GUEST,Jack Campin: No one is asking you to listen or join in Shaneo's session. I play with similar sets, for two reasons: the musicians are happy playing them and the punters are happy listening or joining in. Usually singers from the floor contribute their own favourites, or the musicians might decide to go off in a different direction, and sing only Dublin songs, or only love songs or rebel songs or whatever. Every week in our sessions different musicians drop by and join in--last week Mary Black was one.   With the right combination and atmosphere you can have great crack with simple songs--the singalongs are best. And most musicians in a Dublin session can call on a wide range of material when needed (as an aside, our little group can sing in Irish, Spanish, Italian, Napulitano, German and Yiddish, and play corresponding tunes). But we fill the pubs we play in every week with the songs people know.

The folk tradition is kept alive, the musicians have a chance to meet up and play and improve their skills (and get paid or free drink), the punter has a good time and only has to pay for his drink--what's wrong with that?   

Sam Henry collected his songs eighty years ago in rural areas in the North East corner of the country, so there won't be many Dubliners familiar with this material, but there are also sessions that concentrate on traditional Irish and Irish-language material, and of course there are gigs, which you have to pay into, with the likes of Patrick Street, Altan, Dervish, etc.

Slainte, Gulliver