Music and song collected by Séamus Ennis in the 1940s and recreated by contemporary singers and musicians associated with the same locality.  Presented by Ríonach uí Ógáin, with thanks to the National Folklore Collection  and the Arts Council

Séamus Ennis is remembered for the most part as a piper par excellence. However he was also a collector, broadcaster, singer and raconteur. His appointment with the Irish Folklore Commission spanned the years 1942 to 1947 and the results of his fieldwork contain a wide variety of material, with an emphasis on traditional music and song. His work brought him to the west of Ireland and most of the material is in Irish. His collecting tools consisted of pen and paper although he made a small number of sound recordings according as sound recording equipment, primarily the Ediphone, was made available for some field trips. As a result, the bulk of the songs, tunes and airs from Ennis exist in manuscript form alone. The Ennis music transcriptions amount to some 600 songs and tunes, with songs accounting for around three quarters.  Ennis built relationships with singers and musicians inside and outside their homes, as people willingly gave their music and song to him. The dance music was transcribed from lilting and whistling for the most part with a small amount of instrumental music from accordion, fiddle and uilleann pipes. Following his initial documentation of the staff notation and words of tunes and songs, Séamus Ennis then transcribed the music from his field notes to the manuscripts now found in the the National Folklore Collection,UCD. 

This project, funded by the Arts Council, highlights the importance of understanding earlier fieldwork followed by an archival process. Crucially, it gives an insight into archival material which is the result of ethnographic fieldwork. Older transcriptions have been given new life and interpretation as contemporary performers engage with the work of Séamus Ennis as fieldworker and transcriber. The manuscript material provides a provenance and original performer. 

Singers and musicians have been invited to investigate and interpret some of the songs and music in the Ennis Collection. After the performers had chosen their particular transcriptions, they then engaged with tunes and songs collected at a given time and in a given place. Singers and musicians were then recorded. The transcriptions capture the exchange involved in fieldwork. The initiative allows for a combination of recognition of the work of Séamus Ennis, of the material itself and of the archive, while being also true to contemporary singers and musicians. It generates a fresh relationship of our current time to the archive. 

The project offered an opportunity for performers to interpret handwritten, archival transcriptions at will. They have given new insights and new life rather than imitation.  The transcriptions have provided a framework while at the same time enabling the artists’ innovation, interpretation and creativity. 

Ríonach uí Ogáin, May 2022

Le Buíochas / With thanks

Na ceoltóirí agus na fonnadóirí, the musicians and singers, An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Marty Curran, Adam Girard, Treasa Harkin, Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann, Leabharlann na Breataine, Neansaí Ní Choisdealbha, Peigí Ní Thuathail, Garry Ó Briain, Damien Ó Dónaill, Máire O’Keeffe, Gwyn Ó Murchú, JJ O’Shea, Tom Sherlock, Lisa Shields.  Séamus Ennis photograph courtesy of Anna, Mary agus Nóra Ní Chadhain.

Neansaí Ní Choisdealbha is from Cor na Rón, Cois Fharraige, County Galway. She began learning music at home where her father Michael Mheáirt Ó Coisdealbha played the accordion and her mother Bairbre was a set dancer and played the Jew’s Harp. Neansaí started off playing the accordion and then began to learn to play the tin whistle. Later, she began to learn the flute. She started working with Raidió na Gaeltachta in 1986. Initially  she worked in the area of sound recording and was then technical manager of the project which saw the digitisation of the entire Raidió na Gaeltachta archive. Neansaí began work as programme manager and as Head of Music. She then began to travel around Ireland collecting and recording music. She presents four weekly music programmes. Her programme ‘Ceol Binn ó na Beanna’ is regarded as the station’s  flagship programme of traditional music and Neansaí has a special talent in presenting the best of music. She has recorded two albums Draíocht na Feadóige and An Tower. In 2014 Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann made an award in recognition of her pioneering work and she has also received recognition from the Celtic Media Festival.  

As Casla i gConamara dó ó dhúchas, oideachasóir ab ea Liam, ina mhúinteoir bunscoile ar dtús agus ina stiúrthóir ar Theanglann UCD ó 1979 go 1996. Iriseoir agus craoltóir ab ea é leis, ag obair i seomra nuachta RTÉ ó na 1960í agus ag léamh na nuachta ar an stáisiún. Ina dhiaidh sin bhí sé ina chathaoirleach le fada ar an gclár teanga Leagan Cainte ar Raidió na Gaeltachta. I measc na bhfoilseachán a scríobh sé nó a d’aistrigh sé bhí go háirithe leabhair a bhain le saol, tíreolaíocht agus cultúr Chonamara.

