With St. Patrick’s Day under lockdown, this fiddler is planning a virtual concert
Two people read the closure notice in the window of The Norseman pub, as bars across Ireland close voluntarily to curb the spread of coronavirus, in Dublin, Ireland on March 15, 2020.
It’s a sad Saint Patrick’s day across Ireland — and across the world. There should have been corned beef, bagpipe music and parades. But instead, pubs and restaurants are closed down as countries deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last Sunday, the Irish government ordered all pubs in the country to close after videos of crowded pubs in Dublin ignited a social media uproar over the possibility of contagion.
The streets of major US cities Tuesday were desolate as local authorities banned parades in cities from New York to San Francisco to slow the spread of the virus that has infected more than 4,400 Americans and killed at least 80.
Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac has found a way to keep people in the St. Patricks’s Day spirit, even when MacIsaac himself is practicing social distancing and a concert with an intimate crowd isn’t doable.
MacIsaac told the CBC he’s planning to perform an online-only concert on April 1 — a quarantine “ceilidh,” or dance — for people stuck in their homes during the pandemic.
A ceilidh is a social event featuring Scottish and Irish folk music, traditional dancing and storytelling.
“It’s pretty simple. A lot of people are going to get bored of watching reruns and continuing to see how many times they can watch Stranger Things on Netflix over the next couple of months,” MacIsaac told the CBC.
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