Which island are we drinking for again?

I got very excited for St Patrick’s Day this year. Before heading to the bars in town, I spent my evening drinking wine to the sounds of every Irish artist I know, from Thin Lizzy and The Pogues to The Dubliners and The Tremeloes. I even started listening to “Nothing Compares to You” by Sinead O’Connor, but changed the track because it made me tear up just a bit.

You can imagine my disappointment, therefore, when I got to The Rat and Parrot in Grahamstown to find not a single Irish artist on the playlist. Seriously! They couldn’t even throw on a quick sing-along number by The Corrs or U2! Where was “Dearg Doom”? Where was Van Morrison? Where in my imagination of the evening I had seen a small table in a dingy corner surrounded by middle-aged men holding green Guinesses and singing along reminiscently to The Irish Rover, I saw only a young couple making out fanatically and spilling cane and Creme Soda all over each other to Martin Garrix’s “Animals”.