BILL Wolsey has just saved me hundreds of thousands of pounds. Well, in my dreams he has.
I always said that if I were to win Euromillions, I would buy the former police station in Queen Street as it was formerly the headquarters of the Gaelic League in Belfast (as well as a children's hospital) and my idea was to build a bar where Irish would be welcome in Belfast city centre and where traditional music would be at its heart.
However, across the street from his stately Merchant Hotel in Waring Street, Bangor-born hotelier Wolsey has just opened The Second Fiddle/An Dara Fidil, a pub where, eh, Irish is welcome and where traditional music is at its heart.
My hoped-for Euromillions can now be spent on something else.
Wolsey has long been a fan of traditional music, being heavily influenced by his father and brother. The name of his company is Beannchor, the Irish for Bangor and you can hear the sound of the pipes, fiddles, flutes and more at Beannchor venues such as Garrick, while the the Belfast Tradfest has had gigs in his other establishments such as The Cloth Ear, Bullitt and The Dirty Onion.
Indeed the Dirty Onion has an ongoing relationship with the An Droichead Irish arts centre off the Ormeau Road who would programme the music there but it was felt that the bar was too big and there was a fear that the music was being swamped.
Hence The Second Fiddle/An Dara Fidil as Tim Herron, operations manager at Beannchor, explained to me on a guided tour of the bar.
"We opened the Dirty Onion in 2013 and we had trad gigs in it from day one, but it is such a large bar the trad element almost got lost in it, " he says.
When the present site at Cotton Court came around, it was obviously a better fit for showcasing local musical talent.
"One of the conditions of opening the Second Fiddle was that it would have a local cultural and musical element to it and we think we've done that in a way that will attract both local music fans and visitors alike," said Tim.
And so it came to pass on Monday evening, the first day that live music was permitted indoors, that the first notes of traditional music in The Second Filddle were played by piper Buzz O'Brien and fiddler Susan Hughes in what is a great room for musicians and audience alike.
The duo were followed by Handed Down, described as "traditional music and songs, reworked, a laid-back, late-night jam".
An Seomra Ceoil/The Music Room has a low ceiling to help acoustics (and ventilation) and the tiled floor gives it an Irish kitchen hooley vibe.
The trad session and Handed Down happen every Monday night while Tuesday sees a free bodhrán class - bodhráns are provided.
Wednesday is harp night with the Belfast Harp Club featuring Ciara Ní Thath and friends playing classical harp melodies.
The Second Fiddle is definitely going along the road less travelled as Thursday sees a small pipe session involving bagpipes, guitar and vocals before the weekend begins with two sessions at various times on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, afternoon and evening, making it live music, seven days a week.
So, Irish traditional music has long made its way out of the kitchen and is now available in the entertainment heart of Belfast.
It is hoped to continue the cooperation with An Droichead and fingers are crossed that hugely-popular Trad Trail will start from The Second Fiddle Court at the end of this month.
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Speaking of An Droichead, arts officer Claire Kieran tells me that things are still a bit uncertain even after the go-ahead for live music from Stormont, but she hopes to be able to have gigs at the Cooke Street venue and others in October.
There are three fresh pieces of music in the pipeline, the first of which will happen in the autumn.
"We will also be working with the Irish Traditional Music Archive on archival projects, one relating to flute music in Belfast and another relating to music during the conflict," she explains.
"Also the gigs we cancelled are being re-scheduled so there is lots in the pipeline, we're just waiting for the green light," she says enthusiastically.
And of course, there will be the usual sessions in the likes of Maddens, The Points, The Errigle, Kelly's and others so the city is at last awakening to the sound of music.
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Heading out of Belfast to An Carn in Carntogher outside Maghera, tomorrow evening sees Gig sa Ghairdín featuring Dylan Carlos, Cein Sweeney and John McCartin.
Carlos-Sweeney-McCartin brought out their debut album in 2019 to great acclaim with a fine selection of driving reels to revive any flagging spirits.
The gig takes place in the An Carn garden and delicious food will be provided by An Croí Coffee House.
Be sure to bring your own bottle, coat and book your tickets for An Carn's first live music event since February 2020.
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Another venue springing into life is the Seamus Heaney Homeplace in Bellaghy.
Oonagh Derby tells me she is really looking forward to playing with David Bell at the Homeplace on Sunday August 15 at 2pm.
Oonagh is a singer songwriter – and much more – from Moira in Co Armagh. Her musical background is in traditional music learned "around the kitchen table" with her family and the later as part of the traditional band Nua.
She has since branched out on her own to write and perform her own original contemporary songs and music that have an energetic roots/folk style to them and has shown her considerable range over two acclaimed albums Harmony Street and Breathe.
Also in the Homeplace bill is Anthony Toner (August 8) and Eilidh Patterson (August 22).
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Last night at the Willie Clancy Summer School, an audio-visual concert which links traditional music and place in Ireland was streamed on line for the first time.
Uniquely, it presents tunes named for towns and features in each one of the 32 counties of Ireland, and the diaspora areas.
Seven hundred images illustrate almost two hours of music, a vivid narrative which has been selected to reflect on the places for which individual tunes were named by their players back in the 1800s.
The Turas concert is actually a movie version of the Companach concert in Belfast a couple of years ago and features a host of A-list musicians and singers.
A DVD version of the concert will also appear in the coming weeks. Watch this space.
