Celtic music in East Providence

Monday evening, we went out to the East Providence library to hear a trio of folk musicians perform (mostly) Celtic music. The instruments included guitar, 5-string banjo, fiddle, harp and bodhran. The performers played both tunes and songs, balancing all the instruments well. The harp was a special highlight; my only beef was that as a Celtic band with a harp, they didn’t play anything by Turlough O’Carolan.

In addition to Irish and Scottish melodies, they referenced music from Appalachia and Cape Breton. All three musicians have some Irish background, and the music was interspersed with stories. While the guitar player was re-tuning, the harpist told a couple jokes. This is the one I remember:

Joe picks up the morning paper and finds his obituary in it. Shocked, he calls his friend Mick on the phone.

“Mick, my obituary is in the paper this morning!”

Mick says: “Yeah, I saw that. Where are you calling from? 


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