Rang Deireanach an tSamhraidh - Dúlamán srl.

This will be the last class/workshop of our series.  I may continue to blog more songs though, as there are just so many to learn about and enjoy!  This time we will look at some very popular songs from the old traditional repetoir.  And we'll get another look at how different performances and arrangements can be.

One of the first groups to make popular arrangements of traditional songs was Clannad.  Here is their version of

Dúlamán

Here are their lyrics, with a translation.  A little tricky/peculiar, and again, this is a song with more than one speaker.  Altan, another big group from Donnegal who are known for their Irish language song arrangements, also did this song (their lyrics are almost the same).  Here is their version.  Celtic Women even did this song as part of their show.  Here it is preceded by An Cailín Álainn.  So this song is about as mainstream as Irish language songs get!  Although among the many other versions out there is one by the Dutch folk/rock/pagan band Omnia, so it runs the gamut. It's even in that animated movie, the Song of the Sea (sort of).  It is quite catchy...

Another very popular song, which is actually another Jacobite song about Bonny Prince Charlie, is

Mo Ghile Mear.

The lyrics aren't easy in this one - they are a few hundred years old, after all!  We don't always know where songs came from, but apparently Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill as Ráth Luirc (1691–1754) wrote this one.  Lots of people have recorded this one, too.  Here's Mary Black singing it.  Not the same verses as above!  How about a nice choral arrangement (ah, the lyrics I know!)?  The Chieftains even let Sting sing the chorus in Irish...

(Seo amhrán neamh-thraidisiúnta dár gcara Caitríona ar an 26ú lá seo de Lúnasa!)

Ach cad a dhéanfaimid feasta?  But what will we do from now on?

Cill Chais

That version is The Dubliners.  Here are the lyrics.  Beware the translation!  This is another group from Galway doing it (in 1981), with English verses too.  There are lots of versions around of this song, too.  This song is apparently about the 18th century but probably composed in the 19th century (so not all that old...).  It's a lament for Margaret Magennis, Viscountess Iveagh, née Burke and also known as Margaret Butler (relative, a Sheosaimh?!).  I believe this is part of the Guinness family.