- 8 hours ago
Imelda May - Amhráin na nGael - Season 1 Episode 6
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00The Falls Road, stretching from Belfast city centre out to the suburban estates of Andersonstown.
00:06It's the archery of nationalist West Belfast.
00:09Over the past 20 years, the Falls has suffered some of the worst of the troubles.
00:13Whole streets disappeared in the flames of 1969.
00:17Yet locals say that while it's undoubtedly a troubled thoroughfare,
00:20it is not one without laughter and a personality all of its own.
00:30There was no way I was going to come on this journey without landing in Belfast.
00:38Bale Ferrische, mouth of the river Ferrische.
00:42People up here are incredible.
00:44The language, the song, the music, the traditions, the culture is strong as ever up here.
00:51In fact, stronger than ever, I'd go as far as saying.
00:54All the way from the Aureole traditions in South Armagh,
00:59and then you have these pockets up in the north of Ireland,
01:03particularly up in Derry, up in Belfast,
01:05who've held on to it for all of that time,
01:08surrounded by all the trials and tribulations that come with that,
01:11and have been proud to hold on to it.
01:14And I think we owe them more than anyone else.
01:19Yeah.
02:02I have a good one.
02:04I was happy with beautiful tropicals,
02:06and I am so glad that you also have a beard.
02:08Do you want to be part of the language here?
02:09Well, when I first was born in the TAX,
02:12they came out after being trained at Keeping Upadan입니다 in Belfast.
02:17like tell me about how you met so funny story and i was pearson's teacher when he was rang
02:23he and he was cook blendish and came into primary school and i was just fresh at a university
02:28starting as a gale school teacher in cross mcglenn this wee red-haired boy came into my class five
02:32years of age singing all the dubliner songs he knew all the words of every dubliner song that
02:37i knew and was mad for singing oh yeah looking back where did the like singing thing come out
02:43of it and so dad when i was about four dad gave me like a dubliner cd i think it's kind of in our
02:49house i got a taste of the limelight and just couldn't help myself then unfortunately so oriel
02:54is like a gale doctor area in the north of ireland that a lot of people don't talk about enough i don't
03:02think so the region of oriel itself is you're talking south armagh most of county loud monaghan
03:08and it was a an area of real historical significance and especially to music and
03:14song tradition of the country and it became significant then for another reason as it was
03:20the last sort of outpost of and gaelic speakers in this side of the country in the northeast and
03:28but it did day out it was late enough on that there were collectors and that understood that that the
03:35language was dying out and that if they didn't act fast something very precious was going to be lost
03:40so there were these collectors like and there was one man sean o'hannon he owned a grocery shop in
03:46crossing glen and at that stage the language was kind of dying out in the town itself but the people
03:51that lived out in the countryside outside cross they still spoke irish and sang songs so when they
03:56would come in to get their groceries he would get like sheets of wrapping paper he would pull them down
04:01up the wall flip them around and he would ask them to sing the song and he wrote down the words
04:05and he collected like 150 odd songs this way that otherwise would have completely died out there were
04:12other than really well-known collectors that collected in the area lork and o'mori luke donlin because
04:17i was in a really fortunate position in the school that i could then spread these seeds with the younger
04:22ones and good woman yeah and they talked to it just like ducks to water if you look at
04:28people that's attending the school like really like real beacons for like there is that element
04:35of community behind it there's three of us in the house and if we all had children 10 i would have
04:40i would 100 be sending children to a gale school i would say my brother would be the same my sister
04:47would definitely be the same so it would end up being a case there's another generation and it's
04:51expanding and expanding and growing naturally what do you think of this revival of the irish
04:58language i think irish medium education in the six counties especially um has been at the center of
05:05a lot of that growth credit has to go to the people of belfast especially to the irish language speaking
05:10community we're we're from armagh but like they're they have a their slogan is na habari janay and they
05:16had not only did they not have any funding or did they not have any state recognition they had
05:22opposition on every turnaround so we look to them like i said that they're the irish language community
05:28in this city is very very special it's wonderful now i want to hear some songs please i i i heard you
05:37um rehearsing in the distance there and i'm going mad to hear more so we're going to go with a nice
05:43light-hearted one we're going to go with tan alive so this is the ariel version and and there's also
05:49another significance to it it was the last song that was heard and sang by a native speaker in county armagh
05:56and that was that that's the story of ariel that the songs actually lasted longer than the spoken
06:01language they were that it was like where the language clung to was the songs and we held fast
06:06to our songs even even when the spoken language was gone so it feels like it feels like a good one
06:10to do we'll give you a wee bit of that please
06:26so
06:35like
06:38I'm watching you know
06:40I feel like this
06:43She didn't
06:45I'm sure
06:48I'm okay sure
06:50I'm sure
06:52I'm not sure
06:54I'm
06:56I'm
06:58Oh
07:00It's not
07:02I'm
07:04I'm
07:06I'm
07:08I'm
07:10I'm
07:12I'm
07:14I'm
07:16I'm
07:18I'm
07:20I'm
07:22I'm
07:24I'm
07:26I'm
07:28I'm
07:30I'm
07:32Oh my God, gorgeous. It's such a light-hearted and gorgeous song.