Bhí suim ar leith aige san amhránaíocht ar an sean-nós, é féin ina amhránaí cumasach agus é i gcónaí ag cur daoine eile ag gabháil fhoinn, go minic ag an Oireachtas, féile a raibh se ina uachtarán uirthi i 2009. Bhí sé ina bhall den choiste a chuir an fhéile cheannródaíoch Sean-Nós Cois Life ar siúl i 1992, agus bronnadh Gradam na heagraíochta sin air i 2015. Ceann dá mhór-shaothair ab ea beathaisnéis amhránaí ar an sean-nós – Seosamh Ó hÉanaí: Nár Fhágha Mé Bás Choíche (2009) – agus scríobh sé aistí tagartha go leor don chnuasach Leabhar Mór na nAmhrán (2013). Chaith Liam dhá thréimhse ar Bhord na Taisce, 1995–1997 agus 2000–2002.

A native of Casla, Conamara, Liam was an educationalist, a primary teacher at first and the director of the Teanglann language laboratory in University College Dublin from 1979 to 1996. He was also a journalist and broadcaster, working from the 1960s in the newsroom of RTÉ and reading the news on the station. He was later chair of the long-running language programme Leagan Cainte on Raidió na Gaeltachta. Among the publications he authored or translated were especially books on the life, geography and culture of Conamara.

Liam had a particular interest in traditional singing in Irish. A fine singer himself, he constantly encouraged other singers, often at the Oireachtas, the national cultural festival of which he was president in 2015. He was a member of the committee which founded the pioneering Dublin singing festival Sean-Nós Cois Life in 1992, and was awarded its Gradam in 2015. One of his main publications was the biography of a traditional singer – Seosamh Ó hÉanaí: Nár Fhágha Mé Bás Choíche (2009) – and he was a major contributor to the song anthology Leabhar Mór na nAmhrán (2013). He spent two periods on the Bord of the Archive, 1995–1997 and 2000–2002.

WRITTEN BY Nicholas Carolan, 10 May 2019

Amhránaí ar an sean-nós í Sarah Ghriallais as Muiceanach i nGaeltacht Chonamara. Bhuaigh sí Corn Uí Riada ag Oireachtas na Gaeilge i 1984, agus bronnadh TG4 Gradam Ceoil Amhránaí uirthi i 2022. Le dhá thaifeadadh déanta aici, is amhranaí í a bhfuil an-mheas uirthi ar fud an domhain.. Amhránaí ar an sean-nós í Sarah Ghriallais as Muiceanach i nGaeltacht Chonamara. Bhuaigh sí Corn Uí Riada ag Oireachtas na Gaeilge i 1984, agus bronnadh TG4 Gradam Ceoil Amhránaí uirthi i 2022. Le dhá thaifeadadh déanta aici, is amhranaí í a bhfuil an-mheas uirthi ar fud an domhain.

Cailín Deas Crúite na mBó  [The Pretty Girl Milking the Cows]

Ennis wrote that a woman was singing a bawdy song while milking cows. A priest passing by heard the singing and ordered the girl, in reparation, to come to church the following Sunday, wearing a long white sheet, with a piece of a bone of a horse in her mouth and to stand at the church door so that everyone entering the church would spit on her and she agreed to this. A friar lived near her and he sent for her. She went to him and he asked her if she could learn a song quickly. She said she could and did so.

The song exhorts people to repent of their sins and to live a good life. It asks the Virgin Mary for protection and states that the Day of Judgement will arrive. It exhorts people to attend mass.

The girl sang the song at church the following Sunday and the priest said that whoever had taught her the song, taught her well.

[from NFC 1280: 135-137]

Note to music transcription:

Ennis wrote in irish, in brackets ‘(From the same person)’ [Vail Bheairtle Ó Donncha] on the music notation.

Johnny Óg Connolly began playing music on the accordion when he was nine years old. He learned a great deal of his music from his  father Johnny Connolly, from the Conamara island of Inis Bearachain and from Micheál Mheáirt Ó Coisdealbha. He was also greatly influenced by musicians Joe Burke and Andy McGann. Aged fourteen, he spent some time playing with the Conamara group Na hAncairí. His music has brought Johnny Óg across the world and in 2013 he settled in Conamara. He is also a composer and he has released a number of compact discs. These include ‘Aisling Yoshua’ (Joshua’s Dream) published in 2011 which won the Irish Times ticket award for the best traditional album. His CD ‘Fear Inis Bearachain’ was published in memory of his father and on this CD  Johnny Óg plays the melodeon, an instrument his father encouraged him to play. A work was commissioned entitled ‘An Cosán Draíochta’ (The Magic Path) which premiered at the opening of Stiúideo Cuan in An Spidéal in November 2021. Cosán Draíochta was the name the islanders gave the path that appeared during low tide from Inis Bearachain to the mainland.

