Cad é an t-amhrán a bheas sibh a cheol? Tá súil agam nach bhfuil "cluas stáin" ag mo dhuine.

OK...now that I'm not longer sleep-deprived (it's been a busy weekend!), I can say more about President Higgins' visit yesterday. As I said last night, it was an amazing experience for me, both as Irish-learner and as a musician, and I'm tremendously happy to have been a part of it!

As these things go, we had relatively short notice (about two weeks) so it was a bit of a scramble to find something the three of us could sing together (We do have some repertoire in common, but it's pretty much all Christmas stuff from Cór Ainglí or religious stuff from the annual Irish mass in Mountain View), We decided to pick something from Nikki's CD "Seansaol na hAislinge," as Galt and Janet both sang with Nikki on that CD and I have a copy with which I was able to practice. Finding a time to rehearse together, though, was a real challenge! In the end, Janet, Galt, and I practiced together, and later Nikki joined us via Skype.

As an additional challenge, we ended up having to scrap the song we'd originally planned to sing: Amhrán na Scadán, replacing it with the much shorter and more lively "Máire Bhruinneall" (typical Irish love song: Guy wants girl; girl gives him the brush-off; he writes a song about how miserable he is!) Emails about logistics had been flying back and forth during this time, as you might expect, and we learned right in the middle of our rehearsal that we would only have two minutes in which to greet the president, introduce ourselves and our song, and sing! Fortunately, "Máire Bhruinneall" (our version, at least) lasts around a minute and twenty seconds!

Naturally we also received a lot of warnings regarding security, so we were a bit surprised when we arrived at the UICC (San Francisco's United Irish Cultural Center) bright and early yesterday morning, bringing with us only things we knew would pass a security check, only to find that the only sign that something unusual was going on was the many cars parked in the middle of Sloat (which usually is as empty as a zombie wasteland on Sunday mornings...at least until the zoo opens). We walked right into the UICC and took the elevator to the third floor without anyone stopping us, or even asking our names!

The event at which we were to sing was a brunch in honor of the senior members of the UICC (And we were very happy to be invited to partake of the brunch buffet, though we ended up eating our food cold, as none of us wanted to eat much before singing!). The idea was that the choir "Celtic Voices" would provide background music during the first part of the brunch, before the president's entry, but apparently Celtic Voices didn't get the memo, as they just kept singing the same song over and over (A beautiful rendition of "Carrikfergus," which got a bit old after the fourth repeat! I'm guessing they hadn't prepared any other songs, so they took the opportunity to practice the one they planned to sing for the president) After the president's speech, a band of traditional musicians would provide background music during his walk-around, with our song coming at the halfway point (our role in this was to represent Americans who had learned Irish here in California).

We almost didn't get to sing, though! As the president started making the rounds of the tables, one of the organizers came up to us and said that they were running behind, so we wouldn't be able to perform "But the president will get a chance to hear you at Filoli" (he didn't, as it happened). He was politely but firmly informed that we hadn't gotten up at the crack of dawn, found babysitters (in Janet and Galt's case) and driven for an hour and a half to NOT sing, so we soon found ourselves waiting nervously at the half way point (it's not every day you get to meet a head of state!).

I must admit I was a bit relieved that, lovely person though I'm sure she is, the president's wife didn't join him for our part of the walk-around. My facility with the Irish language absolutely tanks when I'm nervous, and I had visions of my carefully rehearsed "Deas bualadh leat, a bhean uasail" turning into "Deas bualadh leat, a bhean chéile," or worse "Deas bualadh leat, a bhean"! "Breaking News: California musician insults Irish first lady, sparks international incident. Film at 11." Fortunately, there's not much you can do to mess up "uachtarán"!

After the brunch we had just enough time to grab coffee at Java Beach before driving down to Filoli.

If you've never been to Filoli (pronounced fye-loh-lee, not "fih-loh-lee" as we'd thought) you owe yourself a visit should you find yourself in our part of California. The gardens are absolutely breathtaking! We soon found ourselves tucked into a shady nook by the garden house, conveniently next to the Big House wine bar (fittingly renamed "Teach Mór" for the occasion!). The folks at the wine bar kept coming around to fill our glasses, the hors d'oeuvre trays kept coming our way, people stopped by to enjoy the music...with the beautiful setting and the lovely weather, I have to say it was one of the nicest gigs I've ever had! Mike, the guitarist for "Dance Around Molly" (Galt and Janet's band) joined us, and we alternated between tunes and songs (I should say THEY played tunes and we sang songs...I was (am!) too out-of-practice with my harp to feel I could do justice to the occasion with it (I now have incentive to get back into practice, though!). We took a break to hear the president speak again, and for the most part just relaxed, made music, and enjoyed the garden party!

We weren't the only musicians at Filoli, of course. It's a big place. Our friends Julie Horner and David Chadwick (aka "The Crooked Road Céilí Band") were there, as were a few other groups, all stationed in different parts of the gardens so that, wherever the guests might wander, they'd have traditional Irish music to enjoy.

All in all, it was a very fun, moving, and exciting day! President Higgins comes across as a very warm and genuine man, and he's a huge proponent of the Irish language (he even gave parts of his speech in Irish!), and it would have been wonderful just to hear him speak, but it was especially wonderful to meet him in person and to have an opportunity to sing for him! A day I won't soon forget!

There are some photos from the events on the United Irish Cultural Center's Facebook page (which is public)...none of us, yet, but as several were taken, I'm sure there will be some up there shortly. Someone also got a short video of us singing, and I'm hoping to be able to put it on YouTube so we all can share it (you can't hear us very well, with the background noise, but the president, who is also in the video, seemed to be enjoying it!)

Thanks for sharing the occasion with us. Certainly sounds like a day to remember. Maith thú.