07:49I just got really emotional the thoughts of the language been gone more or less or unspoken
07:58and that it lived on through song, and then this was the last song in the area.
08:06It's a very special place. Yeah, absolutely.
08:18I'm so inspired by Gaeilgoode in Twisgert and Tantunana Eskint.
08:23It's a very special place to be seen in the past of the year's day of the year's day,
08:29and we're going to see a new song in the past.
08:33Gaeilgoode in Tantunana Eskint.
08:35I'm so excited to be a new song in Tantunana Eskint.
08:39It's a very special song in Tantunana Eskint.
08:44and I think all the people that I've heard
08:47are in the group of Kiela
08:48and they're all in the same way
08:50and they're all in the same way
08:53and they're all in the same way
08:55and they're all in the same way
09:14As Lauren said, it's between a waltz and a jig, you know,
09:17so it's just going between the two of them, yeah.
09:19It's intricate.
09:21Yeah, yeah.
09:21I used to go to your gigs when I was a teenager.
09:25You were teenagers probably too.
09:27And one thing that you've always done is sing and speak a scale of it.
09:32Were you raised with Irish or was it something that you naturally just...
09:36It was a natural way that you went into the world?
09:39Yeah.
09:40Couldn't speak English.
09:42There was no English in the house, you see.
09:44I remember when we were young, you know,
09:46like it wasn't always easy being a grail girl, do you know what I mean?
09:50Like there was a bit of a, you know,
09:53truth be told, everyone was looking down on you, you know,
09:55and you talk English loudly, but to keep it in-house kind of thing.
10:00Isn't that awful?
10:01I think, now, my guess was,
10:05all right, this is a funny language, this is a family language,
10:07everyone, loads of people speak about it,
10:09quinnying with adoring, hey, now,
10:11we're keeping it amongst each other and keep it on the low.
10:13So, that's how it went.
10:16So you could, but yeah, but, and then there was enough of us,
10:19we were in a bubble, you know,
10:21and there was another maybe 50 families spread around Dublin
10:24who were bringing their kids up Bosquega.
10:27So, what can I say, we didn't know any better.
10:31Do you know?
10:31And were your parents Dubs?
10:33No, Carlo, Limerick, they met in Dublin.
10:39I suppose they made the conscious decision.
10:41To raise you.
10:42Yeah, and to change their language to Gaeilge.
10:46So.
10:46Because their court and language was English.
10:49All right.
10:49And then when they got married,
10:51they decided that we were going to do this.
10:53It's amazing.
10:54Yeah.
10:54Yeah.
10:55Like my mum's.
10:56What a gift.
10:56And the two of them were revolutionaries.
10:58They were dying, they were dying to go against the grain.
11:01Yeah.
11:01Everything.
11:01Oh, yeah.
11:02It's not expected, because this is the pale.
11:05Yeah.
11:05So, it's not expected that something deep-rooted could be here.
11:11I suppose that's what I've found in my life.
11:13People are really surprised.
11:14Black, yeah.
11:15You go, huh?
11:16And they go, yeah, there's loads of us.
11:18So, your house was an oasis.
11:21A little gate, yeah.
11:23A little gate, so people could come to talk, to be themselves.
11:26But in English as well.
11:28It was a bilingual house.
11:29It wasn't an Irish-language house per se.
