IT WAS the first Sunday of the coronavirus restrictions. Pubs and venues were closed. Shops were shut. Streets were deserted. Galway was, to quote The Specials, “coming like a ghost town”.
Yet, something extraordinary was happening. Hundreds of people were meeting, performing music, listening to songs, exchanging views and ideas, cheering each other on. Yet everyone was in a separate building. It all happened with each and every person involved strictly observing social distancing.
This was the regular Open Mic session, a Galway institution since the 1990s. Since 2011 it has taken place on Wednesdays in the Róisín Dubh, but the coronavirus restrictions has temporarily put a stop to that, or rather to the manner in which it takes place.
Thanks to the drive and creativity of singer-songwriter and Open Mic co-host, Tracey Bruen, the show goes on, each Sunday at 9pm as a live stream via the Open Mic Night at Róisín Dubh Facebook page (@openmicgalway ), which has been attracting hundreds of views and given a genuine lift to the spirits for many. It is a prime example of how artists have responded imaginatively to the restrictions, and an example of how creativity is providing a vital sense of community and contact.
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“When the coronavirus restrictions happened first, my mind went into, ‘What can I do to adapt?’, and the idea of the live steam open mic came quickly,” Tracy tells me, as we speak over the phone on a Monday afternoon. “I thought it would be fun, novel, a bit different, so I threw myself into it. I learned everything I needed to learn about technology, sound, and the right kinds of software. I wanted to use this time of the restrictions productively. I’m not very technically minded, so I wanted to challenge myself to learn how to do this.”
Productivity and anxiety
Tracy admits that being productive was a way to combat the anxiety which is creeping into many people’s lives because of the virus, the restrictions, and the uncertainties it has unleashed in terms of health, society, and the economy.
“I was on social media, seeing my musical peers, watching what they were doing - recording, getting ready to release stuff, being inventive,” says Tracy, “and I could feel the anxiety bubbling up, that I wasn’t doing enough, that I needed to up my game, and what am I doing about my own original music.
“It was this mental voice, putting me down, and I think it's because in normal times, at work I’m so busy, I’m always doing something. So my husband sat me down, and said listen to Una Mulally’s United Ireland podcast, and it was about how things are not normal right now, and you do not have to force yourself into a sense of normality. This is a pause, and it’s OK to sit down and do very little. That’s where I am at the moment, I’m fighting that part of me that is always so busy and programmed, and ‘What do I do now?’. It doesn’t come very easily to me.”
Live streaming the Open Mic
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In turning the Open Mic into a live stream event, Tracy was showing not only a sense of responsibility to the musicians who took part, but also to the show’s audience.
“I felt there was a whole community there, who were away from each other, and I wanted to make a way for us to connect,” says Tracy. “We have a strong cohort of people who turn up week in, week out, to the shows, and it is as important to them as it is to the musicians. The crowd is a real listening crowd, people show great respect to the performers, and it’s also great craic. It’s a lovely group of people. It’s like family.”
'We feel technology is isolating us and keeping us away from human contact, but when we have to isolate ourselves, it's technology that is bringing us together!'
Ahead of that first Sunday of the restrictions, Tracy gathered musicians who were Open Mic regulars, but who were able to manage their own sound, and had knowledge of the technology needed to make the enterprise work. "Everyone was in their own house, we did a few test runs, checked our levels, and at 9pm we were ready to go,” says Tracy, who admits underestimating the interest the broadcast was arousing.
“By that stage I was high as a kite because there had been such fuss about it,” she says. “I had put up on Facebook that we were doing this, I thought it would get some interest, but it had really taken legs, there was a real buzz about it. I wasn’t sure about the format or how the whole thing would work - it was real ‘Do it first, ask questions later’. It was really exciting.”
The musicians performed their song, some via phones, others via laptops, to an audience of around 300, while the stream itself reached into the tens of thousands.
“It was hopping,” says Tracy. “People responded so well and saying how much they enjoyed it. People showed how kind they can be. We did have technical issues, there were problems with the sound at some points, but the audience was telling us not to worry about it at this point. Since then we’ve improved the sound and technical aspects.”
Tune in Sundays at 9pm
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The Open Mic returns this Sunday [March 29] at 9pm and will feature 10 musicians on conference call, with again, the entire show broadcast through the Open Mic Facebook “Between the performances, the chatting between the songs, and the interaction, the whole thing will take between an hour and an hour and a half,” says Tracy, who also reflects on how the coronavirus restrictions have shown social media - often a toxic and abusive space - at its very best, as a space where people can gather in solidarity and community, to share experiences, creativity, and, perhaps, some hope and happiness.
“Doing these Open Mic live streams, I don’t feel like I'm in isolation. I feel like I have seen friends, been in their company. It is an incredible feeling. It’s a strange thing as well. We feel technology is isolating us and keeping us away from human contact, but when we have to isolate ourselves, it's technology that is bringing us together!”
