Sean-nós (Irish Traditional)

paralleloscope

The Living Force
I've been looking for this music without knowing it, a style for me to break that throat (chakra) block I've been carrying. It brings emotional cleansing. A style or tonality which revolves around the root tone, a sort of droning. It can convey both joy,hope and lament. Since I don't know Gaelic I just chant gibberish, maybe I will develop some lyrics over time.

Some of the cadence and feel reminds me of other traditions like American Indian chanting and certain gypsy styles, maybe there is a glimpse of antediluvean music culture underneath?

Julie Henigan said:
The word sean-nós to denote traditional singing is actually of fairly recent origin. It was apparently created in 1940 or '41 at the Gaelic League Oireachtas, the annual festival of traditional song and storytelling which initiated the competitions that have since become an Irish institution. 1. Tape recorded interview with Aodh Ó Duibheannaigh, Rann na Feirste, Co Donegal, Ireland, 2 July 1979.1 Sean-nós literally means 'old way' or 'custom', and in the context of the competitions it has come to indicate the traditional performance style of folksongs in the Gaelic language. This style is comprised of such technical aspects of performance as intonation, ornamentation, and tempo.
...
Sean-nós, in conclusion, cannot be reduced to a single definition; rather, it has many different levels of meaning, depending upon the context in which the term is used. It may be used to describe distinct performance styles - or to refer to the singing tradition as a whole. In this larger sense, sean-nós embodies the many interrelated aspects of the tradition, including performance style, performance context, social function, and repertoire. On a personal level, sean-nós has as many meanings as there are members of the tradition - and as many functions. It can serve at once as a form of entertainment, as an emotional release, and as a means of communication, expressing life as it enriches it, creating connections with the community and with the world at large.

All my informants in Donegal sang as they breathed: unselfconsciously and spontaneously. Describing the prevalence of singing in her daily life, Sailí Gallagher exclaimed:

I always sing when I'm working - I never stop singing! I never stop - and somebody'll see us the other day, and I was makin' tea and I was singin' away, and they said, "Well, you're happy, anyway." But I never stop singing - I always keep on! 35. Gallagher, Sailí.35

Aine Ní Ghallachóir, recalling her girlhood, remarked, "Oh, I sang everywhere - across the fields and jumping over the ditches - I sang everywhere, to myself!" 36. Ní Ghallachóir, Aine.36

To the traditional singer, sean-nós is no mere matter of technique or style. It cannot be bounded by concepts of time and space - or even by the folkloristic concepts I have discussed here (function, performance context, repertoire, etc.). Such concepts imply that human behavior and creativity can be separated into discrete units and analyzed accordingly. But to the traditional singer, there can be no such tidy demarcations. To him, sean-nós cannot be detached from the process of living, for it is the stuff of life itself.

Here are some I enjoyed

Róisín El Safety
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8paj2hQHIo&NR=1

Iarla Ó Lionáird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFUVn7884a4&feature=related

Jimmy Canavan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3ZDLuguJ0g&feature=related

Nell Ní Chróinín
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBmWqxUF7LI&feature=related

Máire Níc Liam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgG7hT_gxgY

Liam Ó'Maonlaí
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Tt9HgPXDo&NR=1
(with instruments)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFlHO3r9UBk&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goJ6vYJQU9w&feature=related
 
Just posting my thanks. Most music grates on my relatively quickly. This, however, was lovely. Thanks again.
 
Thanks for sharing Parallel.

I've been looking for this music without knowing it, a style for me to break that throat (chakra) block I've been carrying. It brings emotional cleansing. A style or tonality which revolves around the root tone, a sort of droning. It can convey both joy,hope and lament. Since I don't know Gaelic I just chant gibberish, maybe I will develop some lyrics over time.

Although I didn't have to study Gaelic at school when my family moved 'back home' to Ireland, I really love the language and traditional music, which I grew up listening to. I have been taking much more interest in my Celtic ancestry recently, and learning a lot in the process. Like you, I am seeking a form of expression to free up my throat chakra - and I feel Sean-nós may be the way for me. Just listening to some of this music has a profoundly emotional effect on me - "joy, hope and lament" as you mentioned. Our ancestors had to cope with the trials and tribulations of life, as we do, albeit in different ways. Prior to reading and writing, everything from the passing down of knowledge, to processing of emotions was done orally or in another form of artistic (creative) expression.

