The annual Fleadh Nua kicks off in my beloved Co. Clare this Sunday for a week of fantastic music, song, dance & fun so I decided to go trad for the Tuesday Tune today. This is the awesomely talented Darra Mulhearn from Ennis and the video is via Comhaltas, who have embraced YouTube with a great selection of videos from fleadhs and festivals all over the country.

Growing up in any part of Clare means you’re never far away from the trad stuff, be it music, singing or dancing. My grandfather was a button accordion player until arthritis made it impossible. It didn’t however have the same effect on his set dancing & he kept that up until close to his passing 3 years ago. He’s probably turning in his grave at the thought of none of his grandchildren being able to dance a step of a set! It’s something I’ve always wanted to learn. Myself and my siblings have brought it up in conversation from time to time at home & we always put the blame on our parents for never teaching us but considering we’re all scattered across the country now we should be sorting this one out for ourselves.

So there’s my next little project – I’m going to learn how to dance a set  & hopefully I’ll get to dance one with my dad before the year is out  Now where will I find lessons in Dublin…?