Our first night in Limerick we ventured out to find the University Concert Hall (UHC) for a concert of Blas festival staff. In the UHC we found these beautiful venetian glass tile mosaics depicting the tale of 'Buile Subhaine' from medieval Irish literature.
This story describes an Irish king from Ulster who was driven mad from a curse from St. Ronan.
The king wandered restlessly until death.
Somewhat tragic. But intriguing and interesting at the same time. Like most of Irish history, one could argue.
We enjoyed a phenomenal concert of Blas tutors, including the one and only Martin Hayes on fiddle and Colin Dunn, the gravity-defying dancer:
At the end, all the Blas tutors got on stage together for a final set - Tarbolten:
We had a grand time living on this gorgeous and modern campus. There isn't one building with straight contours!
We especially like the funky pedestrian bridge over the river Shannon:
The odd bike storage facility at our dorm building had us dodging sheets all week! Apparently the cleaning staff pile the sheets there and weekly the laundry wagon picks them up.
But judging by the massive volume of unwashed sheets, the laundry wagon hasn't been around in a good long while!
One of several rowdy sessions at the 'Scholar's Club' on UL campus:
Mid-week, we attended an excellent concert of Irish ballads entitled "Songs of Rebellion" at the medieval St. Mary's Cathedral in Limerick.
This cathedral, founded in 1168 AD, is gorgeous and has amazing acoustics!
The cathedral was built on the site of a previous palace, which was built on the site of a previous Viking settlement. Limerick had been the most westerly stronghold of the Vikings in Europe. Again, note the layers of history!
As part of the festival we took Irish Gaelic class - this is Máire Ni Ghráda on the right, a uilleann piper/Gaelic language expert who taught our course, and Eliazbeth on the left, one of the top pupils and concert pianist.
Believe it or not, this is actually a map of rhythms...
Steve Cooney, one of Melinda's guitar tutors for the week, developed a brilliant system for notating and teaching rhythm. He developed the system for teaching rhythm to young children, but found that it works very well for adults. Steve is a tremendous guitar players as well as an inspiring and talented teacher.
Here is Steve with his son, who plays bagpipes and banjo.
There were outstanding musicians at Blas throughout the week and there were lunch time concerts daily with pipers, pianists, fiddlers, concertina players, guitarists, flautists, and ...
... outstanding drummers!!
Blas is held at Limerick University in part due to the University's Irish cultural studies programs, and we were treated to a dance performance by two of the dance majors at UL:
Loads of Blas attendees are there to study traditional Irish dance, including a fun bunch of folks all the way from Argentina, Korea and México!
Here are the members of the class who participated in the final ensemble concert.
On the river front ...
boB helping the bronze Dock Workers to move a large bronze plank. Go, boB!
And a memorial to the 1916 Rising on the O'Connell bridge:
We also visited the Frank McCourt museum. Frank McCourt wrote the novel 'Angela's Ashes', (we had watched the movie in Galway) and the museum is housed the very school building that he attended as a child.
At the Frank McCourt museum, we traveled back in time and stepped into the Limerick of 1930's, and received a history lesson in Frank's own classroom from Mick.
A bit younger than Frank, Mick had lived in the same area of Limerick as Frank when growing up. Mick knows Frank's living siblings, and stays in touch with his classmates from the time. A brilliant story teller and tour guide, and we appreciated the private tour we had from Mick, and the opportunity to learn about Limerick's past.
Later we enjoyed some traditional Irish music at the Locke, which claims to be Limerick's oldest traditional Irish pub:
These two lasses, who had just graduated nursing school, kindly shared their table with us since the place was fairly full of folks waiting to hear the music. We talked nursing and had some good craic.
Before heading to the train station we toured Limerick a wee, and found King James' castle.
Next to the castle we found a statue of Michael Hogan, a famous Bard and poet from Limerick country.
He wrote poems and satires that were quite influential in Ireland during the late 1800's. He obviously has a sense of humour!
On a building next to the castle we found this mural:
It's a bit creepy, but very neatly done and with lots of detail.
And, of course:
This time they promise fame and glory in the media!!
Then it was back to the train station...
...and on to Miltown Malbay for the Willie Clancy festival!!
Ah! A friend went to Willie week! I need to check if you are on any of her pictures! Are you going to Tubbercurry? (I think thats now? Or over already?) and Drumshanbo?
ReplyDelete