Fionnghuala
B Power
I am interested in the "mouth music" song, "Fionnghuala", as performed by the
Bothy Band way back then, and more recently by Micheal O Domhnaill and Triona
ni Dhomhnaill - I have it on the "Sanctuary" CD from Windham Hill. It
*sounds* like there are lyrics, presumeably in gaelic, but the description
"mouth music" (I think I have seen it somewhere as 'port an bheal' or
something like that) suggests it's just instrumental singing, for want of a
better description. Can anyone enlighten me on this? If there are lyrics,
does anyone have them?
Bernadette
_______________________________________________________________
B Power
bpo...@pcug.org.au
Canberra ACT AUSTRALIA
Christin Keck
All the sources I've talked to about mouth music tell me that the
"words" are usually mere syllables--sometimes they have individual
meaning, usually not. I am assuming that the equivalent in our language
would be Scat singing (a la Ella Fitzgerald) or "dooby dooby doo", "tra
la's" or the like. These types of songs were meant to substitute as
instrumental music when instruments were not available. A similar type
of music is sung in Scotland, but from what I've heard, the Scots
version has more "sensible" words--waulking songs, spinning songs, etc.
can have actual lyrics, even if they are repetive.
As for the Bothy Band's wonderful rendition, I doubt if the words are
available anywhere commercially--if you can find an Irish speaker, you
may be able to get him or her to translate. I wouldn't even ATTEMPT to
try and look any of the words up in an Irish Gaelic dictionary (this is
a futile, frustrating task for words you CAN spell, let alone for mouth
music!) I find that Triona and Micheal's voices have so much vibrato
that they are sometimes difficult to understand when they are singing in
English. You can always do what I do when I want to sing along--write
the syllables down phonetically, and memorize them.
Good luck anyway, and if you find them, post them!
--christin
Claddagh Records Limited
> B Power wrote:
> >
> > I am interested in the "mouth music" song, "Fionnghuala", as performed
by the
> > Bothy Band way back then, and more recently by Micheal O Domhnaill and
Triona
> > ni Dhomhnaill - I have it on the "Sanctuary" CD from Windham Hill. It
> > *sounds* like there are lyrics, presumeably in gaelic, but the description
> > "mouth music" (I think I have seen it somewhere as 'port an bheal' or
> > something like that) suggests it's just instrumental singing, for want of a
> > better description. Can anyone enlighten me on this? If there are lyrics,
> > does anyone have them?
> >
> > Bernadette
The song is Scottish - the source recording is on a CD called 'Music of
the Western Isles'. When originally published as a Tangent LP there was a
book containing the words; the current publishers, Greentrax of Edinburgh,
sell the book separately. If you want the CD, we can supply it.
Finbar Boyle.
--
Claddagh Records Ceirnini Cladaigh
Dame House Teach an Dama
Dame Street Sraid an Dama
Dublin 2 Baile Atha Cliath 2
Ireland Eire
Tel. 353 1 6778943
Fax. 353 1 6783664
e-mail; clad...@crl.ie
Shop address Shop opening hours
2 Cecilia Street June 1- Sept 30 10.30-5.30
Temple Bar Oct 1-May 31 12.00-5.30
Dublin 2
Lisa Boucher
In a previous article, bpo...@pcug.org.au (B Power) says:
>better description. Can anyone enlighten me on this? If there are lyrics,
>does anyone have them?
Here's what I've got in my files, courtesy of Craig Cockburn:
Eilean nam Bothan
-----------------
Ars an gobha fuiricheamaid
Ars an gobha falbhamaid
Ars an gobha ris an ogha
Na sheasamh aig dorus an t-sabhal
Gu rachadh e shuiridhe.
Chorus
~~~~~~
'Si eilean nam bothan nam bothan
Eilean nam bothan nam bothan
Eilean nam bothan nam bothan
Bothan a bh'aig Fionnghal'
(Repeat)
Bheirinn fead air fulmaire
Bheirinn fead air falmaire
Liughannan beaga na mara
Bheireamaid greis air an tarruing
Na maireadh a na duirgh dhuinn.
