Month: August 2017

SPRAOI – Source to Sea

As always, the three-days long festival culminates in a spectacular creative parade Sunday night. Every parade has a theme. Source To Sea is the theme for this year’s 25th anniversary Parade. It is all about River Suir.

I have written about River Suir on many occasions, and I know I will write again :).

River Suir is 185 km ( 115 mi) long with the average flow rate of 76.9 cubic metres per second – and we love every drop of it! River Suir begins on the slopes of Devil’s Bit Mountain in County Tipperary and flows south to Waterford Harbour where she enters the Atlantic Ocean.

River Suir flows past many castles, and she has witnessed many bloody battles.

Snaking through the countryside, River Suir grows in size and beauty. She is a home to many creatures, real and mystical, and her secrets are well kept, some of them hidden in the thick of her islands.

Here is everything you need to know about River Suir – animals, fowl, fairies and humans living here since the world began.

It is literally raining on our parade, but the rain is not going to bring our spirit down.

Heron is one of my Suir favorites. These birds are perfect for slow shutter speed shots since they can stay motionless for hours. This one has caught a rainbow trout and now is trying to swallow it whole.

Some walking exercises after a great lunch.

They have a heron here too. No fish eating demonstrations though.

They even have an otter! I don’t have any picture of a live otter…

Many floats represent fishing.

And of course there is a fish. A gigantic Rainbow trout.

This mechanical swan looks very real.

An army of dragonflies and their Queen.

And of course nothing of this would have happened without 200 artists and volunteers.

The Parade ended at a quarter to 11 pm concluded with firework finale which I never take pictures of. Fireworks are for watching.

Thank you for visiting SPRAOI and River Suir!

Have a wonderful weekend!

SPRAOI – 25 years in the streets

SPRAOI 2017

Two years ago I wrote about Musical Nun Ruth antics, last year I was impressed with The Morbid and Sons undertakers street theatre. This summer SPRAOI presented a whole constellation of street performers who demonstrated many talents and successfully had the audience in stitches.

Niamh McGrath and Keith Singleton, the Oh Dears, gave me a tea bag so that I could enjoy a cuppa after all that hard work taking pictures. They were asked for an autograph and no wonder – many people are familiar with the duo and their comedy Looking Deadly.

SPRAOI 2017

Mr. Culbuto, a human tumble toy, was rolling around O’Connel street waiting for someone to play with him. Two nuns (real nuns!) happened to walk by and one of them agreed to hold his hand.

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Naturally, Mr. Culbuto started falling face down.

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The nun was terrified. The audience were amused.

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Mr. Culbuto’s delivery man said it was OK 🙂

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“Ireland’s most lovable idiots”, brothers Seamus and Sean, are always amazing. I watched this show in Clonmel last year, but didn’t mind to watch it again.

Lords of Strut

The Lords of Strut Cormac Mohally and Cian Kinsella launched their first gig in 2008. Since then they have traveled around the worlds and even become Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalists. They charmed the judges with all that lycra, neon and sparkles, no doubt on that, but also with their dazzling acrobatics and contortion.

As always, Sean gets stuck in contortion ring, but with the help of Seamus he will eventually squeeze his body through.

Lords of Strut

Stellar acrobatic performance on the ladder.

Lords of Strut

“Happy reunion” with the long lost “daddy” Sean found in the audience. It is my favorite part of the show 🙂 As you can see, some spectators laugh to tears.

Lords of Strut

Between the shows, SPRAOI visitors are having a great time this weekend with all the nice weather.

The performers are moving to a different location. Most of them have 2-3 shows every day.

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The Silent Brass Band from The Netherlands marching by.

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True fans gathered around the Georges Court stage.

I see a familiar face. Morbid and Sons undertaker !

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Yet I am told that it is a new comedy show directed by Nicholas Kavanagh – The Foolhardy Three. Lots of music, dance and slapstick, as expected from a good old vaudeville.

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Gareth Jones & Matt Barnard are absolutely brilliant. The Variety Spectacular is a truly spectacular show, a comedy classic full of song, dance, and charm. I loved the use of volunteers – my favorite part of any act 🙂

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And last but not least – Robotic Drum Show. Performer Ulrich Kahlert, Germany.

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I will write about SPRAOI Grand Parade some other day.

Have a wonderful week!

