Winter brings the need for warm spaces, hot food, strong drink, and general conviviality. Maine’s cold Sunday afternoons, in particular, seem to really crave this warmth. Brian Boru offered all of these things this past weekend during the Irish session. Every Sunday for nine years running, a pack of men, most sporting beards and flannels, trod on down to the Boru to entertain for the faithful and whomever else happens to be around. Like many things in Portland, I love the idea that this happens in my city. Getting out of the house to take them in is another issue altogether.
The music (and beer) was already flowing upon my arrival. Tucked in the corner downstairs were seven instrumentalists playing what looked, felt, and sounded like authentic Irish music to this decidedly un-Irish listener. The group is deftly led by uilleanns piper Tom Rota and Tom Wilsbach, who are regularly flanked by several fiddlers, a flutist, a guitarist and... a bouzouki player? The instruments wove a dense fabric, with Rota using the pipes to suggest a tune, and the rest showing their approval by falling in step within a beat or two.
After a beer or three, time seemed to melt a little. Not only did the clock lose its importance to me, but the wonderful sounds allowed me, if only for a moment, to imagine sitting at an Irish pub, decades or even centuries ago. When I snapped to, I discovered that the sun had set, and a few dozen more people had joined in the celebration. Two more had joined the group and the man with the bodhran (a fascinating Irish drum) was making surreal sounds I am still trying to understand.
This continued, impressively and without pause, for the duration of my visit. Even more impressive is that this goes on every week.
