Around Ireland with a Bodhrán
Aaron Svoboda from the Wild Clover Band has made available his journal of the Trip to Ireland he and his wife went on last year.
I first became aware of the Wild Clover Band last year when as the webmaster for the Kansas City Irish Fest I noticed they were providing more web traffic than most sites including some headlining acts. A quick click showed it was part of an orchestrated campaign, and later in the year the Nebraska-based band were playing the festival and making friends in Kansas City.
Still pushing the Irish envelope in web-marketing, the Wild Clover Band are one of the first traditional Irish music-playing bands in the region to start a blog. Whilst the most recent entry highlights a promotional video, I’m still playing catch-up and have just finished reading Aaron’s journal of his Irish trip.
The Irish journal is a pdf file, though it’s not very large, and it’s an easy read of the ten-day Irish vacation. It should especially be enlightening for anyone planning to holiday in Ireland who intends to take in a lot of traditional Irish music - there will be times when you need to look around.
And you will see people drink other than Guinness. Even before the invasion of the American and Australian lagers, about twenty-five years ago (it was a warm year), stout only accounted for 55% of beer consumed in Ireland, and Guinness had to share that portion of the market with Murphy’s and Beamish.
As history music and english teachers Aaron and his wife enjoyed Blarney, Beara, Kenmare, Dingle, Doolin, Roundstone, Sligo, and Dublin, among the spots they visited. I was tickled by the one book Aaron chose from the Dublin Writer’s Museum being Finnegan’s Wake by Joyce. Reading War and Peace backwards while standing on the Dingle Dolphin would be easier, and make more sense. Say hello to Aaron when you enjoy his Irish trip
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
We are taking donations to send my wife and I back to Ireland! We loved it!
The most interesting thing comes as kind of an epilogue to our journey. I was talking to my brother, who lives in Washington, D.C., shortly after our trip as he was visiting us in Nebraska. I told him that I was thrilled with the landscape and scenary of Ireland and how disappointing is was to come back to the flatness of Nebraska. He brought me back to reality when he contradicted me and said how wonderful Nebraska is. “Do you think I see this much sky in Washington?” he asked. Then, at the KC Irish Fest, I was speaking with Teada who just played in Nebraska a few days prior. One of them said “I have never seen so much corn!” I said, “Funny. When I was in Ireland, I saw more sheep than I had seen in my lifetime.”
It’s all about perspective. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder.
FYI - I am a music teacher. I would be a history teacher if I wasn’t a music teacher.
Apologies - correction made and noted. Proverbial technical issues have me out of whack.
I’m not offended and no apologies are necessary! I just want that fact out there in case I mess up some historical fact. If people know I’m a music teacher, then they’ll say “It’s ok, he’s only a music teacher.” If I say something profound, then it’s “Wow! He’s only a music teacher!”
See how that works?
Aaron, you should teach music history. That would cover both.