Sean-nós singer Caitríona Ní Cheannabháin is from an Aird Thoir, Carna, County Galway. Her father was  Michael Mháire Ghabha ó Ceannabháin  who was a renowned traditional singer and musician as was his mother before him, Máire an Ghabha The singing and music are passing through the generations. Caitríona is chair of the festival which commemorates  Michael Mhaire Ghabha. As a young girl Caitríona regularly took part in competitions and festivals. She has won prizes at the annual Oireachtas and at other competitions. She  frequently sings at festivals in Ireland and abroad and she also adjudicates at singing competitions.   She took part in the film Song of Granite about singer Joe Heaney. She is a frequent contributor to Raidió na Gaeltachta and TG4. She is very interested in country music. Caitríona has published two compact discs and has taught sean-nós singing in primary schools in Iorras Aithneach where she lives. She is a lover of Irish traditional culture and of nature, both of which lift her spirits. 

Bríd Ní Mhaoilchiaráin is a daughter of Bairbre Éinniú and Peadar Ó Maoilchiaráin from An Aird Thoir, Carna, County Galway. She learned most of her songs from her mother. Her great uncle, singer Joe Heaney greatly influenced her singing. She was fortunate, as a young girl to have known the local exemplary exponents of sean-nós singing and they always inspired a younger generation to pass on the songs and to keep the tradition alive. As a young girl she participated in Féile Joe Éinniú and Feis Charna. In the year 2000 she began to take part in the Oireachtas competition where she won Corn Uí Riada in 2002 and in 2015. She was the first person to be appointed Sean-Nós Singer in Residence at the National University Ireland, Galway in 2002.

A primary school teacher, she has taught in the school in An Aird since 1998, a school she attended as a pupil from 1982 to 1990. Bríd is married to Tommie Breathnach and they have five children. They live in Roisín na Mainiach, Carna. 

Éamon Ó Donnchadha was born in Bluebell in Dublin. His mother came from Marlborough Place in the city centre and her father was a blacksmith. His father was from Toomevara in Tipperary, came to Dublin and joined the civil service. They married and Irish was the first language of the home and of their seven children. Éamon developed an interest in music and singing when he attended St Patrick’s College in Drumcondra and he often shared his music with friends Ger Galvin and Fearghas Mac Lochlainn. His interest further increased when he went to Leitir Móir and An Trá Bháin in Conamara where he heard Máirín Uí Chéidigh, her uncle Coilmín an tSeoighigh and other Conamara singers ag casadh na n-amhrán. Éamon was entranced by the magic of the poetry, the musicality of the language and the artistry of sean-nós singing. On three occasions he won Corn Ui Riada. He is particularly interested in the songs of Galway poet Antaine Ó Raiftearaí. Éamon often participates in Oireachtas competitions along with his friend Fearghas Mac Lochlainn, composer of ditties (lúibíní), working songs and agallamh beirte. or verse dialogue.

Éamon married Mairéad Ní Cheallaigh. a daughter of Peige an tSeoighigh from An Sconsa and Pádraic Ó Ceallaigh from An Máimín both noted singers.  Éamon and Mairéad live in the Ráth Chairn Irish speaking district in County Meath. Éamon spent twenty years as a schoolteacher in Ráth Chairn Éamon and Mairéad’s children are involved in music and song along with their parents.  

Johnny Óg Connolly, melodeon, playing 5 tunes collected by Séamus Ennis in Conamara from Darach Ó Clochartaigh (2) and Colm Ó Caodháin (3)

Colm Ó Caodháin 

(Colm Mháirtín Thomáis) (1873-1975) was from Glinsce, between An Caiseal and Carna. He received little formal education and was a fisherman and farmer. Of all the people from whom Séamus Ennis collected songs, music and lore, Colm was his favourite. Colm was also a dancer and composed songs. He was full of fun and had his own personal philosophy of life. He would visit the well on Cnoc an Chaisil in search of peace of mind if anything troubled him. He lost the dole because of scallop fishing. He gave his songs to his family and his daughter, Mary, recalled learning songs from him. His brother John died at a young age in Glasgow and another brother Tomás (1910-1934) died at home. It seems Ennis tried to arrange for Colm to go to the Oireachtas but he did not go.

