Na Píobairí Uilleann

Chairman, NPU

An Píobaire

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9 1 27 20130207 27 of the cathedral, one of the most important places of pilgrimage in the Christian world. Suddenly, in the still air of that lovely balmy evening I could hear the sound of the pipes, but this time they were the Galician pipes, gaitas, playing a sweet melody of Galician traditional music. As we ap- proached the cathedral the music got louder and louder and there in that well known alley-way alongside the cathedral were two gaita players performing a lovely melody that, in a way, wel- comed us into another world where the music of the region was alive and well and just as natural as a session anywhere back home. We later re- alised that music is played daily at this same lo- cation, on various instruments, mostly by players of a high standard, but the sound of the pipes that evening as we made our first visit to that beauti- ful city just gave me that wonderful feeling that here also were like-minded people who loved their music and were willing to share it with the rest of the world for little or no reward. We en- joyed a fine dinner at a very reasonable price and later in the evening heard plenty of other music out around the streets. Wonderful atmosphere, wonderful people, simple and natural fun and en- tertainment for both themselves and the tourists in that beautiful old town. Another such moment of magic I remember from a holiday in Brittany when my children were young. We were camping in Carnac and saw a notice for a ‘fest-noz’ on the Sunday night, so we headed off as it was getting dark and found the venue somewhere out in the country, on an old-world farm where in a floodlit field a band of musicians were playing bombarde, biniou, ac- cordion, fiddle and guitar on a makeshift stage while over a hundred dancers snaked their way around in a big circle, performing traditional Breton dances. As we stood on one side looking on, two middle-aged women approached us and, without a word, grabbed a hold of my 11-year- old daughter and her friend and led them out into the dance. No amount of persuading from their parents would have got them out to dance, but now that they were ‘included’ by the French women there was no stopping them and we hardly saw them for the next two hours. Eventu- ally the rest of us plucked up enough courage and gave it a try but it’s not as easy as it looks, and after 5 minutes the sweat is rolling off you. What made the moment so special was the way that us ‘tourists’ were so welcome, and expected to take part in the fun, even though we mightn’t have been too good at the dancing. Wonderful to see so many local people, from young to old, en- joying themselves in a totally natural traditional setting, much the same as they might have done a hundred years ago. I could go on and on, but that’s enough for now. Just to finish, referring back to Santiago, on the Sunday morning we went to the pilgrim’s mass in the cathedral, and, luckily, we got in early to the massive church that was already packed a quarter of an hour before the mass was due to start. The most remarkable thing was the way that the whole world was represented there that morning. Apart from the local people and hun- dreds of other Europeans, I recognised accents from England, Scotland, America, and Australia. There were people from the middle east, India, the far east, Africans of all descriptions, and peo- ple from Mexico and South America. Irrespec- tive of one’s religious persuasion, you couldn’t fail to be moved by the wonderful feeling of faith, love and peace that prevailed there that morning. Many of those attending had just com- pleted their ‘Camino’ walk and were still in their boots and hiking gear, most of them fairly young, well tanned, healthy and happy to have achieved their goal. The mass itself was in Spanish, but the different readings and various other prayers included French, Italian, Portuguese and some Eastern European languages. The music and singing was fairly ordinary from what I remem- ber, but the high point came when four young German priests got up to sing a lively Respon- sorial Psalm in four part harmony. Absolutely fantastic they were, the closest thing I’ve ever heard to a barbershop quartet in a church, magic, pure magic.

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2013-02-06T00:00:00

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