11:32Well, that was in our teens,
11:33but not even with Björg near the Cade in Ireland.
11:36Yeah, but your friends spoke her English.
11:37Yeah, but that was the worst thing.
11:39I mean, it was all great until you're trying to chat up a girl.
11:42But expecting a phone call,
11:44and Dada answers the phone before you get downstairs.
11:46And you're like,
11:47I was learning to say, what are you going to do?
11:48And you're like, I hear it, come on.
11:51You're not doing me any favors here, Dada.
11:53You're like, Dada, give me a chance, man.
11:57See, we're from the city.
12:00It's a restlessness.
12:02That's how I read it.
12:05There's a restlessness, you know.
12:06So it was fairly conscious.
12:09I wanted to drive Greg.
12:11I wanted it to be loud, proud, and un-step-backable.
12:15And I wanted to, you know, just go at it
12:18and bring it, you know, anything I heard.
12:20I wanted to somehow have the equivalent of anything I was met up in.
12:24And so I wasn't thinking of the rest of the country, even.
12:26I was just thinking in Dublin.
12:28And it's nice when you sing.
12:29Because getting to sing is a big curve.
12:32You have to go up your own little stairs inside yourself
12:35to be relaxed, making such a noise through a load of speakers, you know.
12:41So it takes a while.
12:42Like, it took me a long time to get there.
12:45But I was kind of writing anyway.
12:48Yeah.
12:48And I was writing on Gaelge because, and then weirdly enough,
12:52not weirdly, but Gaelge is a lot stronger and more direct, you know.
12:55I know.
12:56It works with the tunes we play and so.
12:58Absolutely.
12:59So, and I hope, I hope everyone else can get,
13:02and I hope you can get, to a place where it's even Stevens.
13:07And it's a real thing, you know.
13:09That's, for me, that's what I'd want for everyone because...
13:12It's a real thing.
13:13Yeah, it's easy.
13:14It'd be nice if it was just like that and you could, yeah.
13:17Dip it into any language, whatever.
13:20We should be a bilingual society in a way.
13:22Yeah, that's what I'd say.
13:23Here, we should be able to speak Irish English
13:25and flip with whatever you want to do.
13:27Beautiful.
13:27Are you going to play with us?
13:29Moshé de Olay?
13:31Listen, I don't think I can ever play the Baron up front of you, right?
13:36Ah, come on.
13:37Listen.
13:38That's the way to think.
13:38I remember, I think, when I first saw you playing the Baron,
13:42I was absolutely lit.
13:44I was absolutely lit.
13:47I was really lit.
13:49I was très vigilant.
13:49If you were a fan of the Baron,
13:52then I found it to be a bear.
13:55So I'll be your twill on my nest.
13:58Only do I with me.
14:00I'll be your twill on my nest.
14:02Take a twill on my nest.
14:04There's nothing out with me.
14:05Yeah.
14:06Take a twill on my nest.
14:08I'll have nothing out with me.
14:09So, on tail to the muck, on tail to the muck.
14:39On tail to the muck, on tail to the muck.
15:09On tail to the muck, on tail to the muck.
15:16On tail to the muck.
15:18On tail to the muck, on tail to the muck.
15:25I got on fabulously.
15:27You had a great journey.
15:30It's opened my eyes, you know, and it's...
15:34And I really appreciate you chatting with me and sending me on my way.
15:38I really, really did.
15:40You had that curiosity.
15:42And you got over your fear.
15:44That was a big thing, getting over the fear.
15:47I think that's the main thing for anyone.
15:49Yeah.
15:50No, but what do you think of...
15:52What do you think of what's happening in Ireland at the moment?
15:55Well, I kind of like what's happening a lot around the language.
15:58There's a lot of positivity around the language that I don't remember from years ago.
16:04Mm-hmm.
16:05And I know kneecap are controversial, but a lot of it is coming from kneecap.
16:12And the fact that they are standing up for people's rights and that sort of thing.
16:17The whole idea of going into the Geltacht.
16:19Some people think, oh, that Croucher.
16:22God knows, they'll skin you alive and send you home.
16:25But that's not the way, that's not what you found.
16:28Not at all.
16:29I found there was such a...
16:32Just a lovely community.
16:34Yeah.
16:35What was your favourite song?
