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A spontaneous Irish folk music performance broke out on a recent Ryanair flight from Belfast to Lanzarote, the video footage of which was captured by passenger Danny Walters.
Irish fiddler Sean Magee launched into a rendition of ‘Las Vegas in the Hills of Donegal,’ a tune made famous in the 1990s by the folk group Goats Don’t Shave.
The performance resulted in fellow passengers singing and clapping, with many people filming the performance on their phones. Midway through the performance, one passenger got up to do a Riverdance in the aisle of the plane.
‘We got on the plane and the boys were sitting behind us,’ Walters told the Daily Mail. ‘About an hour or so in, we heard someone say “guys, give us me fiddle over!”
’I just happened to be sitting in front - so once I saw the fiddle come out, I brought out my camera. ’Then it all broke into Las Vegas in the Hills of Donegal - everybody loved it! I think it really shortened the flight for us all.’
How did Magee manage to get his instrument on the plane without drama? According to Walters, Magee had booked an extra seat for the fiddle, avoiding the hold.
Magee began playing traditional Irish music at age seven and studied with Pat McManus. At 14, he won first place at The All Ireland Fleadh competition playing fiddle in the under 15 category and has gone on to enjoy an international career. With his siblings Jamie and Eli-Rose, the trio form the Magee Family Band, and has collaborated with Rory Gallagher from the band Rory and The Island for a year of touring, which included a Las Vegas residency in 2019.
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