Traditional Music Sessions in the Pubs

About

Ennis is a real, working traditional-music town, not a summer reconstruction, and the sessions in its pubs run the whole year round. This is the county town of Clare, the trad heartland, and home to Cois na hAbhna, the regional base of Comhaltas, so the music here has deep roots rather than a tourist gloss. Brogan's on O'Connell Street, Poet's Corner at the Old Ground Hotel and Nora Culligan's are among the reliable rooms for a session, and on a given night you might wander between a few of them. It is free to listen, you just buy a drink, and the etiquette is the same as anywhere: let the players play, do not talk over the slow airs, and settle in. In a town this size the music is part of ordinary life, which is the whole point.

Highlights

• ✓Sessions year-round rather than summer-only, in a working music town
• ✓Brogan's, Poet's Corner and Nora Culligan's among the reliable rooms
• ✓The county town of Clare, home to Cois na hAbhna and the Comhaltas regional base
• ✓Free to listen; wander between a few pubs across a night

Tips

• →Ask locally which pub has a session on; nights vary and are not on a fixed printed timetable.
• →Fleadh Nua in late May and Ennis Trad Fest in early November are the two big music weekends.
• →For the genuine article beyond the pubs, check what is on at Cois na hAbhna.

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