Irish

Tomás Ó Con Cheannainn

Brian Ó Curnáin writes about Tomás:

Tá sé 98 (beidh sé 99 i mbliana le cúnamh Dé ; rugadh 1927 é). As Baile Chláir na Gaillimhe a mhuintir agus bhí muirín mhór acu. Micheál Ó Con Cheannainn a athair, fear a bhí an-bhródúil as a oidhreacht Ghaelach. Tá caint an athar ar doegen.ie agus ar duchas.ie. Bhí Micheál san IRA agus tá video dhá dhreatháir Seán Ó Con Cheannainn a bhí san IRA 1916 ag caint ar 1916 ar youtube. Is iomú duine cáiliúil a thagadh ar cuairt ag Micheál, agus a shuíodh san áit a bhfuil na ceamaraí againne, ar thóir Gaeilge agus ceoil: Ciarán Mac Mathúna (RTÉ), Séamas Mac Aonghusa (RTÉ, Roinn Bhéaloideas Éireann), Ciarán Bairéad (Roinn Bhéaloideas Éireann) agus Máirtín Ó Cadhain (údar mór próis na 20ú haoise).

Chaith Team a shaol san áit ar rugadh is ar tógadh é, Rinn na hAirne, Eanach Dhúin, Co. na Gaillimhe. B’as ceantar Mhaigh Cuilinn a bhean Máire, a cailleadh os cionn deich mbliana ó shin. Tá a chlann mhuirneach iníon ar fad i gContae na Gaillimhe. Bhí bád ar Loch Coirib acu agus páirt d’oileán ar an Loch. Bhíodh Micheál ag déanamh poitín agus siar thar an Loch a bhíodh an stil aige. Tá Tomás fós ag tiomáint a tharracóir (tractor) agus ag feirmeoireacht beagán. Tá an-suim i gcapaill aige, san iarann agus sa ngaibhníocht agus san fheirimeoireacht. Bhí sé ina mhaor ar an Mart in Áth Cinn. Bhí sé ag obair ar an scéim uisce áitiúil. Bhí baint aige le athchóiriú an phinniúir liathróid láimhe (handball alley). Is maith leis an chraic, an spraoi, ceol agus amhráin agus damhsa, an foxtrot ina measc. Tá guth deas amhráin aige agus is iomaí amhrán a chas sé ag cruinnithe agus scléipeanna.

He is 98 (he will be 99 this year, God willing; he was born in 1927). His family is from Baile Chláir, Galway and they had a large family. His father was Micheál Ó Con Cheannainn, a man who was very proud of his Irish heritage. The father’s speech is on doegen.ie and duchas.ie. Micheál was in the IRA and there is a video of his two brothers Seán Ó Con Cheannainn who was in the IRA in 1916 talking about 1916 on youtube. Many famous people have visited Micheál, and have sat where our cameras are, in search of Irish and music: Ciarán Mac Mathúna (RTÉ), Séamas Mac Aonghusa (RTÉ, Department of Folklore), Ciarán Bairéad (Department of Folklore) and Máirtín Ó Cadhain (a great prose writer of the 20th century).

Tom spent his life in the place where he was born and raised, Rinn na hAirne, Eanagh Dhúin, Co. Galway. His wife Máire, who died over ten years ago, was from the Moycullen area. His lovely family, all daughters, are in County Galway. They had a boat on Loch Corrib and part of an island on the Loch. Micheál used to make poitín and back across the Loch he had a still. Tomás still drives his tractor and does a little farming. He has a great interest in horses, iron and blacksmithing and farming. He was a foreman at the Mart in Headford. He worked on the local water scheme. He was involved in the renovation of the handball alley. He enjoys fun, music and singing and dancing, including the foxtrot. He has a beautiful singing voice and has performed many songs at meetings and gatherings.

Here is Brian’s latest recording with Tomás:

Clilstore transcript: https://multidict.net/cs/12694

It’s a delightful addition to the Island Voices Videos channel to sit alongside the five previous recordings of Tomàs in conversation with Pádraig Ó Fathaigh that are already in our Stòras beó/Taisce bheo collection. And Brian promises there are more to come still!

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Taigh an Ròid a’ sireadh dreachd Plana Atharrachadh Gnàth-thìde Riaghaltas na h-Alba

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Gaelic collections updated

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With the official coming into force of the Scottish Languages Act on St Andrew’s Day, it may be worth noting that Island Voices has been steadily gathering collections of recordings in Gaelic communities over past months and years. Not all of these have been separately publicised on the blog before now, so we’re pleased to announce that both the Stòras Beò and Shortcuts pages have been recently updated to incorporate newer recordings that had not yet been made when these collections were first placed online.

