We're a nation of singers & storytellers here, and the capital's streets are no stranger to a good singsong with many the street-musician busking for passers-by and our general public are not adverse to belting out a few versus either - usually though, it's out-of-key, out-of-tune, gargle-fulled choruses of The Fields of Athenry or Maniac 2000 at 4AM outside eateries, so it was a nice surprise during our free tour of Dublin last Sunday afternoon to witness what seems to be a random lunchtime rendition of a traditional Irish ditty by two fellas who don't even seem know each other. I think it's fair to say, only in Dublin...
The two lads belt out a couple of versus of Óró Sé do bheatha 'bhaile, complete with a couple of bounces the likes of which you've seen your uncle do during the DJ set of a wedding-afters, before receiving applause from their audience and going their separate ways.
It's unclear as to what the happenings that lead-up to the apparently spontaneous duet were, but while our Dan - one of Ireland's finest tour guides, was informing the curious travellers on our free tour of Dublin all about 'Church and State' he was soon usurped by the attention-stealing rousing rendition of the ancient Irish language song and whipped out his phone to capture the moment.
One or two of the onlookers do look decidedly unimpressed but this is likely down to not having the foggiest what the two would-be tenors are singing about, which is fair enough. For the record, dear Dublin-bound friends, it's an old song about foreigners stealing land and a desire to take it back...but you'll learn lots about all that jazz and more on the free tour, and who knows, maybe you'll be treated to some impromptu performances that could only really happen here in Dublin!