Cha d'fhuair sinn dad ann a seo
Cha d'fhuair sinn dad ann a seo
Cha d'fhuair sinn dad ann a seo
Cail ach racadail na duirgh dhuinn
O nach tigeadh Carbhanach
O nach tigeadh Carabhanach
Mursgainn is leabagan glas
A bheireadh na dubhain 'on fheamainn
Na maireadh na duirghe dhuinn.
Island of Bothies
-----------------
The blacksmith said let us wait
The blacksmith said let us go
The blacksmith said to his grandchild
standing at the door of the barn
that he was going to go courting.
Island of bothies, of bothies
Island of bothies, of bothies
Island of bothies, of bothies
Fingal's bothies.
I'd knock spots off the birds
I'd knock spots off the hakes [fish]
little lythes [flat fish] of the sea.
We would take a while hauling them in
if our hand lines last.
We got nothing here
We got nothing here
We got nothing here
except noises of the hand lines.
If only carp would come
If only carp would come
or razor fish or flounder
that would take the hooks from the seaweed
if our hand lines last.
-----------------------
Lisa Boucher
Michael McCollum
> All the sources I've talked to about mouth music tell me that the
> "words" are usually mere syllables--sometimes they have individual
> meaning, usually not. I am assuming that the equivalent in our language
> would be Scat singing (a la Ella Fitzgerald) or "dooby dooby doo", "tra
> la's" or the like. These types of songs were meant to substitute as
> instrumental music when instruments were not available. A similar type
> of music is sung in Scotland, but from what I've heard, the Scots
> version has more "sensible" words--waulking songs, spinning songs, etc.
> can have actual lyrics, even if they are repetive.
> As for the Bothy Band's wonderful rendition, I doubt if the words are
> available anywhere commercially--if you can find an Irish speaker, you
> may be able to get him or her to translate. I wouldn't even ATTEMPT to
> try and look any of the words up in an Irish Gaelic dictionary (this is
> a futile, frustrating task for words you CAN spell, let alone for mouth
> music!) I find that Triona and Micheal's voices have so much vibrato
> that they are sometimes difficult to understand when they are singing in
> English. You can always do what I do when I want to sing along--write
> the syllables down phonetically, and memorize them.
> Good luck anyway, and if you find them, post them!
> --christin
>
Really? Mouth music...Scots do it better? Really...hmmm
Through the generations, a lullabye (more to that word than you know)
has been sung by parentS to their babies in our families. Irish and Scot.
McCollum and McFadyen respectively. I'm almost embarassed to say it, but
*I* have sung my own 4 kids to sleep with "Beyo Byeo" (there are a bunch of
words to it, but they're actually supposed to SAY something...nobody in my
family remembers WHAT though) and "99 bottles of Milk on the wall" (yeh, my
adaptation).
I'm 6'2" and 240, a grandpa, and some of my fondest memories are of rocking
my kids and grandkid when they didn't want to go to sleep. That, was
often.
But does ANYONE out there know THAT little lullabye? What it means?
Michael S. McCollum
c...@btinternet.com
"Michael McCollum" <mmc...@swbell.net> wrote:
>> All the sources I've talked to about mouth music tell me that the
>> "words" are usually mere syllables--sometimes they have individual
>> meaning, usually not. I am assuming that the equivalent in our language
>> would be Scat singing (a la Ella Fitzgerald) or "dooby dooby doo", "tra
>> la's" or the like. These types of songs were meant to substitute as
>> instrumental music when instruments were not available. A similar type
>> of music is sung in Scotland, but from what I've heard, the Scots
>> version has more "sensible" words--waulking songs, spinning songs, etc.
>> can have actual lyrics, even if they are repetive.
Looks like some real confusion here.
Puirt a beul are quite distinct from amhrain luadh, amhrain sniomh,
etc. Not remotely the same thing.
A port a beul (pice of mouth music) is designed for dancing to, so the
words don't matter; you find a lot of i-dal-a-du ("tra-la-la") or
hiuraibh-eile ("dooby-doo"?) and so on.
An oran luaidh (waulking song) is a work song - the rythm has to fit
to the work, but in order for it to relieve the boredom of some
uninteresting task the song has to have words that entertain;
typically the words will either be comical or be local gossip. Same
rules for spinning songs (amhrain sniomh).
>Really? Mouth music...Scots do it better? Really...hmmm
I suspect Scots, Manx, and Irish are identical on this. The original
poster tried to equate mouth music in Ireland with both mouth music
and working songs in Scotland, which is nonsense. So I guess Michael
MacC is right when he says "Really...hmmm"!
