A fight to the Macfinnish

>> Belfast Andi’s peace-through-partying process.
Plus: what’s on the Eire-tinerary for St. Patrick’s Day

by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

In Ireland, they often say that it’s no use boiling your cabbage twice, which means, well, who knows, but it might have something to do with St. Patrick’s Day coming once a year and it being an excellent reason to shamrock ’n’ roll. And it’s the music that brings meaning and togetherness to the event, according to Belfast Andi, aka Andriù MacGabhann, who with some help from his quartet Macfinn has been bringing the traditional tones of his native Ireland to our locality since 1990.

“The only time Catholics and Protestants got together back in Northern Ireland,” he says, “was in the centre of Belfast. It was a no-no to go to each others’ parts of town, but when I got into doing some open music sessions, I noticed there were Protestants coming, they were getting into Celtic music. The common denominator bringing people together was the music.”

When Belfast Andi started bringing Clannada to Canada, he found traditional Irish music gatherings also help plaster cultural rifts. “We had Québécois and Canadian anglo musicians learning each others’ songs, it was a real mix of cultures. I noticed a coolness during the last referendum but I told them that in Belfast people died in the streets. You have no problem here, it’s a great city.”

But it hasn’t been all peace and leprechaun love. “One night we were playing a small pub on Prince Arthur and about 10 skinheads with swastikas showed up, so a guy in the crowd asked me to sing an anti-fascist song. He pretty much challenged me to do it,” he says. Andi found himself introducing Christy Moore’s “Viva la Quinta Brigada,” a salute to the fifth international brigade who fought Franco in the Spanish Civil War. A ruckus predictably ensued. “Next thing you know one of the skinheads came on stage, I slapped him in the head, [bandmate] Phil was hiding behind the woman piano player, I was swinging my guitar and three Newfies beat the crap out of the skinheads—they threw all 10 of them down the stairs.”

Hopefully the only beating you’ll see Andi and the rest of Macfinn doing on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, at Alexis Nihon Plaza from noon to 4 p.m., will be the pounding of the bodrùn. Starting at 5 p.m., Macfinn play the Main Event on Beaconsfield and St-Jacques in NDG.

Pint-sized preparations

You’ll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind, as the Irish proverb tells us, meaning of course that you’re meant to get out and celebrate this thing, not just read about it, so here’s a list of how to go about doing just that.

Friday: Breakfast will be served at Hurley’s starting at 6:30 a.m., so expect $15 worth of black pudding, scones, sausage, Irish coffee and other treats. But mousse your red mane because a live TV crew will be poking their heads around, as they will be on Sunday morning. Musical accompaniment for the morning eats will be provided by Solstice, and at 2 p.m., Charlie MacLeod takes the stage, followed soon after by the Life of Riley Band. Ottawa’s Searson Family and Solstice will handle evening entertainment starting at 9:30 p.m. Over at Murphy’s, you can catch the ever-illustrious Ed Zwarda starting at 7 p.m. At McLean’s Pub, the Cape Breton Barbarians, (whose members in their non-superhero existence work for Alexander Keith’s Brewery) will set the lyre afire starting at 8 p.m. McKibbin’s and the Old Dublin are hosting by-invitation breakfasts Friday morning. Those with $50 and a more formal event in mind can attend the St. Patrick’s Society Annual Luncheon at the Hilton Bonaventure, featuring Justice Charles Doherty Gonthier Q.C. of the Supreme Court of Canada at 11:30 a.m. And for the tall among us, the door-duckers of the Montreal Tall Club are meeting at 8:30 p.m. at St. Luke’s Church at 106-A Anselme-Lavigne in DDO, where the Celtic Sounds of Salty Dog will rise to the $10 occasion. Go to www.tcg-montreal.org or call 990-5157.

Saturday: The Old Dublin opens at 11 a.m. to serve lunch with tunes starting at 4 p.m. courtesy of Rob Jagger and Gilles Lauzien, and after dark Liam Callaghan and David Gossage will take one stage and Pat Grider and Fiona Cole the other. Brunch starts at noon at Hurley’s but the music start two hours earlier with Charlie MacLeod playing a morning gig and Salty Dog taking over at three. In the evening, the Searson Family and Solstice each grab a stage at 9:30 p.m. At McKibbins it’s Salty Dog yet again (hopefully not looking too Ruff Around the Edges, to borrow their CD title) at 9:30 p.m. MacLean’s offers up canine challenger Pete Dog of the Jimmy Dogs at 8 p.m. Brutopia’s stage will be graced by Boy Junkie at 4 p.m. and the Sticky Micks at 10 p.m.

Sunday: There’s no need to fear if your haystacks are tied down, say the Irish, meaning, of course that breakfast starts at 7 a.m. at McLean’s with Life of Riley (they raise cash for breast cancer research) entertaining for six hours starting at 2 p.m. McKibbin’s offers breakfast from 8 a.m. with the sweet sounds of Tim and Heather and their musical contraption Bitter End playing until 3 p.m. followed by Swerve, who perform from 8 p.m. until closing. Sir Winston Churchill Pub lures you with a $10 all you can eat pre-parade brunch starting at 9 a.m., complete with prizes, Irish stew and Irish coffee. Brutopia hosts Solstice starting at 10 p.m. The Old Dublin, run by the Persian publican Johnny Asad, offers the same winning musical combinations from a day earlier. Murphy’s sees Ed Zwarda doing his Irish thing from 2– 8 p.m. And remember to drink in moderation—as the Irish wisdom notes, drink is the curse of the land. It makes you fight with your neighbour. It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him. :