Last night we went to the Musical pub crawl.  We learned a lot about traditional Irish music and the instruments used throughout different pieces.  For example, the fiddle (violin), guitar, bodhran, Irish harp, and  uilleann pipes. We learned that the Irish harp had been banned by the Queen in attempt to restrict Irish culture.

One of this things that I really enjoyed was the dancing. The woman preforming for us during the second pub of the tour mentioned how the Irish dance is very similar to tap dancing. I remember in The Dead by James Joyce there was a part where he talked about Irish traditional dance and my mom has recognized the name of the dance and said that in Jamaica people do this dance. I enjoyed being able to make connections in both of my homes: in Atlanta and back in Jamaica.

Refereing back to the violin, it made me think back to my childhood when I used to play the viola. I played viola in middle school and seeing Dermot play the violin made me think of  when I used to tune my viola and chalk the bow.

Through out this trip I have been linking my life and culture in Jamaica and America to life and culture in Ireland. Knowing  that  the Irish culture has influences Jamaican culture it is interesting to see how those two countries are so connected.