GO mBEANNAÍ DIA daoibh, hello to the pitch perfect and the tone-deaf, you are all welcome to the Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.
Yayyy!!! Tá an ceol beo ar ais - live music is back - hopefully.
Ministers have agreed 21 June date for live music to resume – although we’ll have to wait until next week for that date to be confirmed.
The Bluffer is a big music fan. Is breá liom an ceol - I love music and is maith liom gach cineál ceoil - I like all kinds of music so like everyone else tá sé ar bís - he is excited that he will be able to go back to coirmeacha - concerts, gigeanna - gigs, ceadail - recitals seisiúin - sessions and everything else in between.
So, dear readers, what has been your favourite gig ever?
The Bluffer has always been a regular attendee at all kinds of musical events, from ceoldráma - opera (literally a music play so it can also include Annie Get Your Gun and The Sound of Music as well as La Bohème) to country, ceol clasaiceach - classical music, snagcheol - jazz and singers from Edith Piaf to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
The Bluffer remembers holidaying in Donegal with some of his peers and going straight to a gig by the Ramones in Queen’s University so he didn’t have time to change out of his culaith trí phíosa - a three-piece suit making him the only person ever to pogo to I Wanna be Sedated while looking like a Burton’s dummy!
But there are so many other magical musical moments.
As part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival a few years ago, the north of England duo The Unthanks played in St George’s Church with their band. What an evening!
Scaoileann an ceol na mothúcháin - music releases the emotions and the Bluffer admits bhí tocht air - he had a lump in his throat, listening to a song called The Testimony of Patience Kershaw, the story of a 17-year old English mine-worker in the 1840s.
Chuir coirmeacha eile gliondar orm - other concerts gladdened my heart.
Then there were the Glitter and Sparkle evenings, where the chaps dressed up in tuxes – the Bluffer channelling his inner Cary Grant – while the ladies, raided Oxfam for dresses from na daichidí - the forties as we sweated to big band tunes followed by Terri Hooley’s DJ set. Oh what a night!
Yes, the Bluffer has wide tastes in music which he can indulge thanks a lot of the likes of Moving on Music and An Droichead.
Rinne sé damhsa le Metá Metá - I saw Metá Metá in the Black Box from Brazil play a dirty brew of psychedelic samba, distorted jazz and Afro-punk; cheol sé i gcuideachta an tslua - he sang along with the crowd at Christy Moore gigs; he nodded his head at a midnight Gregory Porter gig on the beach at Donostia/San Sebastian; stamped his feet at numerous trad gigs and he even saw Van Morrison in a good mood at the Hebridean Celtic festival on the isle of Lewis.
The Bluffer’s musical memories are endless. Welcome back, live music. It’s been a long time.
CÚPLA FOCAL
tá an ceol beo ar ais(taa un kyawl byaw er aash) - live music is back
Is breá liom an ceol (iss braa lum un kyawl) - I love music
is maith liom gach cineál ceoil(iss myh lum gakh kinyal kyoil) - I like all kinds of music
tá sé ar bís(taa shay er beesh) - he is excited
coirmeacha(kirimakha) - concerts
gigeanna(gigana) - gigs
ceadail(kyadil) - recitals
seisiúin(sheshoon) - sessions
ceoldráma(kyawldraama) - opera
ceol clasaiceach(kyawl clasekakh) - classical music,
snagcheol(smagkyawl) - jazz
culaith trí phíosa(culee chree feesa) - a three-piece suit
Scaoileann an ceol na mothúcháin(skeelan an kyawl na mohookhaan) - music releases the emotions bhí tocht air(vee tokht er) - he had a lump in his throat
chuir coirmeacha eile gliondar orm(kher kirimakha ella glinder orim) - other concerts gladdened my heart
na daichidí(ne diyhidgee) - the forties
rinne sé damhsa le Metá Metá (rin shay daowsa le MM) - he danced to Metá Metá
cheol sé i gcuideachta an tslua (kyawl shay i gudgeakhta an tlooa) - he sang along with the crowd