And in addition to Scottish languages, those with a “pan-Gaelic” interest should note in particular that the Irish content from Donegal, and particularly Galway, has been growing steadily of late, after making a slower start over Zoom during the pandemic, with engaging stories and songs in cosy domestic settings coming to the fore. These, plus additional Hebridean recordings in Scottish Gaelic can all be found now through added links on the Stòras Beò page, taking the current total number of recordings in this collection up to 68, all accompanied by wordlinked transcriptions.

Similarly, links to the recent conversation with Cathie Laing have also been added to the Shortcuts collection, so the total number of separate video clips on this page is now 52, each complemented with both YouTube subtitling and a Clilstore transcript.

No doubt debate will continue over whether or not “Gaeltacht” or “Area of Linguistic Significance” official designations can or will have effective impact on actual language practice in either Scotland or Ireland. In any event these recordings provide model resources for anyone seeking samples of grounded authentic speech in real-life action.

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Taisce Bheo: Galway Voices

Le Gordon Wells

Galway Voices JPG We’re pleased to play online host for six new Irish voices on the Taisce Bheo na nGael/Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal project run by the UHI Language Sciences Institute, with support from CIALL. These recordings were all co-ordinated by Brian Ó Curnáin of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Jimí and Pádraig discuss and recount anecdotes about their ancestors and their life in the upland small arable areas of Cois Fharraige, west Co. Galway. The first to come to the area was Micil Chearra, and his wife Peigí Ní Dhonnchú from Baile na mBrobhach. They went to live in Clochar (na) Lára on a holding owned by a landlord by the name of Common. They were expelled from their holding, due to a falling out with the Blakes over hare hunting and the little black hound of Micil Uí Chearra. The story of the fairy hare remained in family lore. Jimí remembers Séamas Mhicil, his grandfather. He had a story about a man from Glenicmurrin who got lost in mist on the hills but came to the Cearra home in Clochar Locha, and was grateful to have made it there safely. Both relate incidents involving the poitín distilling. Jimí explains the supernatural origin of the saying ‘I’ll make you change your smile, like Máirtín Mhaitiú did to the ghost.’ Jimí heard his grandmother talking about milking the milk cow and saying prayers that Jimí acquired from her. And he says three of them, including finally the renowned An Mharainn Phádraig.

The Word-linked transcript is available here: https://multidict.net/cs/12092

In Muireann Ní Churnáin agus Brian Ó Curnáin (1) Muireann tells us about her current school life in fifth year at Coláiste an Eachréidh, Athenry, Co. Galway: the school subjects and her academic interests: history and art. She has great praise for the school staff. She talks to her brother Brian about their life in Ros Muc, in the west of Co.Galway, and the move to the Galltacht (English speaking area) in the east of the county, and how she quickly learned English. She also changed her Irish so that she would be better understood in Gaelscoil Riada. It was after the move that she was able to learn ballet in a ballet school in Galway city. She really likes ballet and would like to practice professionally as a teacher. She tells about her travels, especially about her visit to the USA.

The Word-linked transcript is available here: https://multidict.net/cs/12090

In Muireann Ní Churnáin agus Brian Ó Curnáin (2) Muireann tells about the family ski holidays: the hard and easy pistes, the beauty of the mountains and the surroundings, ski accidents and dangers of skiing, as well as safety in groups, and the craziness of the après-ski and even an interesting comparison to ballet. Muireann and Brian went to visit their brother, Dara, when he was working and skiing in Val d’Isère in France fo a season, but Muireann thinks that such a long stay would be too much for her. Brian then turns the conversation to school life and study. Muireann thinks that students now have many advantages because of the information revolution. She then discusses various problems that teenagers are thought to have in their lives. She is very interested in live music, in the likes of Tyle the Creator and Brockhampton. Brian and Muireann follow the rappers Kneecap, although Muireann is not impressed by the drug culture she thinks they are associated with. Both of them discuss the Irish Revival in the context of music fashion and the media.

The Word-linked transcript is available here: https://multidict.net/cs/12091

With Dara Ó Curnáin, Seán Concanonn describes his childhood, his working life, his relations and life in Montiagh (South), Claregalway, Co. Galway. He discusses sports: hurling and football. He describes dairy farming, raising piglets, farm horses, thatching, and of course sowing and spraying spuds! Chicken eggs and young roosters were brought to Galway and sold to shopkeepers. Pigs were killed and eaten at home. Seán also describes the high rates of emigration during his youth in the 1950s and its toll on hurling teams. He spent a short spell working in England with his brother and a while in hospital in Galway with a diagnosis of tuberculosis.

The Word-linked transcript is available here: https://multidict.net/cs/12089

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