A french sight on Irish music

As we did last year for Italy, we have worked on Irish musicians before our trip to Ireland. We have chosen 2 bands, both famous for different reasons : the Corrs and the Dubliners. You can watch the result the following videos.
ATTENTION : for some technical issues, the slides converted in video change very quickly. You may have to pause if you want to read.

The Dubliners :

The Corrs :

The Valdorchestra in Ireland: the achievement of our project/part 2

Day 3 : March the 18th the last concert

It was with a mix of desire and pride (2 songs from U2 by the way) that we arrived at school for the last concert of the project. There was a little bit of sadness too ... But we had forgotten our stress at home ! We act like professionals now !

Once again it was a success ! Once again it was a pleasure to cheer people up with our music ! Once again we experienced the strength of a collective work !  Our satisfaction was reinforced by the presence of the Irish pupils : at last the European orchestra was complete.

But as soon as the applause were finished, we had to leave our friends. The farewell are always high in emotion but this time it was special because we knew that it meant the end of a tremendous adventure. Fortunately, the new technologies will help us to keep in touch with our foreign friends ...

In order to change our mind and escape from our sorrows, in the afternoon, we went to Athenry, a small medieval town (famous for its song, fields of Athenry, which is usually sing during rugby or fottball match). We visited an heritage centre which sent us directly in the Medieval times ! Archery, maze, We deepened our knowledge about Irish history and had a lot of fun at the same time.
 

After all these emotions, back in modern times, we had another terrific dinner with the Irish team on the seaside near Galway.

Day 4 : March the 19th Dublin

Time to leave Galway and the European far west. At last we saw the rain ! Luckily, we are in the bus ... Maybe the Irish weather is just a legend with a purpose to preserve this beautiful country and to keep it secret.

We arrived in Dublin around noon. We went straightly to a pub for a warm and comforting fish and chips ! 

 

Afterwards, we walked throughout the capital : we resisted to the call of Temple bar ; we tried to read the Book of kells at the Trinity College ; we bought mussels to Molly Malone ; we counted the ducks in the pounds of St Stephens green ; we shopped in Grafton street ; we even saw the birthplace of the Dubliners, the famous Irish band we had studied.

As a crowning for our trip, we had live music and dance show at the hotel restaurant. Irish songs, rythms and steps will stay forever in our minds.

The Valdorchestra in Ireland : the achievement of our project/part1

Day 1 : March 17th St Patrick's Day

After a brief journey on Sunday afternoon, we woke up excited at the dawn of the greenest day of the year ! We had to get ready for the parade. Our Irish friends gave us big leprechauns hats. Our second surprise was that the weather was on our side : cloudy, even windy, but no rain ! We were lucky... After a short rehearsal of the Irish tunes on the tin whistle, we joined the city centre to meet the pupils from the school at our section of the parade.

We joined the Irish pupils at the meeting point. 
They were wearing beautiful uniforms.

The parade was tremendous ! We spent the rest of the afternoon walking in the busy streets, enjoying outside live music or staring at the see.

 

We finished our day at the hotel with a delicious Irish dinner.

Day 2 : March 18th discovering the school and the city

On our second day, we went to the school San Phroisias. We had our first rehearsals for the concert and learnt more about our Irish friends and their scholarship.

 After lunch, we had a ride to the city centre where we had a guided tour of Galway. It was a very interesting trip across the past and the present of this ancient town with its narrow streets, its colourful buildings, its half-medieval mall, its old churches and its intense History from the Gaëls to James Joyce through the Saxon's occupation.Second day in Ireland and still no rain !
 

We ended this beautiful day with a shared meal at the Menlo Park with all the delegations.

IRELAND !

Galway 16 to 20 March, a week to remember!

We had a fantastic experience abroad.
We joined the French, we  met the Irish friends but one thing above the others we'll never forget: we were in Ireland, wearing the green, on St Patrick Day!
Not to say that we really played a great Music together...

telling on our trip to
Galway

Sabina for the Italian Team