Another piece of our collective musical knowledge
Every day, I assume, we lose a musician to death. I don’t need a list. I don’t need one of those “we remember” sequences on an award show. We just do.
However, today I learned that the world lost one of the better ones. A voice in the genre known as “trad”, where people keep the music of the ages alive. Back, many years ago, I had the chance to attend a live concert, near here, when the Chieftains were storm-stayed accidentally. Not sure of the details, but it was a win for my side, because I received a last minute invitation to go to our largest concert hall and just be there, enthralled.
No pop tunes. Trad. Music that has survived the filter of generations. And actually, I did see the group again. A couple of times. Still great, even with the onset of age. Paddy Moloney is gone. And we don’t have someone waiting in the wings to replace him. The memory of a culture. May he carry on, in a session, somewhere “over there”. Here, I’ll just reflect on how everything goes silent, eventually.
My dog is slowly growing deafer and blinder. Still, he barks before the car gets here. Either he is receiving scheduling updates, or he has a well defined sense of “that car belongs here”. Long before I sight the headlights, or hear the trusty growl of a small motor. Kind of cool.
And this will be a strange week, going forward. I have a public meeting (tomorrow evening), and she who travels will be off to hike in the westlands after that.
