TUNES IN THE CHURCH PERFORMERS UNWITTINGLY MARRIED OFF DURING CONCERTS

Musicians playing in Galway’s Tunes in the Church series of summer concerts have expressed outrage after it emerged that they are being married off during their performances without their prior knowledge.

The concert series has become increasingly popular over the past few years due to its intimate style and location in St. Nicholas’s Church however the secret nuptials between participating musicians and/or audience members has only now been revealed.

The process was discovered after a recent concert involving uilleann piper Pádraic Keane who performed a solo set only to find out a few weeks afterward he had unwittingly been married off.

“I only signed up to the concert, nothing else! I didn’t sign any pre-nuptials or anything like that at all that would have given some indication of what was gonna happen. It wasn’t until a few weeks after that I found out I’d been married off to some Asian tourist in the audience.”

“It was mad! I never even met the girl! I don’t know how it’s gonna work, I don’t speak the language or play any of the tunes. I’m gonna have to file for divorce. Sure I might a get a gig or two out of it I suppose, make the best of a bad situation.”

It’s understood that concert organiser Cormac Begley presides over the ceremony at the side of the stage after becoming ordained online. If musicians play a solo set they are married to a member of the audience however if a duet or trio play they are married to each other.

These weddings are thought to have gone on since the start of the concerts a few years ago, with musicians all over the country not realising that they could be married to a fellow musician or Galway tourist.

Some musicians have complained that they were never told of this but if they had they would have at least took their new partner out for a drink first. Cormac Begley has said that he is doing these musicians a favour.

“I like to think of what I’m doing as a service. The musicians have a chance to show off their talents and come out of it with a husband or wife. Sure most traditional musicians are too ugly to find a partner themselves so I just help them along.”