Photo By Sgt. Kenneth Tucceri | Alan, from The Wee Bag Band, a group from Wales, plays his percussion instrument...... read more read more
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GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba--St. Patrick’s Day is indeed a global event. Yes it is a day to celebrate Ireland’s patron saint, but all around God’s green earth, no matter what nationality or location, festive participants eat corn beef and cabbage, decorate with shamrocks (it is said St. Patrick used the shamrock to illustrate the holy trinity),wear green shirts and hats, and listen to Irish music.
As a global day of celebration, it was very fitting that on Saturday, March 15 at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay’s Windjammer, a band from Wales played Irish music to U.S. troops.
The band, a five-piece ensemble named The Wee Bag Band, played an assortment of music for those present to dance to, enjoy and encourage the old adage that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.
“The stuff we play is a mixture of the traditional tunes well-known with Irish music,” said Rory McGough, who played the mandolin, whistle, harmonica and sang. “We throw in some contemporary stuff too. It’s not strictly Irish.”
Their two-set performance, that beckoned a full dance floor at times and had those who were sitting down tapping their feet and bopping their heads, included songs such as the traditional Irish-folk song “Whiskey in the Jar,” Van Morrison’s “Brown-Eyed Girl” and an instrumental version of The Beatles “Hey Jude” that sped up at the end with the recognizable Irish musical tempo that can provoke even the least likely to dance to get up and shuffle their feet.
The Wee Bag Band is in the midst of a four-base tour to bring Irish music to service members. Their stops, aside from GTMO, include Greenland, the Bahamas and Honduras. When they were first contacted to do the gigs on the four bases, McGough admitted that he thought it was a prank.
“The first email we saw come through from the Pentagon, we thought it was spam,” said McGough. The band has a website tracker. Their skepticism led them to check and see if the Pentagon had visited the site, and sure enough it had. So McGough thought, “Maybe there is some truth to it.”
“We feel really privileged to be here, to be honest,” said McGough, “because we are the only band that we are aware of that they’ve asked outside the United States to come and play.”A thought that puts into focus how fortunate the Troopers of GTMO were to hear these fine foreign musicians play for almost two hours. In past St. Patty’s Days, the band had brought their musical Irish brogue to areas across Europe.
“We go touring on the French ski resorts and they go bananas for St. Patrick’s Day,” said McGough. “The French, the Dutch, the Swiss. They all get sucked into it. It’s what you make of it really.”
McGough went on to add that places like New York and Boston were locations of prominent celebration around March 17 (the recorded date of St. Patrick’s death) every year due to their large Irish communities.
McGough explains that their style of music, the Irish/Celtic theme, is appealing to listeners of all ages. From a 10-year-old to an 80-year-old, all generations have a chance to enjoy it. “So as a result, feet are bopping, and lads are enjoying it,” said McGough. “That’s great. We just have a ball with it and that’s all we can ask.”
A St. Patrick’s Day in Cuba? Many troopers probably never figured they’d see the day. Yet those who came and celebrated with The Wee Bag Band gained a truly Irish memory from a Caribbean island during one of history’s most widespread of celebrations.
| Date Taken: | 03.20.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.20.2014 16:13 |
| Story ID: | 122313 |
| Location: | GUANTANAMO BAY , CU |
| Web Views: | 61 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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