SPRAOI – quarter of a century party

August Bank holiday weekend in Waterford is better known as The SPRAOI weekend. In 1993, twelve events took place over three days of the festival; this time, 25 years later, the number of events is over 200. I have counted 28 performers, and I will tell about some of them in my next blog, but today I want to write about one of the favorites – a party folk band from Holland, the Scotch. During the three days, they gave eight performances in different venues in Waterford as a part of their Ireland tour that also includes Cork and Ardara, Donegal.

I went to see them in the Palace Square Friday, after dark. I can tell you – these guys know how to put on a show 🙂 Young and old, no one could stay still listening to the lively and infectious rhythms.

I have questions, and the drummer looks like the right person to start a chat 🙂

After an hour the show is over. I enjoyed every minute of it – watching the audience was a bonus 🙂

The guys are putting their instruments away, but it is not the end.

Their fans want pictures. I take advantage 🙂

I guess they will go to their car, eventually, and yes – here comes the drummer 🙂

His name is Wouter and he is willing to answer my questions.

Scotch is a party folk band, formed in 2003. At that time their shows were more theatrical.

Wouter: We started out as a punk band with a lot of glam rock inspirations. Went to a more symphonic style wearing all kind of costumes and doing some heavy makeup. The folk style evolved during touring in Germany and Czech as busking became an important part of our travels.

Wouter is doing drums, percussion and vocals.

Sam is the lead vocalist of Scotch, and also the violinist who is responsible for all the dance craze tonight 🙂

Wouter and Sam founded Scotch, and Nathan, the guitarist and vocalist, is with the band from the very beginning…

… as is the bass guitarist and singer Sjoerd. A lifelong friendship.

Jochem joined Scotch in 2007, and he is doing guitar, banjo, melodica and vocals.

And Juno is taking videos 🙂

The band is known and loved in their native city, Dordrecht which is as old as Waterford. Well, they are loved in Waterford too, and also in Scotland, and many other countries they have toured over the years. They performed at various national art festivals, the Calais refugee camp, and successfully auditioned for Holland’s got Talent.

I hope you can listen to their music here. Just scroll down:

Jean Luc is their third album.

What holds you together for so many years?

Wouter: Friendship is the most important thing in the band. We’ve been playing together for such a long time now. It would be super strange to split up. We enjoy traveling together and meeting people with the music as a kind of super glue.

Do you make a living as a band?

Wouter: Nope…

Which is a shame, because they are wonderful and they make a difference. They bring a party to people.

I watch all of their performances as it is close to where I live.

Sometimes I spot them watching other performers, or taking selfies 🙂

Their fans are waiting at the George’s Court stage.

It is a huge crowd here around the main stage of the festival decorated with Waterford colors.

From where I stand I can only see a glimpse of Wouter 🙂

The following day it is raining heavily, but it doesn’t scare their loyal fans.

The ‘orange minions’, the members of the huge group of SPRAOI volunteers, are doing a great job creating a protective shield for the musicians.

Bring in the party!

This is Scotch’s Facebook page and you can book a party at booking@scotchtheband.com, or let your friends know about them.

Thank you for celebrating SPRAOI milestone! More in my next post.

Have a wonderful week!

Mount Congreve gardens – an unexpected meeting …

Walled garden is greeting me with all shades of purple.

Numerous fruit trees will bear a bountiful harvest in a month or two.

I admire various espaliers clinging to the walls.

As I cross the walled garden I discover a fragrant rose walk in the middle of it.

Winged thorns are not the only unusual feature of Rosa sericea pteracantha : its flowers have only four petals instead of usual five.

Leaving the walled garden.

Walking around the pond.

Unhurried walk with occasional stops takes me back to the glass house.

More flowers, more colors.

Magnolia Daybreak was planted in memory of Ambrose Congreve by the staff of Mount Congreve. It has beautiful and extremely fragrant pink flowers. There are many magnolias in the garden that bear names of Congreve family members.

On my way to the field where I have parked my car I came across a lawn. I changed my lens to a wider one to take a picture of the tree. From this moment the events started developing rapidly.

I took the picture and next moment a huge, long-legged hare appeared out of the shrubs at the other side of the lawn and started lazily towards me. I stopped breathing for a moment and then began to reattach my 70-200 mm lens. When the lens was finally on I lifted my eyes and almost screamed as the hare was sitting right in front of me, and he was the size of a dog.

I guess he had lost all his senses because of his old age, it is why he almost bumped into me. Startled, he looked at me with crossed eyes. I didn’t have time to focus and only got these two blurred pictures of him as he darted across the lawn.