16:37I mean...
16:39Donalogue is the song that kind of haunts me the most.
16:42Right.
16:44I loved how, with Donalogue and loads of songs,
16:47how each area claimed as their own and said that theirs was the best version.
16:51Yeah.
16:52And you had to choose then which version you liked best.
16:56Well, yeah.
16:57Well, I had to choose who I thought would...
17:00would get the least cross at me if I didn't choose theirs.
17:07And I tried to learn each song in a day.
17:10Mm-hmm.
17:11And I wish I had a week for each one.
17:14I think on Cooling, I might have put a bit too much pressure on myself.
17:20And I got a bit frustrated that I felt I wasn't able to do it justice.
17:24Not in one day. Cooling's not a song for one day.
17:27It's not a song for one day.
17:28It's not a song for one day.
17:29I wish you had a song.
17:30I wish I had found that out at the beginning from me, saying,
17:34what song should I not...
17:35It's good to set yourself a challenge.
17:37And also, the pronunciations in every place changes, obviously.
17:42And I knew there would be dialect.
17:45But dear God, like, I go to one area and learn a bit,
17:49thinking I was doing well, and then move on to the next area.
17:51And they'd say, no, you don't say it like that.
17:53And then I'd get my head around that and go to the next and the same.
17:59I have more of an understanding of what people did physically.
18:06Like, when I talk to people about their parents and their grandparents
18:10collecting songs, and how physical that is as well.
18:15It's climbing up a mountain with a battered piece of recording equipment
18:22that only are I'm trying to get the last of these songs
18:27from generations who wouldn't be around forever.
18:30That's right.
18:31And the songs would be gone with them.
18:32I understand the importance of it more now.
18:39And you've dedicated so much of your life to it.
18:42And I've heard from people as I travelled how important that was,
18:47but I've gotten an understanding of how important.
18:51the work is that you do.
18:53What's that?
18:54What's that?
18:56Good morning.
18:57Thank you, Amanda.
18:58Thank you, Amanda.
18:59Thank you very much.
19:01For all you've done and you still support me and saying go for it, Amanda.
19:04That's it.
19:05You did a great job.
19:06Not a bad start.
19:08Very good start.
19:09Very good start.
19:10And I'm glad to be here with you all.
19:12And we're very grateful for your life.
19:14We're grateful for your time in the family.
19:15And the people of other people are here and you're
19:17all very grateful for our life.
19:19And we are happy to be here.
19:20With you all,
19:20as it's been a day to be lived,
19:21and we are happy to be here with you.
19:24And I'm happy to be here.
19:25We're at the same time in the summer.
19:26Our life and the year,
19:27we're going to have to be here.
19:28..in our danganh khóch a Sveinig.
19:31Aster, alienta, agus eenshleachtuil...
19:35..are le isha boher me Gaelhainé, agus nílimidrach na gus.
19:58I'm sorry.
20:06No, no, it's a range now.
20:08So that's it.
20:09You have it all.
20:09Oh, and then I'll wait.
20:19Oh, I like that.
20:43I love it.
20:49Oh, I like that.
21:19Oh, I like that.
21:49Oh, I like that.
21:51Oh, I like that.
21:55Oh, I like that.
21:57Oh, I like that.
22:01Oh, I like that.
22:03Oh, I like that.
22:07Oh, I like that.
22:09Oh, I like that.
22:11Oh, I like that.
22:13Oh, I like that.
22:15Oh, I like that.
22:17Oh, I like that.
22:19Oh, I like that.
22:21Oh, I like that.
22:23Oh, I like that.
22:25After travelling around the country and visiting most of the Gaeltacht, I feel a renewed sense
22:36of almost ownership over my language, our gorgeous language, and the songs associated
22:45with it.
22:48As part of this journey, I challenge myself to sing in all dialects of Ireland, each
22:52one thinking they're the right one, by the way.
22:57This was hugely difficult, not only because of the differences in rhythm and pronunciation
23:01in each area, but also because I attempted to learn and craft and feel each song within
23:07a single day.
23:12Despite the intensity of the process, this has given me a deeper appreciation for the richness
23:19and diversity of these songs, and the powerful role that music plays in preserving and reviving
23:27our stories of our people and our land.
23:34Thank you for having me.
Be the first to comment