Small world…
Well, smallish, if you count television as part of the world.
Scene:
Our living room in Sydney, yesterday evening. TV is on – a lightweight musical quiz is showing. Each week the quizmaster and two team leaders remain the same, each of the teams has two guests who vary. One of this week’s guests speaks with a lilting Irish accent.
Conversation:
Sarah: We don’t hear enough of that kind of accent, do we?
Me: No, it’s nice isn’t it?
Sarah: Who is it, anyway, do you know?
Me: No idea. But he does remind me a lot of Andy Moore.
Andy is an estate agent in Cork city. He is also a Buddhist and a very witty guy. I got to know him a bit in 2000 when I went with a dozen or more other people from Ireland to a week of teachings from HH Dalai Lama in the south of France, organized by Lerab Ling. A fun trip, that was, really! Here is Andy, from his website:
Interestingly enough, he is also the brother of Christy Moore, who is so famous in Ireland that Irish readers might even be surprised that I have to explain that. In the rest of the world he is known only to a minority, though I for one remember seeing him in the 1960s in the folk club in Oxford (Heritage, it was called) when he was just a poor boy with a suitcase in his hand travelling from gig to gig. But in Ireland, he is an icon.
So, programme rolls on, the Irish guy sings (really well, I thought), and eventually we get to the credits: it’s Luka Bloom! No wonder he reminded me of Andy – they are brothers! Luka Bloom is the stage name of Barry Moore, brother to Andy and Christy.
Well that wasn’t very exciting was it, but it was amusing at the time. I swear it.
