Finn magill

Hello avid blogsters, Well, I am safely back in my dear ole muggy North Carolina. I hope you have all enjoyed keeping up with my traveling adventures. The tail end of the trip was a series of buses, hitched lifts, characters, and tea. Let me fill you in on some last tidbits, stories, and maybe pseudo deep thoughts with Jack ANDY (saturday night live anyone?). Since I did get to do a lot of reflection on this trip (happens when you are alone on a bus), I feel myself inevitably going into some final reflection here. But first the stories: So I finally made a trip up to Northern Ireland where there was this legend of a fiddler that I had secured an interview with for my project. The rain was brutal and only made things ... read more

Hello avid blog enthusiasts If you are reading this installment I am impressed, because that means that you have not gotten bored yet with my tales. I want you all to be here and experience it for yourself but since all 110 of us can't be here together, then the best I can do is try and capture one american kid's experience of it so that you may get an inkling to hop on the next aer lingus flight and see this place for youselves. It really is a fantastic country in many ways. Last night I was up until 2 in the morning playing tunes, trading stories, swapping jokes and enjoying a bit of "craic" (yea it means "fun," it's an Irish word that gets a lot of good use confusing tourists about people's relationships ... read more

Olá, Eu acabei de chegar de Galway, a melhor cidade da Irlanda. Galway é com certeza uma cidade maravilhosa. Tudo acontece no "Merchant Street," uma rua calçada de paralelepípedos, com gente do mundo inteiro. Tem muitos músicos de rua, que tocam nas calçadas para ganhar dinheiro. Eu vi um canadense corajoso, deitado em uma cama de pregos enquanto uma mulher ficava em pé no peito dele. Vi também um rapaz fazendo mágicas com vazos, frascos, dinheiro, cigarros, e coisas assim. Claro, existem muitos músicos, tocando música da Espanha, Irlanda, Estados Unidos, França, e qualquer lugar que se possa imaginar. Eu tirei meu violino da capa e toquei por, mais ou menos, 5 horas. Ganhei 50 euros. Nada mal, né? Havia muita gente, porque as corridas de Galway (Galway Races) estão acontecendo nesse momento. Gente do mundo ... read more

Salutations everyone, I am in Galway, home of the "Galway Races" (horse-racing). I love Galway and Galway loves me. So much in fact that I managed to make 25 Euro in 45 minutes busking on Merchant street, or the Bourbon street of Ireland.. Some of you have been here but for those that haven't (that being most of you), I will do my best to capture it in a few sentences. You're more likely to hear French, German, or Spanish in downtown Galway than you will English. There are literally tourists everywhere, and many of those foriegn accents belong to former tourists who decided they liked the place so much that they would just stay. In the past 24 hours on this strip of pubs and shops I've seen fire-dancers, emo-rockers, this British jester-type who tricks ... read more

The subject heading says it all. I embarked on a Donegalese adventure on monday morning after a great weekend in Sligo. Sunday was kind of an archaelogical tour of County Sligo as I traveled around and saw all the touristy sites that is on every Irish tour company itinerary. We saw a waterfall, the tomb of W.B. Yeats, the tomb of Turlough O'Carolan the legendary 18th century blind harpist from County Meath. The coolest thing we saw was this site filled with 5000 year old (now this is pre-Celtic) stone rings which is believed to be ancient burial sites. The massive stones comprising these things aren't even from around there which means someone shlepped them from 4 miles away before the age of 18-wheelers. So that was Sligo. County Donegal rocks (no pun intended.....sorry to the ... read more

Oi Amigos, Desculpe a demora pela tradução. Só estou aqui na Irlanda à uma semana, e já conheci muitos dos pessoas que estão números interessados. Eu fui numa escola onde oferecem aulas de música tradicional irlandesa, mas a escola é só um pseudônimo para uma festa gigantesca onde todos os músicos populares daqui tocam nos bares até eles fecharem. Eu fui lá 4 vezes e toquei, toquei, toquei... Foi super divertido, e a melhor parte disso tudo é a minha pesquisa. Sim, de novo estou fazendo um projeto sobre a única coisa que eu adoro (além da minha família e de Salvador, é claro): a música! O método desta pesquisa está sendo muito fácil. Basicamente: ouvir, tocar a música e falar com os músicos. Este trabalho está me preparando para a escola depois que minhas aulas ... read more

So since I can't go to Celtic week in Swannanoa this year I took it upon myself to create my own celtic week and as luck would have it, one of the most popular music camp/schools in the same vein as our dear old Swannanoa Gathering is happening in Tubbercurry, Sligo all this week. I speak of none other than the South Sligo Summer School (or the Thouth Thligo Thummer Thcool, if you speak Daffy Duck). Tubbercurry is a charming little town that is ecstatic that all the musicians have flocked to its pubs and restaruants for a week. This music camp has a cult following. There is a team of South Carolinians who make the trek every year, a Cape Breton-"er"?, a few Japanese, plenty of English, Scottish, and Northern Irish. I took a fiddle ... read more

Greetings all and failte (Welcome)! You are reading the first installment of my adventures....Version Ireland 3.0. More than anything I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm safe and sound in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim. I got in sunday unprecedentedly on-time at Shannon airport. After my friend picked me up, we sped off to see the aftermath of Willie Week....for those of yous unfamiliar: Willie Clancy was a piping phenom and every year the pipers, musicians, and hawkers come in droves to cause musical mayhem in this little Clare town. By the time we arrived, everyone in the street had a sunken look, as if the festival had just sucked 5 years out of their lives. We had our greasy Irish breakfast and made our merry way on. Last night some musician friends and I went to ... read more