Glimpses of happiness should be nurtured and not knocked

Country Living with Francis Farragher

There are times that we might bemoan slightly the fact that our place of employment is in the city centre, given the traffic woes that Galway has experienced over the past decade or two, but there’s a sense of invigoration too about being able to just walk onto streets bursting with life and all shapes of humanity.

With our Summer season now getting into full swing, there’s hardly five paces to be traversed across any part of our main shopping thoroughfare, without some singer, musician or street artist peddling their wares. Sometimes they’re very good, sometimes they’re middling, and sometimes pretty awful, but the overall legacy is one of vibrancy and artistic spirit.

Many’s the grey day has been given a little shot of colour by a good singer or balladeer belting out some old favourites but over recent Summers the sight of a Sean-Nós dancer, tripping the light fantastic on the corner of Lynch’s Castle or opposite Tí Coili’s, has gladdened many’s the heart.

Like any traditional dancer she needed her accompanying music but it was never too loud or intrusive, just audible enough, for the immediate audience to hear as she her hour or two on the street, with American audiences particularly captivated.

It was only over the last couple of weeks that someone told me that this dancer’s name was Emma O’Sullivan and I thought to myself what a wonderful treat of Irish culture to have on our streets when the whole world and his mother seems to descend on Galway for the Summer season.

The week before last when I was asked to do a story about the possibility of such street acts being banned in the city during the day, I could scarcely believe my ears. Surely, our so-called city fathers in their wisdom, might just decide to leave well enough alone, and not tamper with a culture and city trademark that has made it famous all over the worlds.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.