News

Times Set for Open Sessions

July 11, 2006

Attention all musicians and would-be musicians: The times have been set for the open sessions offered for the first time at the 2006 Great American Irish Festival. The sessions, where musicians of all skill levels are invited to join and play traditional jigs and reels of Ireland, will be held at 12:30 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 29 in the Smurfit-Stone Irish Cultural Building. Festival goers are invited to bring whatever instruments they play and join in with members from the well-established Syracuse Session. Songs likely to be played may include reels like Maid Behind the Bar, Cooley's Reel, St. Anne's Reel, Drowsy Maggie, and Merry Blacksmith, hornpipes such as The Boys of Blue Hill, The Harvest Home, and The Rights of Man, and jigs like Blarney Pilgrim, Connaught Man's Rambles, Kesh Jig, and Lark in the Morning. The sessions will be geared to beginners as well as advanced musicians