Local musicians put on a session in new pilot online show

With no gigs for close to ten months, a local group of musicians has come together to create all the craic of a session online.

Entitled 'Siamsaícht Session', it debuts this Saturday (January 23) at 9pm on YouTube and Athlone Family Resource Centre and Athlone Community Radio's social channels, and it promises music, storytelling, song, dance and general merrymaking at a dark time of the year.

Among those to showcase their talents on Saturday's show include singer/songwriter Fia Rua, fiddle player extraordinaire Neil Fitzgibbon, Áine O'Brien, Kara Richards and Joe Duke, dBize with Fionn O'Dalaigh and local storyteller Patsy Preston

The seeds of the idea were first sown back in the summer when due to restrictions, The Ballygar Carnival, reportedly the oldest carnival in Ireland was forced to go online. The carnival committee got together, via Zoom and decided to ask long-time carnival favorites dBize if they could make them a video.

Tang's Neil Fitzgibbon, a fiddle player with dBize isn't a man to waste an opportunity to make a song and dance out of a situation and he promptly organised a three-day shoot, in ten locations with slots for 20 musicians to play, the amazing results of which can be seen on The Siamsaíocht Facebook page.

Then in early January, Athlone Family Resource Center asked musician Kara Richards, who had been branching into video production since the gigs dried up if she could get a video show together for January 23, she knew exactly who to get in touch with and how this could be achieved.

The team jumped to it and with the kind participation of organic grocer Lowe & Co, located at 8 O'Connell Street, Athlone who let them use their upstairs rooms to film, and The Lakeside Marina, who gave permission to film in their empty bar, the project was up and running. Filming took place over three days to allow space for social distancing and strict adherence to Covid-19 regulations.

You can see the results on the following YouTube link from 9m on Saturday (January 23) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGA_WoOF_Z4&feature=youtu.be

The soundtrack will also be aired on Athlone community radio at midday with the full video on Athlone Community Radio's Facebook and YouTube channels on Saturday night.

Alternatively, check it out on Athlone Family Resource Centre's Facebook page or YouTube channel or on the Siamsaíocht Facebook page.