From his very first meeting with Colm Ó Caodháin or Colm an Bhlácaigh as he was also known, Ennis recognised that he had met with an amazing informant. When this the collector wrote:  ‘Colm an Bhlácaigh was expecting us, as Maidhcilín had sent him a message. We brought our musical instruments along. We were made very welcome and we played music, danced and sang. Colm sang songs and lilted tunes and danced as well. An individual dance is called a ‘breakdown’ in Conamara. We spent the evening egging Colm on.’ And the following day, he realised what a discovery had been made. He wrote on 26 May 1943: ‘I spent the afternoon and the evening (a wet day) with Colm an Bhlácaigh [Ó Caodháin] and I wrote down a considerable number of old tunes. He asked me to come again tomorrow.’

As they became better  acquainted, the collector was able to write, on 26 June, 1943: ‘He [Colm] made me very welcome and was delighted to see me again. I spent a long time talking to him. I wrote material down from him while he was cutting turf.’ At the end of that particular collecting trip he further underlined the closeness that had come about, writing on 4 August 1943: ‘I was very lonely leaving Colm and he was lonely as well, because we are very friendly with each other. Colm is a man who is rough and hearty in his ways, but he could sit in company at a grand feast, say in the President’s residence without embarrassment or fear of embarrassing anyone with him, he is so courteous. He can make clever conversation on any topic, I was sad leaving him and I look forward no end to seeing him again.’ Ennis also discovered that Colm had all kinds of material and this emerges in the diary entry for 19 May 1944 when Colm ‘started to describe his own work since Christmas – planting, seafaring, gathering scallops and decorating the house, building walls, making a quern for grinding among other things.’

On occasion, Ennis had the use of an Ediphone machine on which he recorded Colm. The collector wrote of Colm’s reaction to it on 12. June 1944: ‘Colm was initially very frightened by the Ediphone and for a long time he would not place it correctly to his mouth and would not speak properly into it. He spoke a few pieces that were very poorly recorded. At last, he placed it on his chin and when he was about to speak he asked me what he should say…. He started then in a single flow of speech and he said:  “I wonder if I put it under my chin like this would it not produce a better sound? I do not like the sound that comes from it – it seems to me to be very deafening and so on.” We recorded a few songs and a few items of lore on it before bedtime. Colm had great sport listening to his own voice coming again singing the songs and saying the pieces.’

Collectors with the Irish Folklore Commission often helped informants with official letters, forms and other matters. Ennis wrote that he helped Colm in relation to unemployment assistance on 2 June 1945. He wrote that Colm ‘ wanted me to write a letter to the people in charge of the dole in Galway – they do not believe that scallop fishing has finished. When I had written it on his behalf, I started reading and correcting his text with him and had completed almost forty pages of it by eleven o’clock, and we decided to visit to Inis Ní tomorrow, please God, if it is a fine day.’ Ennis often visited Colm to ensure that he had written what Colm said correctly and to ask any questions he might have for Colm. Ennis was seen almost to be part of the family and was sure of a great welcome when he visited. Ennis wrote once when he arrived at Colm’s house on 26 April 1945: ‘”May there not be more straws on the house than the number of welcomes for you!”’ said Colm’s mother.’ Colm’s endless store of material was highlighted by Ennis when he wrote about Colm at the end of his collecting trip on 1 August 1945: ‘Although I can say that I have finished working with him, I could never pay him a visit that he would not have thought of something new for me to write.’

Darach Ó Clochartaigh  

(Dudley Cloherty) lived in Portach Mhaínse, Carna, where he was born and grew up. His father was a boatwright. His brother Learaí opened a shop in Carna. He died in the 1950s. Ennis wrote that the best thing about Darach, and the pleasure he got from the music, was the way he lilted the tunes for himself and the old lady, his wife, in the kitchen when only the pair of them were present. One evening when Ennis visited, they were doing precisely that and they were laughing with one another. His wife said that he tries to entice her with tunes and dancing, just as he used to do before they married long ago. Ennis said he never met such an amusing man as he for good fun and sport as Irish people had long ago (See NFC 1280: 412–3).

Ennis visited Darach on 10 July 1945 and his diary entry for that day translates:

‘I went to Maínis in the afternoon to Darach Ó Clochartaigh, the old man who gave me the tunes in 1943, to visit him and to take his picture. I found him and his wife as full of fun and happy as ever (they have no children). Darach was afraid that I was going to put his picture in tomorrow’s newspaper and I had a job to entice him to allow me to take his picture at all. But when I explained to him that I would like to have his picture, he was very happy and his wife stood with him and I took them so that the house and everything around it were in the picture as best I could manage it.

I spent a long while talking with him and his wife, because I have always liked both of them very much. His wife told me that he still lilts the tunes constantly in the house to entice her, even now when they are both elderly. Aren’t they lucky to have such spirit!’

