One should thus bear in mind that the designation emanates from English speakers, and that the tradition was never interrupted, remaining popular mainly in rural areas of the West.ĥ It was probably this highly ornamented style of singing that Frederick Douglass, the African-American slave turned abolitionist, heard when he toured Ireland for two months in 1845, later writing about it in his memoirs, and comparing them to his childhood memories: The English title of the competition (‘old style singing’) was then simply translated into Irish and became ‘ amhrán ar an sean-nós ’. 5 One should however point out that the term sean-nós only appeared in 1904 when it was used to describe the singing competitions during the Oireachtas festival organised by the Gaelic League. It can be traced back to a bardic substrate and the medieval chanson courtoise, imported by Anglo-Normans after the 13 th century: a very discreet a capella tradition sung in Irish Gaelic, it is a slow and restrained narrative type of singing which blossomed during the 16 th century, and is regarded by many as the essence of Irish music: ‘ Without a sound knowledge of the sean-nós and a feeling for it a performer has no hope of knowing what is authentic and what is not ’. 49.Ĥ Two main genres of folk singing in Ireland will be encountered among Famine songs: the most ancient type, today called sean-nós, is specific to the island. 5 Tomás Ó Canainn, Traditional Music in Ireland, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978, p.Even in the poorer classes, music was an important part of Irish everyday life, as evidenced by the accounts left to us by numerous witnesses, mostly from the eighteenth century onwards:
A musical contextģ Ireland has had an exceptional musical reputation for centuries, and a refined instrument, the harp, has served as its national symbol since at least the thirteenth century. 3 This article proposes to examine representative items from this body of songs dating from the Great Irish Famine, in Irish and in English, in order to investigate their validity as faithful representations of History and understand why they are so elusive today, whether in public performances or in private circles. 233 in Christian Noack, L (.)Ģ Oral tradition and history are often perceived as not working well together, as memories tend to blur and succeeding generations tend to choose what they wish to remember, thus rewriting history. 3 See Maura Cronin, ‘Oral History, Oral Tradition and the Great Famine’, p.’Till the potatoes through the world died
Since the Saviour took on him our human nature, One thousand years first and these eight hundred, Mar níor tháinig uireasa dhá mhéad ar a cháilíocht Go dtáinig Iénscrios ar fhataí an domhain.Ī mbeidh cuimhne is trácht air i gcaitheamh an tsaoil, O’thuirling an Slanaitheoir i gcolainn daonna. keen, or lament) by Peatsaí Ó Callanáin, a small tenant farmer from County Galway, in 1846: It is generally considered that very few songs from the famine era have survived: it is indeed a testimony to the power and importance of traditional music and songs, and remarkably so in Ireland, that illiterate people on the threshold of exile or death could find the strength to express their misfortunes in such a poetic and elaborate form, as in this caoineadh (i.e. In th (.)ġ However biased a view the opening quote by Irish traditional singer and collector Frank Harte may represent, an analysis of folk songs 1 about the Great Irish Famine deserves careful study, as one will find in them views that are often told from palpable and vivid experience, and traces of Irish history often described as dry statistics, rather than the human tragedy it really was.
0 kommentar(er)