>Through the generations, a lullabye (more to that word than you know)
>has been sung by parentS to their babies in our families. Irish and Scot.
>McCollum and McFadyen respectively. I'm almost embarassed to say it, but
>*I* have sung my own 4 kids to sleep with "Beyo Byeo" (there are a bunch of
>words to it, but they're actually supposed to SAY something...nobody in my
>family remembers WHAT though) and "99 bottles of Milk on the wall" (yeh, my
>adaptation).
I can remember that song, from quite a long time ago. I can't remember
anything but "beyo beyo" but have a feeling the other words were in a
some sort of English Creole - maybe Caribean rather than Celtic? The
tune and rythm I remember don't match up to my idea of a lullabye, but
then I know a lot of people would be surprised that I used to sing my
two eldest kids to sleep with "Eirich is cuir umad" (and I guess it
would surprise me that a song which begins "get up and get dressed"
could be used that way if I hadn't experienced it from both ends
myself). And those kids must have been terrible to get to sleep (much
worse than any of mine) if they needed a start from 99!
Craig Cockburn
Ann an sgriobhainn <5hf927$j...@neon.btinternet.com>, sgriobh
c...@btinternet.com
>"Michael McCollum" <mmc...@swbell.net> wrote:
>
>
>>> All the sources I've talked to about mouth music tell me that the
>>> "words" are usually mere syllables--sometimes they have individual
>>> meaning, usually not. I am assuming that the equivalent in our language
>>> would be Scat singing (a la Ella Fitzgerald) or "dooby dooby doo", "tra
>>> la's" or the like. These types of songs were meant to substitute as
>>> instrumental music when instruments were not available. A similar type
>>> of music is sung in Scotland, but from what I've heard, the Scots
>>> version has more "sensible" words--waulking songs, spinning songs, etc.
>>> can have actual lyrics, even if they are repetive.
>
For info on puirt a beul, see
http://www.scot.demon.co.uk/scotfaq/8_2.html
Info on Waulking songs,
http://www.scot.demon.co.uk/scotfaq/8_1.html
additional info in the article below
Waulking and Waulking songs, further notes
Waulking is a process for fulling Harris tweed (making it more
airtight). The word 'waulking' is a Scots word from the 14th century
meaning the same as "full" in English. The waulking process not only
fulls the tweed but also shrinks it slightly. Perhaps the term
"waulking" was coined by a non-Gaelic speaker who saw a waulking done by
the feet and modified the word "walking". Waulkings were done by both
hand and foot, but more usually by hand. The Gaelic name for waulking
songs is "Orain Luaidh", luaidh translates to "full".
There are many individuals and groups who have recorded a waulking song
or two on an album of Gaelic music, but there are four albums of
exclusively waulking songs which may be of interest:
1) Orain Luaidh - Waulking songs
Published 1986 by the Harris Tweed Association. This tape has a 29 page
A5 book with it which has lyrics for every song, a translation and some
notes. There is a 5 page introduction which gives more information and
additional reference material. Most of the contributions are from the
Western Isles although one is from Cape Breton
2) Waulking songs from Barra
This is published in the "Scottish tradition" series., Greentrax records
http://webzone1.co.uk/www/scotsweb/greentrx.htm
3) Bannal: Waulking songs. Bannal comprises many well known female
Gaelic singers.
also published by Greentrax.
4) The South Harris waulking group has a tape "Waulking songs from
Harris". This is available from Lewis Recordings, 1 Millburn Road,
Inverness
When tweed is made, it needs to be fulled to increase its ability to
keep out the wind. Waulking is a process of repeatedly beating the cloth
to full it and prepare it for use. Waulking songs are a musical form
unknown elsewhere in Western Europe. Even Irish Gaelic has no
equivalent, Irish Gaelic has very few work songs of any kind. Waulking
songs are rhythmic and were composed to keep the beat when the cloth was
being waulked. This task was only done by women in Scotland, however in
Nova Scotia where it is known as milling then it is generally a male
task. Often waulking songs were adapted from other songs. Frequently
they tell of local gossip, the material is not usually "highbrow". The
tweed was generally soaked in human urine. The women were usually seated
around a table and the tweed would be placed on the table, or perhaps a
door which had been taken off its hinges. There might be one woman at
each end and maybe 4-5 down each side. One person would sing out the
verse and then everyone would join in the chorus. It was deemed to be
back luck to sing the same song twice during a waulking. Occasionally
verses would be made up and added during the waulking process. This
explains the rapidly changing themes in waulking songs as verses may be
introduced from another song. The meaningless choruses may provide an
opportunity to think of a new verse to add. The verses and choruses
(sometimes there are up to 4 choruses) are very short, sometimes only a
few syllables. There are a few waulking songs in the book "Folksongs and
folklore of South Uist"
(Margaret Fay Shaw, Aberdeen University Press ISBN 0 08 032471 1).
