Fáinne Geal an Lae, An Chúileann

 Seo an scéal:  The Dawning of the Day - Wikipedia

Agus seo na Casadaigh á chanadh:  (1) 'Fáinne Geal an Lae' - Na Casaidigh - YouTube

I thought of this song because of the Quiet Man.  Why?  The cottage name, White o' Morn.  Makes no sense in English.  But if you think it back into the Irish from which it seems to have been badly translated, you get Geal(adh) an Lae, the bright(ening) of the Day, Sunrise.  Fáinne geal an lae is the bright ring of the day, or the dawning (sunrise) of the day.  

This song is quite old, and yet it remains very poplular.

Cúileann comes from cúl fionn, blond back, in other words, a woman with long blond hair.  There's another famous song by that name.  We've been playing this tune for years, but didn't know the lyrics.  Here's a traditional rendition - sung by Brendan Behan!  (1) An Chuileann (Sean Nós) The Coolin in Irish (Acapella) - YouTube.  This song is probably a lot older than the other one - maybe even back to the middle ages!  In English about it: The Coolin - Wikipedia.  It is still very popular, too.

Here are the lyrics: An Chuilfhionn by Áine Minogue (aineminogue.com)  And here are the older lyrics (2 versions), including the line "Ceo meala lá seaca" which Micheál Mac Liammóir used for a book title.

Seo leagan eile de le Lasairíona Ní Chonaola.

Is Fada Liom Uaim Í (Molly na gCuach Ní Chuilleanáin)

Cad tá uait?  What do you want?  Cad tá ag teastáil uait?  What do you need?  (Cad tá ort - what's wrong with you?!)  Airím uaim mo chairde - I miss my friends.  Is fada liom uaim í - I miss her a lot (despite what you see in the usual transations - see fada)

The song is in the Ulster dialect. Cha dtéim is Ulster Irish for ní théim (I don't go) (cha = ní, chan = níl).

There are some conditionals, and a past habitual, so the grammar isn't totally for beginners.  But the chorus is pretty easy:

Is fada liom uaim í, uaim í  (I miss her, miss her a lot)
Is fada liom uaim í ó d'imigh sí  (I miss her since she went away)
Is fada liom thíos agus thuas í (I miss her below and above (everywhere))
Molly na gcuach Ní Chuilleanáin  (Molly of the curls Cullinane)

As usual, there are lots of very different versions of this song.  A popular one is Altan's, although it's hard to get her lyrics a lot of the time.  Danú did a nice more traditional rendition.  There are more!  There's even a crazy parody version...#12...

I Lár an Aonaigh - In the Centre of the Fair

 Aonach, an t-aonach, lár an aonaigh.  Useful word, with some good songs!

One is kind of a kids' song, but everybody knows and likes it:

Beidh Aonach Amárach

Here's a traditional rendition by Joe Heaney.  And here's a very different version by Altan. And this is the more common melody, by John Spillane.

As always, there are many versions of this.  Here are the lyrics (although there are some variations of course, and this has verses that not everyone does).  If you search on that website, you can find a dozen versions from different artists.  A nice thing about this song is that there is a lot of repetition, so it gets things in your head.

A few notes:  Gréasaí bróg is a cobbler of shoes.  Cé mhaith dom é = cén mhaith dom é, what good is it to me.

Another song which mentions a fair is a great drunken song:

Cad é Sin don Té Sin nach mBaineann Sin dó?

Which means, what is that to someone it has nothing to do with - in other words, if I want to drink away all my money, and waste my life, what's it your business?!

Here are the lyrics.  Another well known song, with lots of versions...

Here's Altan.  And here's Maighréad agus Trína Ní Dhónaill.  She mentions doing it many years ago with Skara Brae.  There are many more!

Note:  chun is a preposition that takes the genitive case afterwards, so "chun aonaigh" means to the fair.

First verse:  Chuaigh mé 'un aonaigh is dhíol mé mo bhó (I went to the fair and sold my cow)
Ar chúig phunta airgid is ar ghiní bhuí óir (for five pounds of money/silver and a gold yellow guini)
Má ólaim an t-airgead 's má bhronnaim an t-ór (If I drink the money and give away the gold)
Ó cad é sin don té sin nach mbaineann sin dó? (what business is that to anyone else)

Leabhair a Luadh - Books which were mentioned

 Seo na leabhair a mhol mé sa samhradh - Here are the books I recommended in the Summer.

