We had visited the renowned Herga Folk Club in 2008 where we had the honour of meeting the great Johnnie Collins, who had been very supportive when we explained to him what we were trying to achieve through na-mara. It was, therefore, with great sadness that we heard that Johnnie had died earlier in the year; neither of us knew this and had been really looking forward to seeing him again. He was a major figure in the folk world and will be very sorely missed.
Following an exchange of e-mails between Rob and George Papavgeris, whom we supported earlier in the year at Redbourne Folk Club, an invitation had been extended to us to visit Herga again and perform an extended slot at the end of one of their sing-around sessions.
In the end, we slotted into the sing-around and ended the night with three performances. Given it is a club well known for sea shantie singing, we opted to include Three Matelots, our translation of the Breton song Tri Martelod, but we started off more quietly with The Flower of Magherally. Billy Don’t You Weep for Me was very well received, as was our finish with two Asturian Danzas.
We had lots of kind words said to us at the end of the evening and even more supportively, the organisers at Herga have asked us to return there on 11th October 2010 to do a full spot at the club. This is great news for us. Thank you Herga.
