Jim Carroll reported:

"We were in the Musical Traditions Club in central London a dozen years ago, where the guests were two superb Irish women singers, Roisin White and Therese Mullan.

"For those not familiar with her, Therese is a lovely Irish language singer from the Aran Islands, and that night she was thoughtful enough to give short explanations of her songs for the benefit of us non-Irish-speakers.

"Following the interval we could hear somebody two rows behind us speaking quite loudly while she was making her introductions, and after a while it became obvious that this was deliberate."

I was gob smacked to hear this. I first heard such lovely singing at the Willie Clancy Summer School - to which I went back year after year because everyone was so talented, friendly and accommodating. Invariably I heard real singing from the heart; and no-one drunkenly interrupted anyone. The disruptive individual - likely drunk - mentioned by Jim Carroll - frequently worked / works with one of the premier folk dance bands in the country, a member of which has just earned his doctorate for researching Irish singing, music and dance. Strange bedfellows indeed. Yet the crass individual at the Folk Club reportedly did his best to disrupt two talented women singers from Ireland because he did not like their singing. Narrow-minded idiot.