During the waulking, the cloth would be pulled towards you, then passed
slightly to your left before pushing it back. This way, the cloth turned
round the table in a clockwise manner as it was being waulked. The Gaels
are superstitious and believe anti-clockwise to be unlucky. It was
important to turn the cloth to ensure the cloth was evenly processed.
Waulking as a process is now no longer necessary as machines do it now.
However, there are societies which preserve the waulking tradition for
historical/tourist reasons. One of the oldest Gaelic songs in existence
(perhaps 13th C?) is Seathan, this is a waulking song and appears in
Carmina Gadelica. This song is several pages long and would easily take
over an hour to sing. The waulking process overall could last about 2-3
hours and there would likely be a ceilidh afterwards, with the men being
invited back in. I think it was usual in waulkings to start with slower
songs and then to speed up towards the end - the speed of waulking songs
can vary a lot. "Seathan" and "Gur h-e mo ghille dubh donn" are quite
slow whereas "He mo leannan" is usually sung a bit faster and "Tha
Mulad", "He Mandu" etc are faster still. One of the fastest is "Beann a'
Cheathaich" which has been recorded by Christine Primrose and recently
The Poozies on "Danceoozies". This tune was adapted by Margaret Kennedy
Fraser and became "Kishmul's Galley"
Today, many bands/singers e.g. Capercaillie, Sileas, Poozies, Mary Jane
Lamont, Runrig, Christine Primrose, Cathy Anne MacPhee, Flora MacNeill,
Eilidh MacKenzie, etc sing waulking songs - they are proving very
popular and the strong rhythms make them quite transportable to other
cultures. It was a waulking song sung by Capercaillie "Coisich a ruin"
(also sometimes known as "Fluich an oidhche") which became the first
ever Scots Gaelic tune to enter the UK top 40 (in 1991?). It is about
400 years old. See also Tocher 50. Published by
The School of Scottish Studies, 27 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD
http://www.ed.ac.uk/edinfo/cgi/deptinfo.cgi?173
--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"), Du\n E/ideann, Alba. (Edinburgh, Scotland)
http://www.scot.demon.co.uk/ E-mail: cr...@scot.demon.co.uk
Sgri\obh thugam 'sa Gha\idhlig ma 'se do thoil e.
Jim Chapman
>In article <3328CE...@concentric.net>, she...@concentric.net wrote:
>
>> B Power wrote:
>> >
>> > I am interested in the "mouth music" song, "Fionnghuala", as performed
>by the
>> > Bothy Band way back then, and more recently by Micheal O Domhnaill and
>Triona
>> > ni Dhomhnaill - I have it on the "Sanctuary" CD from Windham Hill. It
>
>The song is Scottish - the source recording is on a CD called 'Music of
>the Western Isles'. When originally published as a Tangent LP there was a
>book containing the words; the current publishers, Greentrax of Edinburgh,
>sell the book separately. If you want the CD, we can supply it.
>
I have a video tape of Micheal and Kevin Burk that has this song on
it and Micheal says it is in Scotts Gaelic, but doesn't make any
sense, even in Gaelic. It's just some mouth music, which was very
common among pipers teaching tunes and among the Acadians of Nova
Scotia, they used similar tunes as dance music occasionally.
