The brainwave of a Tralee musician, Benny O'Carroll, to base a show around the traditional music session has spawned Ireland's latest international music success.
Rave reviews in various parts of Europe, including most recently Germany, have led to expectant Italian audiences queueing to buy tickets for Sessions from the Hearth.
It is unfair to compare it to Riverdance, but it could not be denied that the show, with great musicians on board, has been given a welcome because of its professionalism and its Irishness.
In various cities, from Milan to Bologna, between March 16th and March 19th, an estimated 14,000 Italians will turn out to hear what the musicians have to offer. The concert tour is a sell-out. The concert hall apart, what most foreigners like about our music is the intimacy and spontaneity they sometimes encounter when they stumble across a pub, maybe an unlikely one, in a town or village.
A classically trained guitarist, Benny believes there is nothing better than a few like-minded souls drifting in around the open fireplace with their instruments to get a session going. He wanted to create that on stage and bring it on tour.
One German reviewer said some time ago: "The project was initiated by guitarist Benny O'Carroll. He has with him a group of young musicians, such as Deirdre Scanlan, singer with her haunting, husky voice; Peter Brown, accordion; Eamon de Barra, flute; Malachy Burke, fiddle; Enda Skahill, banjo; Alan Maguire, bouzouki; Neil Lyons, bodhran; and dancer, Christy Mac Gearailt, who toured with Lord of the Dance." Despite the musicianship that he is putting on show, Benny O'Carroll insists he has not assembled a band. Instead, it's a session in the best Irish tradition, and on any given night the music might take the players into uncharted waters. That's what makes it exciting, unpredictable and fresh.
The Italians, clearly, have voted with their lira. There is talk about Sessions from the Hearth touring in the US; the success in Europe probably makes such a tour inevitable. The likelihood is that we will be hearing more about this combination of Irish musicians.