A musical melange in cosmopolitan Clonmel at fleadh time

Merging traditions never felt so good. Even Clonmel's hairdressers sport vintage Planxty and Bothy Band LPs in their windows: collectors' items languishing casually alongside turbo-powered hair straighteners as though they were the most natural bedfellows.

An expected attendance of more than 250,000 music lovers, including some 10,000 musicians and 4,000 competitors in the All- Ireland competitions, form the backbone of the fleadh weekend.

It's the cosmopolitan feel of the fleadh that astounds first-time visitors. With competitors travelling from as far afield as Perth, western Australia, the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland, Telemark, Norway, Riley, Illinois, and from such exotic locales as Templeglantine and Knocknagoshel, there's little fear that tunes will get lost, songs will disappear or dances will be forgotten.

The fleadh is an untamed animal that thrives on a diet of endless sessions, impromptu musical collisions and marathon competitions.

Following the official opening last night at Clonmel's museum, céilidhe broke out everywhere, from the fleadh's answer to Woodstock, Enfer Village (complete with two domes) to St Peter and Paul's School. Locals knew they were in for a long weekend by Thursday, with two competing concerts to prepare them for the weekend.

Micheál Ó Suilleabháin, Eileen Ivers, Iarla Ó Lionáird and the Tipperary Millennium Orchestra played to a crowd of more than 600 in Dome A, while there were pistols at dusk in St Oliver's Church with three céilí bands sharing top billing: the Kilfenora, Ennis and Táin céilí bands, all three-times All-Ireland winners. With a grand finale featuring all three bands, sporting a total of nine All-Ireland medals, it was a gathering that would have been the envy of the GAA.

Today sees the start of official competitions, all of which are open to the public, where the under-12 concertina competitors will be vying for space alongside bodhrán, mandolin and banjo players, as well as sean nós singers and lilters from Kentucky to Kilfenora.

For anyone who figures that Irish traditional music is fixed in aspic, a few moments exposure as the students from the University of Limerick's Irish World Music Centre tackle June Tabor's magnificently earthy April Morning, or to the musicians from Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula injecting fresh life into the slide colloquially known as Chase Me Charlie, will have to revise their gospel according to Clonmel.

Street signs abound, inviting musicians to join sessions in places as far flung as the town's impeccably restored Main Guard Heritage Centre and Enfer Village. In between, French markets, fireworks, river illuminations and parachute jumps promise to ensnare. The fleadh has truly begun.