Eileanóir a Rún

Now that our summer class is over, I'm just going to randomly pick songs that I like, and write about them at random intervals!  I learn something myself every time I do these blog posts, so hopefully you do too, and have some fun with it.  I'll keep them mostly in English so people with any amount of Irish can get something out of it.

This is a song I like to sing and recently just found a great duet version of it.  It is often called Eileanóir na Rún, but I think the n is a result of a style of singing (we heard this in other songs we did early on, where for ornamentation extra Ns crop up between vowels).  This is addressing Eileanór (even though the vocative particle 'a' is absorbed by the vowel at the beginning of Eileanór).  So it is Eleanore my dear, my love (my secret), not Eleanore of the secrets!  Here are the lyrics.

Here's a tradtional sean-nós rendering of it by the great Joe Heaney.

And here is that wonderful duet version by Séamus agus Caoimhe Uí Fhlatharta.  This is from 2020.

The song was composed by Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, in the 17th century(!), and there's quite a story behind it (even if it is all made up - the real one seems to be in the previous link - and is almost as amazing!).  This link has Joe Heaney's story and all kinds of details, including an English translation.

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.

Antaine Ó Raiftearaí (c.1779-1835)

As I've mentioned already, in 2010 I was privileged to be part of a great TV program, which also became a book (2015), by Tadhg Mac Dhonnagháin, Mise Raiftearaí: An Fíodóir Focal (I am Raftery, the weaver of words). Antaine Ó Raiftearaí was a great poet and songwriter, a blind fiddle player, in the early 19thh century. He was one of the last great professional Irish language poets of the remnant of Gaelic Ireland. Hopefully someday I can show you all that program (I have a copy). I was in it because Raftery's most famous poem, Mise Raiftearaí an File (which Tadhg does not believe he actually wrote!) was published originally in An Gaodhal (An Gael), the periodical which I now edit and publish. Raftery's songs and poems are still very popular. It was Patrick Pearse who re-ignited interest in Raftery, after he heard someone singing one of the songs when he was learning Irish.


I have not found a way to get the film on-line, but this is a clip from it, about the first song we will look at, Eanach Dhúin (usually now mis-spelled as Eanach Chuain or Cuan - spelling is an issue with Raftery's name and more than one song title!). One of the saddest songs in Irish, and that's saying something! This is of course what is now called sean nós singing.

Eanach Cuan [Dhúin] 

(the great Joe Heaney/Séosamh Ó hÉanaí singing in the above link).  Here are all his lyrics.
Here are the lyrics, with translation.
In case you are interested, there is an English language version.  Even though it is very nice, it's not as close to the reality of the story and the true feeling of the original.

This is not by any means the most famous of Raftery's songs.  That would be the one that everyone knows:

Cill Aodáin

(which should be Cill Liadáin!).  This is a completely different type of song - it's just fun.  An exaggerated praise of one of his stomping grounds in Mayo.   Here are they lyrics with translation.  Strangely, although it is super well known, there aren't many versions on youtube.  Here are the first 2/3 with a little explanation first.
Here are some kids doing parts of this and another great song.  These songs have always been taught in the schools.
This song has been played around with in all different ways.  Áine Uí Cheallaigh (who was in Riverdance and other shows, a great singer especially in Irish) did a very interesting version with orchestra (in Riverdance).

Máire ní hEidhin

(3 verses only in the link above).  This is again a totally different type of song, one praising a woman (and he did like his women...).  He even mentions himself in the song.  Here are the lyrics.
Here's the whole song being done at the Oireachtas (Buaiteoir Chorn Uí Riada 2013 Micheál Ó Confhaola).  The Oireachtas is the annual Irish language festival, and the Ó Riada prize is for sean nós singing - the biggest recognition you can get.
The biggest praise a woman can get is to have poems or songs written about her, of course.  And it is an ancient tradition that poets' praises or satires can make or break your reputation (and possibly have physical effects as well!).  If you are a wandering poet like Raftery was (one of the last), if your host is generous, you praise him, and vice-versa...  Raftery even had a poetry (insult) duel with another poet at one time - kind of like wizards battling!

So maybe you'll want to read the book now!