Celebrating 40 years of music in Feakle

AN East Clare bar is marking 40 years of unbroken traditional music sessions next week.
Shortt’s Bar in Feakle has been hosting the popular session every Thursday at 10pm since 1970.

The former proprietor of the bar, Lena Hanrahan, had music in the establishment since she ran the pub in the 1950s but the Thursday night session started in the 1960s, with a couple of breaks during quiet times of the year. It started again in the autumn of 1970 and no Thursday night has been missed since.
“We are not 100% sure on what particular date the very first session was held but we know it was in the autumn of 1970. The main player at the Thursday night session for over 20 years has been Seamus Bugler and for many years it was him and flute player, Paddy O’Donoghue who led the session. As far as I’m aware, Paddy would have been playing the session since it first started. There can be anything from five to 25 musicians on any given Thursday night’s session and often more, particularly during the peak season and during traditional music festivals. The sessions are recognised by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann,” Ger Shortt, the current owner of the bar explained.
He said research has been carried out and there isn’t another bar in Clare, Ireland, or indeed anywhere in the world that has been running a session on the same night for this length of time.
“The nearest would seem to be under 25. The Guinness Book of World Records has expressed an interest in the 40 years of sessions. With a session every Thursday night for 52 weeks of the year for 40 years that’s 2,080 sessions, which is some amount of music. Lena initiated sessions in the bar and they grew from that.
“There has always been music in the bar but this particular Thursday night session has been going for 40 unbroken years. All of the best local musicians have played and still play here at the Thursday night session,” Ger added.
He said that the session continues to draw in a good crowd every Thursday.
“Even on a quiet night, there would be 20 to 30 and on a busy night, it would be impossible to count how many come to the session. I thought about changing the time of the session at one stage but the tradition has been for it to start at 10pm, so I’ve kept with that. It gives people time to get home after work, get a bite to eat and come out to the session.”
He said that the session is in the old traditional style, where the musicians sit around in a big circle and other musicians are invited and actively encouraged to join in.
“The more experienced musicians who play the Thursday night session are brilliant for encouraging musicians to join in and deliberately play tunes that they know other less experienced musicians can play. At every Thursday session, there is always a singing and dancing slot too. The session has maintained the same format for 40 years and won’t change. People literally just arrive every Thursday night knowing that the session will be on,” Ger explained.
To mark 40 years of the Thursday night session, Shortt’s is hosting four nights of traditional music sessions from Thursday, October 7 to Sunday, October 10.
The Thursday night session will be the regular session, which will be led by Seamus Bugler, accordion player, with a group of other musicians from the local area, Ennis, Shannon and Tipperary and anyone else who arrives to play.
On Friday night, the session will be led by Ged Foley, guitarist, joined by Paul Smyth on flute and Lena Ullman, who plays the five-string banjo. Accordion player, Andrew McNamara will be joined by Michael Lauders on guitar for the Saturday night session. The final night’s session of celebration will be on Sunday, October 10, with Seamus Bugler and Paul Mullins from Shannon on fiddle.
Ger is hoping that flute player Paddy O’Donoghue, who was synonymous with the Thursday night session for many years, will make the celebrations next week.
“He was playing sessions here back 40 years and very regularly over the years and it would be lovely to see him back. Hopefully, he will make it,” he added.