conventional music doesn’t simply echo by the well-trodden pubs of Gus O’Connor’s or McGann’s in west Clare’s Doolin; it pulses quietly and powerfully by the hills, lakes, and tucked-away venues of the east.
“East Clare music has a personality all of its personal,” she tells me. “It’s recognized for being sluggish, expressive, understated – soulful, even. You hear it, and you’ll nearly really feel the panorama it comes from. The gentleness of the hills, the stillness of the lakes of east Clare – it’s a stark distinction to the jagged landscapes of north and west Clare.”
The east Clare panorama might have a smooth lilt, however its voice carries huge weight. The monastic ruins on Holy Island (Inis Cealtra) – a spherical tower and church buildings – lie simply off Mountshannon on Lough Derg, typically shrouded in mist. It’s the ultimate resting place of the good author Edna O’Brien, a spot the place the sound of the breeze is carried by limestone partitions with the identical quiet dignity echoed in her prose. There’s one thing about this a part of Clare that holds on to the lyrical, whether or not it’s in phrases or music. The land is lush and rolling, threaded with slender roads and shiny streams providing their very own smooth melody. At Quin Abbey, swallows name as they dart by the roofless cloisters, whereas within the fairly marina city of Killaloe, the cathedral bells mingle with the cry of gulls above the good lake. Just like the land, the music isn’t loud or dramatic, however quiet, assured, ready so that you can tune in.
“Individuals typically look north-west once they consider music in Clare – Doolin, Ennistymon, Miltown Malbay,” says Bríd. “However east Clare is simply as alive. You simply must know the place to look.”
One such place is Feakle, a single-street hillside village misplaced in east Clare’s sensible inexperienced panorama. It was as soon as residence to the well-known herbalist and sensible girl Biddy Early. Nonetheless, it’s a Nineteenth-century singer, Johnny Patterson, who’s commemorated with a plaque within the village sq.. At a fork within the street on the village method stands Pepper’s Bar, a particular yellow-and-green vernacular constructing that has served the neighborhood since 1810. Its compact major room encompasses a homely hearth, dance-worn flagstone flooring and low-hanging beams.
On a Wednesday night, the house fills with the heart beat of jigs and reels carried out on fiddle, bodhrán, tin whistle or accordion. The music is usually frenzied, hypnotic, even mesmerising: advanced preparations typically delivered by a few of the nation’s best gamers, together with Martin Hayes, Liam O’Flynn, Matt Molloy, Sharon Shannon and Kevin Crawford. It’s in these east Clare villages, comparable to Feakle, Tulla or Scarriff, that you just may realise you’re the one one within the room who doesn’t play, sing or dance.
On Thursday nights, Ger Shortt of Shortt’s Bar within the coronary heart of Feakle picks up the guitar, joined by a full musical accompaniment. In the meantime, it appears as if anybody not taking part in is probably going participating within the Siege of Ennis, a céilí dance carried out with spirited vitality.
Farther afield, Irish-language classes are held at Gallagher’s in Kilkishen, whereas occasional music nights at Gleeson’s in Sixmilebridge additionally contribute to the wealthy musical tapestry of east Clare. Even the Honk Bar – hidden away on a bramble-filled lane close to Shannon airport, not removed from the place Johnny Fean, one of many founding members of Celtic rock band Horslips, grew up – is understood to host the occasional session. However ultimately, all musical roads result in Ennis.
“It’s the heartbeat of Clare’s music scene,” Bríd says. “There’s a session most nights at Ciarán’s, Knox’s, Cruises, the Diamond, the Poet’s Nook within the Previous Floor, Nora Culligans. And don’t neglect PJ Kelly’s – it’s an excellent spot too.”
Not each tune is performed in a pub. “One in all my favorite locations to play is Glór in Ennis,” Bríd provides. “We run an open session there as soon as a month – myself and Eoin O’Neill on bouzouki. It’s within the lobby, free to all, and open to musicians of all ages and stage. It’s spacious, welcoming and it’s been working for years. Individuals find it irresistible.”
Ennis’s music scene is among the many richest in Eire, due to its deep pool of native expertise, vigorous pub tradition and a spirit that blurs the road between performer and viewers. Mike Dennehy, proprietor of the red-and-black-fronted Knox’s Pub on winding Abbey Road, says: “Knox’s has a wealth of musicians of assorted types from throughout Clare taking part in each day. We’re recognized not only for the standard, however for our open classes, with as much as 20 musicians directly.”
The roll name of regulars reads like a Who’s Who of conventional music. Ennis is residence to globally in-demand gamers comparable to uilleann piper Blackie O’Connell, accordionist Murty Ryan and banjoist Kieran Hehir. One of many scene’s crown jewels is Piping Heaven, Piping Hell, a weekly uilleann piping session hosted by Blackie O’Connell. “It began as a day session,” says Mike, “and has develop into a weekly gathering of pipers from everywhere in the world.” Held in Ciarán’s and Lucas’s pubs, it encompasses a visitor piper becoming a member of the regulars for a day of music, laughter and storytelling.
Ennis additionally performs a key position on the competition circuit, internet hosting Fleadh Nua in Could and the Ennis Trad Fest in November – occasions which have drawn legends comparable to Transferring Hearts, Sharon Shannon, Andy Irvine and Lankum, and cemented the city’s standing as a musical capital.
The west Clare scene is extra relaxed, extra instant, the music mixing with the dialog, and one tune flows simply into the following. Occasions such because the Russell competition in Doolin kick off the 12 months in February, and by July, the Willie Clancy summer season college transforms peaceable Miltown Malbay right into a bustling, welcoming village of sound. It’s the place my very own daughter, Síofradh, honed her harp expertise in a chaotic makeshift class.
That’s the factor about Clare. Whether or not it’s a mild melody in Bunratty, a fireplace session in east Clare or the vigorous pull of Doolin, the music – and the welcome – are all the time there.
Bunratty Manor has doubles from €119 and singles from €109, room-only. Clare Eco Lodge in Feakle has doubles from €90 and singles from €50, room-only
