The Willie Clancy Summer School, or Willie Week as the locals call it, runs every year from the first Saturday in July until the following Sunday week, i.e. 9 days in total. The festival is Ireland's largest traditional music summer school, held annually since 1973 in memory of the piper Willie Clancy. During the week, nearly a thousand students from every part of the world attend daily classes taught by experts in Irish music and dance. In addition, a full program of lectures, recitals, dances (céilithe) and exhibitions are run by the summer school.

The pubs of Milltown and surrounding villages in County Clare also host continuous impromptu sessions as top musicians from around the country show off their talents to the assembled crowds. Every year trad musicians clear their calendar for the first two weeks of July. This is their chance to catch up with friends, learn tunes and exchange tips and tricks. Because the festival continually attracts the very best musicians, the quality of the sessions, all of which are free, is unmatched by any other festival in Ireland. Many of the pubs are very small so often there will be as many musicians in the pub as spectators. In most cases there is no stage, the musicians simply take over a corner of the pub and do their thing.

The array of instruments on display includes fiddles, accordions, guitars, banjos, flutes, uilleann pipes, tin whistles and bodhrans. And every now and then someone from the crowd will launch into song to give the musicians a much deserved break. It is all very much like a jamming session, musicians take turns leading the group; if you know the tune you join in, if not you watch and learn and wait for one you do know. The thrill of watching and hearing a group of twelve or more musicians all come in together on a tune they know is hard to match.

But the real treat is the music itself. It will get your foot tapping, then stomping, it will seep in to your bones, take over you head and finally envelope your whole body in a warm glow. There is an undeniable uplifting, life affirming spirit to the music. Sure, there are sad, lilting songs about the famine and emigration, leaving one's family, country and love behind. But when the beat picks up and the fiddles and banjos and pipes and accordions dance in unison you know that this music can really only be about one thing: joy. The joy of life, the joy of living.

Every year I come away from the festival promising myself I will learn an instrument. This year was no exception. Maybe next year, I will not be just listening. Because if it feels that good to listen, I can only imagine what it must feel like for those musicians playing such magical music.

Willie Clancy official website: http://www.setdancingnews.net/wcss/wcsst.htm

This article appeared in this issue of our newsletter: issue 02
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