Everyman kicks off free streamed music sessions tonight from the Corner House 

The first of the Everyman/Islander series of streaming sessions kicks off tonight (Friday) at the Coburg Street trad outpost

Johnny McCarthy, lecturer in MTU Cork School of Music and member of 4 Star Trio, playing the fiddle for Behind the Curtain, a new collaboration between The Everyman & Islander which kicks off on Friday, April 2nd, with a free live video stream from Cork's Corner House.

There isn't one of us that doesn't miss the bones of their favourite venue right now — the small stages, the floor underneath, the little idiosyncrasies of the PA system. The things you'll never take for granted again.

The Everyman, in association with promoters Islander Music, are looking to soothe some of that heartache with a new streaming series, airing Friday nights with a free, pre-booked online ticket.

In the first of the series, we go to the Corner House on Coburg Street in Cork's city centre, a longtime home for trad and blues in the city centre, where a number of the city's finest trad musicians come together in a special session.

Eoin Ó Riabhaigh, a renowned piper in his own right hailing from a long-running dynasty with the instrument; Con Fada Ó Drisceoil, a box player known for his humour and skill in teaching; Pat ‘Herring’ Ahern, a skilled and sought-after guitar/bouzouki accompanist, and Johnny McCarthy on fiddle, flute and voice, a multi-instrumentalist whose talents transcend the genre and into the Irish classical community. 

Bláithín MacGabhann, The Corner House and host, pictured with Johnny McCarthy, lecturer in MTU Cork School of Music and member of 4 Star Trio, playing the fiddle for Behind the Curtain.

In doing so, these four bring together elements of two of the venue's long-running staples: its Wednesday and Thursday night sessions, beloved by casual revellers and genre aficionados alike.

Proceedings are hosted by Blathín MacGabhann, reared in the pub along with her musician brother Arran. in addition to her role in their shared alt-rock band Lowlek, she's an actor whose theatre career is very much in the ascendant.

Marjie Kaley, Islander Music, (left) and Naomi Daly, line producer, The Everyman.

While it's a welcome milestone on the way back to regular gigging for the venue and musicians, it also represents a wider outreach for the Everyman itself, steadily creating streaming content in-house for the past year or so, and for  Islander, whose Quiet Lights folk festival was last year spread out along a number of disparate streaming gigs.

• The session happens online tonight at 8pm. Tickets are free — but prebooking at everymancork.com is essential to get your link to the stream.