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Differing Sobriety

by: John Godfrey

It's called Differing Sobriety (as in "a person of differing sobriety"), not for any good reason, but I have to say that this phrase seems coined by those that wish they could have been at a good enough party to find out what it really meant. The essential inspiration is Irish and Bulgarian folk music: a central tune which everyone plays, in some sense or another.

There's no subtlety of phrasing, no nicely-turned slurs, just go-for-it heavy playing which conjures a party mood faster than any rock track ever devised (or, at least, it does here in Ireland). Are the musicians playing together? Have they all come from different stylistic backgrounds? The essential point, it appears, is WHO CARES? -John Godfrey

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