Music: Sean-Nós

Hi guys!

I am a big fan of Celtic music, which started when my grandfather would play some Clannad cd's when we would visit. The main thing that impressed me was the language, Irish, which sounded so beautiful. And that is where my love for all other Celtic stuff also began. So my love for Celtic studies is inevitably connected with music. I know this works the same way for many people, Celtic music is maybe the most widespread aspect of Celtic culture. Folky tunes with fiddles and whistles mainly, but there is a another genre within Celtic music that is less well-known, because it's a lot less catchy. Doesn't mean it isn't awesome.

It's called Sean-Nós, which means 'old way' in Irish, and it's a very peculiar style of singing. (It's also a style of dancing, by the way) Usually it is sung without musical accompaniment, and with highly stylistic melody lines and a lot of ornamentations. This makes it quite hard to listen to if you're not used to it, also because sean-nós songs can last for half an hour. The topics can vary from dramatical love stories to historical events, like rebellions and such (the Irish lóve rebellions and patriottic things, of course.) but sometimes songs can also be quite humourous!

Here are some short examples of it!

This song is called 'Cúnla' and is quite well-known, multiple bands made a 'regular' song out of it, but the original is a sean-nós song. The lyrics translate something like this; 'Who is that tapping the windowpane?' 'It's only me!' says Cúnla. 'O Cúnla dear, don't come any nearer me!' 'Maybe I shouldn't' says Cúnla'. And every verse Cúnla comes nearer the girl, until he tickles her you-know-what..

This song is 'Óró sé do bheatha 'bhaile' and it's a very patriottic song, about the return of Gráinne Mhaol to Ireland (Maybe I'll write a blogpost on her some other time) and with the 'real' Irish they will rout the foreigners. Also a song that is turned into a 'regular' song later, for example by Sinéad O'Connor.

Last but not least, this is an example of a sean-nós song in English! It is sung by the Dubliners, also unaccompanied and with ornamented melodies, but this time you may actually understand it if you don't speak Irish! Again it's a funny song, but I won't spoil the fun, just listen to it ^^




That's it for now! Until next time,
Lian

Pretty Poems: Scél Lemm Dúib

Hi guys!

One of the many things I love about Celtic stuff are the medieval Irish and Welsh poems. They always have a different rhyme than we have, or a different metre, and definitely different metrical rules. And more often than not, the sound of the words together is the art, not the meaning per se. That makes them difficult to translate, because you lose a lot of the magic of the original.
So here is an Irish poem from the 9th or 10th century, with a translation, but be sure to look at the Irish original as well, even if you can't understand it! If I could read it to you all, I would.

It's really fitting for this time of the year: I want spring and I want it now, but it still seems to be winter.. So a wintery poem!

Scél lemm dúib              'I bring news to you'

dordaid dam                                bells a stag

snigid gaim                         'the winter snows

ro-fáith sam                    the summer is gone

gáeth ard úar                   high and cold wind

ísel grían                                          low sun

gair a rith                              short its course

ruirthech rían                              swift ocean

rorúad rath                            russet bracken

ro-cleth cruth                   shapes are hidden

ro-gab gnáth              suddenly a wild goose

giugrann guth                         raised its voice

ro-gab úacht                         cold has taken

etti én                              the wings of a bird

aigre ré                                     a time of ice

é mo scél                             this is my news'

This is my own translation, but I based myself on the translation of James Carney, from 'Medieval Irish Lyrics'. His translation is a poëtical one and I wanted to stay as true to the Irish version itself as possible.

Until next time,
Lian

Sources photography: photo by Peter Denness on redbubble.com

Linguistical Fun: w and ll

Hi guys!

This week I'd like to resolve some of the mystery people tend to feel towards the Welsh language. Let me say firstly that Welsh is not my strong point, there are a lot of people out there who know this stuff better then I do. But they don't write blogposts about it. 
One of the things people say when I tell them I study Celtic languages and that Welsh is one of them, is 'haha, no one can pronounce that because the language consists only of consonants.' Well of course it doesn't, why would someone speak a language that is unpronouncable!? Unfortunately not many people are actually interested when I start explaining, they just want to make fun of the Welsh language.  Tsk. 

The problem starts of course with the infamous town name of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwollllantsyliogogogoch. Nonsense, why would someone not be able to pronounce that? Unfortunately, the town isn't really called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwollllantsyliogogogoch, it was named thus in the 19th century to attract tourists. Well, they've succeeded. Among the Welshmen it is simply known as 'Llanfairpwll'. 

But the thing that seems most frightening about the Welsh language is the apparant lack of vowels! Well, fret no more, because the w? Not a consonant, just a vowel pronounced like the o  in who? And then, it's suddenly not so frightening anymore. The Middle-Welsh word for 'man', gwr, is not pronounced gwr, but goor or something like that (it's hard to write this without using the phonetic alphabet.. just bear with me.) 

Next problematic thing in the Welsh language is the double l. Not pronounced like in 'llllloverboy', of course, but a sound that comes close to the cl in 'close'. But not really so. OK, put your tongue in your mouth like you wanna say 'l'. Done? Now smile! You look ridiculous but you are nearly there. Now blow as much air out of your mouth without moving your tongue, and this will come close to the sound of the /ll/. If you do this with a lot of noise, you're there! Congratulations, you are now able to pronounce Welsh. 