Caitríona Ní Cheannabháin, singing 2 songs collected by Séamus Ennis in Conamara from Seáinín Choilmín Mac Donncha and Vail Bheairtle Ó Donncha

Seáinín Choilmín Mac Donncha

Fínis, Carna (1869–1954). His father was married to Bairbre Ní Iarnáin. Seáinín said his forefathers had been in Iorras Aithneach for 400 years and had come from Gleann in western Connacht. He loved songs, stories, dancing and good company. He used to go to Roisín na Mainiach, Maínis and Glinsce for music. Pipers and fiddle players very often visited these places. The custom seems to have come to an end around 1890. He acquired the songs from his father and from a man called ‘Tone an Aircín’, about whom a song was composed. Seáinín was 25 years of age when he married. He was a sailor and had a púcán (small craft) for fishing with dredges, pots and nets. When he met Séamus Ennis, he had started using a curach. He said to Ennis he had given up using the púcán. (See NFC 1280:297-299). He married Máire Ní Chonaola and they had nine children. Máire died in 1945. 

In his diary, Ennis mentioned frequent visits to the island of Fínis and to Seáinín Choilmín and his family. Seáinín Choilmín also visited Séamus Ennis at the collector’s lodging house on the mainland. As he wrote in his diary on 29 July 1944: ‘Seáinín [Choilmín Mac Donncha] came this morning from Fínis on his way to the bog. I wrote down an account of ‘Eileanóir, na Ruan’ [‘Eleanor, my Darling’] from him and a short account of his life. I introduced him to the Ediphone and to the pipes and he greatly enjoyed the morning’. 

Vail Bheairtle Ó Donncha

Cora na gCapall, Cill Chiaráin (1898–1981). A brother of Maidhcil, Bheairtle  and Winnie.  His mother was Bríd Thomáis Phádraig (née Ní Cheannabháin). He got the songs from his mother, father and older neighbours. He worked for a while on the bog in Kildare as part of a scheme run by the Turf Development Board. He won a gold medal in the Oireachtas singing competition in 1951. He composed ‘Seoighigh Inis Bearachain’. A daughter of his sister, Bríd, took care of Vail when his health failed. Vail is buried in Cill Chiaráin graveyard. 

Ennis frequently visited Cora na gCapall between 1942 and 1946 and was very fond of Vail and Maidhcil. Following his final visit to them on 17 July 1946, he wrote: ‘Afterwards I went down to Cora na gCapall to Beairtlí Dhonncha’s house and spent the evening there. Vail and Maidhcil both have a great sense of fun, and you would not feel the night passing in their company. I wrote two songs from them in the course of my visit.’

Neansaí Ní Choisdealbha, flute, playing 2 tunes collected in Conamara from Maidhcil Mac Fhualáin and Pádraig Ó Ceannabháin

Bríd Ní Mhaoilchiaráin, singing 2 songs collected by Séamus Ennis in Conamara from Máire Nic Dhonncha and Meaigí Nic Dhonncha

Éamonn Ó Donnchadha, singing 2 songs collected by Séamus Ennis in Conamara from Seán Ó Gaora

Seán Ó Gaora, Aill na Brón, Cill Chiaráin. He was born in 1902 in his grandfather’s house in Aill na Brón. His father died when he was a child and his mother and sister went to live in America. Seán learned most of his songs from his grandfather and was around twenty years old when he died. Seán attended school in An Aird Mhóir when he was eight. He worked with seaweed, went seafaring and worked on the land and at home when he left school. When he was about twenty he suffered a bad fall by the shore and spent a year in bed with no movement in his legs. He said, if it had not been for a local doctor and the priest, he would never have put a foot under him again. The priest had visited him one day and asked him if he would like to walk again and he said he would rather that than anything else and the priest told him he would walk again as well as ever. When he could walk again, he started to work as a tailor. Éamon (Liam Éamoin) de Búrca, came at that time from An Aird Mhóir and married Seán’s aunt in the house in which Seán lived. Seán learned the trade and his life’s profession from him. Seán was not regarded as a good singer but played the fiddle, and there was a constant stream of visitors to the house. He died in the 1950s. 

Ennis visited Seán on almost each one of his visits to Conamara between 1942 and 1946. He wrote a great deal and a great variety of material from him. Typical of the diary entries following a visit to Seán are the following: ’31 August 1942,  I spent the afternoon and some of the evening with Seán Geary. I wrote down five tunes from him’, 14. November 1942, Writing songs from John Geary, Aill na Brón, the entire afternoon’ or 20 November 1942: ‘The day and the evening were spent with Seán Geary. I wrote down many words. ‘