This is a beautiful Sean-nós lament, 'The Keening of the Three Marys'.

Le Caoineadh na dTri Mhuire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVLfk21AD8k


Keening is a form of vocal lament associated with mourning that is traditional in Ireland, Scotland, and other cultures.

"Keen" as a noun or verb comes from the Irish/Scots Gaelic term "caoineadh" (to cry, to weep) and references to it from the seventh, eighth and twelfth centuries are extensive.

Written sources that refer to the practice in Ireland and Gaelic Scotland reappear from the sixteenth century on. It should be noted however that the principle of improvised vocal lament is in no way reserved to the Gaelic world and that laments are documented from various cultures around the world.

The Irish tradition of keening over the body at the burial is distinct from the wake - the practice of watching over the corpse - which took place the night before the burial. The "keen" itself is thought to have been constituted of stock poetic elements (the listing of the genealogy of the deceased, praise for the deceased, emphasis on the woeful condition of those left behind etc.) set to vocal lament. While generally carried out by one or several women, a chorus may have been intoned by all present. Physical movements involving rocking, kneeling or clapping accompanied the keening woman ("bean chaoineadh") who was often paid for her services.

After consistent opposition from the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland (Synods opposed the practice in 1631, 1748 and 1800) that went so far as to recommend excommunication for offenders, the practice became extinct; the Church's position is however unlikely to have been the sole cause. Although some recordings have been made and the practice has been documented up to recent times, it is generally considered to be extinct.

John Millington Synge's one-act play Riders to the Sea features a chorus of women from the Aran Islands mourning the death of their loved ones at sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keening

In a sense, the "keen" is a beautiful process of honouring the deceased, and perhaps assisting them on their onward journey.

Some of the cadence and feel reminds me of other traditions like American Indian chanting and certain gypsy styles, maybe there is a glimpse of antediluvean music culture underneath?

There does indeed seem to be a common bond with many tribal societies throughout the world.

The death wail is a keening, mourning lament, generally performed in ritual fashion soon after the death of a member of a family or tribe. Examples of death wails have been found in numerous societies, including among the Celts and various indigenous peoples of Asia and Africa, and they are associated with Indigenous Australian peoples. This article focuses on the death wail among Indigenous Australians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_wail

There is a further explaination of the 'shamanic' role of these keening women, in this paper (pdf file), a small potion of which is included below.

Madwoman, Banshee, Shaman: Gender, changing performance contexts and the Irish wake ritual

ABSTRACT TEXT:

This paper will examine the central role of women in Irish keening (caoineadh) or ritual lamentation, its “submersion” through the eventual suppression of the rite and its subsequent “de-ritualisation”


The bean chaointe (keening woman) inhabited a liminal state between the living and the world of the dead for the duration of the mourning period
, entering a kind of “divine madness” which allowed the keener to express the collective outpouring of grief through her voice and body, leading the community in a public expression of sorrow and lament. Because the keener could traverse the parallel worlds and use the power of the voice to guide the soul, the Roman Catholic Church decided to abolish wakes with their attendant laments thereby relegating the community to the position of silent watchers.


http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/30483/62077_1.pdf;jsessionid=7F648095FECA79840F4C6FE0145104D2?sequence=1
 
Acapella and traditional music is probably one of my favourite styles, and as you say, it really hits me emotionally, i can't help but sing and i almost always feel serene after.

I've been trawling youtube for similar traditional styles - Gregorian chant, traditional Arabic and Sufi songs, Mongolian throat singing (really nice) and Bulgarian/Medieval & Corsican Polyphonic (Corse polyphonique),; though some of them may be a bit 'grander' than these solo irish ditties :)

Also, try the pipe breathing whilst singing (you're basically doing it anyway), seems to really put me in the 'zone', faster than just breathing i think.

Thanks for sharing Parallel, i'll add them to my list

"Keen" as a noun or verb comes from the Irish/Scots Gaelic term "caoineadh" (to cry, to weep)

This is fascinating, because very many of these traditional songs do sound so very mournful. But a sorrowful joy; soothing oneself through song (which is very accurate). I've also read that the variation from low to high, common in traditional music, has a profound effect on the listener, like Gregorian chant.
 
Back
Top Bottom