George Seto
Jim Chapman (jcha...@aros.net) wrote:
: >> > I am interested in the "mouth music" song, "Fionnghuala", as performed
: >by the
: >> > Bothy Band way back then, and more recently by Micheal O Domhnaill and
: >Triona
: >> > ni Dhomhnaill - I have it on the "Sanctuary" CD from Windham Hill. It
: I have a video tape of Micheal and Kevin Burk that has this song on
: it and Micheal says it is in Scotts Gaelic, but doesn't make any
: sense, even in Gaelic. It's just some mouth music, which was very
: common among pipers teaching tunes and among the Acadians of Nova
: Scotia, they used similar tunes as dance music occasionally.
Thanks to Lisa Boucher I've got this version from an old posting...
Newsgroups: rec.music.celtic
Subject: Re: Words to "Fionnaghuala"
From: af...@ccn.cs.dal.ca (George Seto)
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 02:12:49 GMT
peter feldstein (74164...@CompuServe.COM) wrote:
: My choir wants to perform an arrangement of Fionnaghuala, a piece of
: Scottish mouth music appearing on one of the Bothy Band's albums. Does
: anyone know the words or have a lyric sheet? It's too much of a tongue
: twister for even our resident Gaelic expert to figure out. Much
: obliged.
> From: Craig Cockburn <cr...@scot.demon.co.uk>
> Newsgroups: rec.music.celtic
> Subject: Re: Words to "Fionnaghuala"
> Date: Sun, 17 Sep 95 09:06:27 GMT
> Organization: Mo dhachaidh, Edinburgh
> It's also on a Cathy-Anne MacPhee album but I don't think the lyrics
> are printed there either. If anyone finds them could they mail me a
> copy please. I am going to be away from news for a while.
I'm assuming you both mean Am Bothan a Bh'Aig Fionnghuala. I got these
words from Joe Murphy last year....
Just added from a new recording:
Words from Joe Words from Talitha MacKenzie's Spiorad
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thuirt an gobha fuirighidh mi Ars' an gobha, "Fuiricheamaid"
'S thuirt an gobha falbhaidh mi Ars' an gobha, "Falbhamaid"
'S thuirt an gobha leis an othail Ars' an gobha, leis an othail
A bh' air an do\rus an t-sa\bhail A bh'air an dorus an t-sobhail
Gu rachadh e a shuirghe
Se/ist
'S a gheala nam botham nam botham 'S a gheala nam bothan nam bothan
Pe ho ro bha hin an doicheam Peithir a bha ann an doicheall
'S hala ham to han an doicheam Gheala nam bothan nam bothan
Am bothan a bh' aig Fionnghuala Bothan a bh'aig Fionnaghuala
Bheirinn fead air fulmairean
Bheirinn fead air falmairean
Liuthannan beaga na mara Liu\ghannan beaga na mara
Bheireamaid greis air an tarrainn Bheireamaid greis air an tarruing
Na maireadh na duirgh dhuinn
He also knew of a third verse:
Cha d'thuirt an dadan a' seo\ Cha d'fhuir sinn dad an a-seo
Cha d'thuirt an dadan a' seo\ Cha d'fhuir sinn dad an a-sin
Cha d'thuirt an dadan a' seo\ Cha d'fhuir sinn dad an a-seo
Bheireamaid greis air an tarrainn Ca\il ach roc a' dol
Na maireadh na duirgh dhuinn 'S na duirgh againn
O nach tigeadh carbanach!
O nach tigeadh carbanach!
Mar sin is le\abagan glasa
Bheireadh na dubhain o'n fheamainn
Na maireadh na duirgh againn.
This song is also on the Music From the Western Isles collection. It's
available from Greentrax as CDTRAX 9002 or as a cassette CTRAX 9002.
The sixth cut has four Puirt-a-beuls, and the third one is this.
Greentrax advises a booklet with the song texts, translations and
commentary are available from them for 75p.
From: Craig Cockburn <cr...@scot.demon.co.uk>
Newsgroups: rec.music.celtic
Subject: Re: Words to "Fionnaghuala"
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 95 18:56:25 GMT
In article <44bi4t$2...@arcadia.informatik.uni-muenchen.de>
wag...@informatik.uni-muenchen.de "Markus Wagner" writes:
> Then could somebody crosspost them to this group? Eilean nam Bothan
-----------------
Island of Bothies
-----------------
Bidh mi 'gad fhaicinn!!!
<<<<< Cum Ga\idhlig beo\. >>>>>
George / Seo\ras Seto
e-mail address: af...@chebucto.ns.ca
url: http://www.quadis.com/~gseto