(Of course this is a simplification, blabla, and the /ll/ is pronounced differently at the end of a word than at the beginning of a word and no doubtedly the North Welshmen pronounce it differently than the South Welshmen, but I won't bore you with that)

See you next time!

Lian

Sources photography: wikipedia

Music: Séamuisín..

Hi there!!

This is a song we sang in Irish class, and even though that's like two years ago, I still have a weak spot for it.  It's about a mother who is looking for her son, Séamus. (although this version is sung by a man, it's not less cute)
-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTgbLVzWwMs&feature=related <-



Here are the lyrics and my translation:

An bhfaca tú mo Shéamuisín?                           Did you see my little Séamus?
Mo mhuirnin óg, mo bhuachaillín?                     My young sweetheart, my little boy?

An bhfaca tú mo Shéamuisín?                           Did you see my little Séamus?
Is é dul síos an bothar                                       It was him going down the road

Níl brog ar bith ar a dhá choisín                         Not a shoe on his two little feet
Ar a dhá choisín ar dhá choisín                          On his two little feet, on his two little feet,
Níl brog ar bith ar a dhá choisín                         Not a shoe on his two little feet
Níl caipín air, ná clocá                                       Not a cap on him, or a coat

O grá mo chroí mo Shéamuisín,                         O my love, my heart, my little Séamus
Mo mhuirnin is, mo bhuachaillín                          My sweetheart and my little boy
Grá mo chroí mo Shéamuisín                              Love, my heart, my little Séamus
Maidin 'gus trathnonín                                        Morning and evening

Tá leabharín buí ina lamh aige                             There is a little book in his hand
ina lamh aige, ina lamh aige                                 In his hand, in his hand
Tá leabharín buí ina lamh aige                             there is a little book in his hand
Ag dul ar scoil trathnona                                     going off to school

Ar a dhroim tá mailin beag                                On his back there's a little backpack
Tá mailin beag, tá mailin beag,                           A little backpack, a little backpack
Ar a dhroim tá mailin beag                                On his back there's a little backpack
Is a lóinín ann is docha                                      With his little lunch in it, probably

An bhfaca tú mo Shéamuisín?                              Did you see my little Séamus?
Mo mhuirnin óg, mo bhuachaillín                          My young sweetheart, my little boy

An bhfaca tú mo Shéamuisín?                              Did you see my little Séamus?
Is é dul síos an bothar                                         It was him going down the road

Grá mo chroí mo Shéamuisín                               Love, my heart, my little Séamus
Mo mhuirnin is mo bhuachaillín                            My sweetheart and my little boy
Grá mo chroí mo Shéamuisín                               Love, my heart, my little Séamus
Maidin 'gus trathnonín                                          Morning and evening



And on a side note, you can buy this t-shirt! As 'Shéamuisín' sounds exactly like English 'hay machine'. It's funny ^^
(http://gaelshirt.spreadshirt.ie/hay-machine-A9289628)

Slán libh,

Lian

Linguistical Fun!: Breton

Demat! Mont a ra mat? (lit. ‘ Good day! Things are going well?)

A lot of people know that Irish and Welsh are Celtic languages, and that Ireland and Wales are Celtic nations. Even I learned about Celtic culture through the Irish language. But not many people know that Brittany is a Celtic nation too and that Breton is a Celtic language very much alive.

Breton, in the Celtic family tree, is the little brother of Welsh and Cornish, and its mother is British. British was spoken by the inhabitants of Britain before and during the Roman period, but unfortunately they didn’t care enough to write it down, so there is next to nothing found of British, which is very upsetting to linguistic fanatics like me..

In the Dark Ages, when Britain was invaded by Saxons, Angles and Jutes (those bastards!!) a lot of Celtic peeps fled the country, and since there had been trade with Brittany for ages, a lot of Britons went to Brittany. This is, of course, after the Roman period when Gaulish had almost died out in Brittany, so there is still debate if Breton is partly Gaulish, partly British. But anywaaay, they settled there and their language gradually changed to Breton.

As Brittany is a part of France, it has also been influenced by French (though I read somewhere that in the 19th century more than half of the French population spoke a different language then French..) and the pronunciation seemed a little French to me when I learned Breton (But my French isn’t that très bien). The grammar is quite similar to Welsh, although you can also say Welsh is similar to Breton :)

As I don’t want to bore you with all the details, because there are a lot of interesting facts and stories, I will just show you some Breton with examples of what I’ve rambled on about!

The most hilarious example in my textbook, dealing on the comparative, is this one: Bambi a zo bihanoc’h eget Godzilla meaning ‘Bambi is smaller than Godzilla’. Yeah duh.
Me a zo o lenn ul levr meaning ‘I’m reading a book’. Levr, meaning book, is llyfr in Welsh. Very similar, if you compare lebor in Old Irish (pronounced levor). These three obviously belong to the same language family but you can see Old Irish is merely Breton’s cousin!
French influence can be seen in Mersi! meaning ‘Thank you!’, obviously related to French merci. If you are very thankful, you can say mersi bras, meaning ’thanks a lot!’

Of course you can only judge a language if you’ve heard it spoken. In the case of Breton, that’s very hard because Breton speakers will usually switch to French when they notice you are a foreigner. That’s why it’s also called a hidden language. Next to bilingual streetnames, you won’t even notice people speak a different language! Luckily, there’s music :) So we can at least hear a bit of Breton!

A wir gallon!
Lian

Bibliography
'Colloquial Breton' by Herve ar Bihan and Ian Press
Photography sources
Wikipedia