Exact definition of "seisiun"?
Joseph Mulvanerty
Brian Sack wrote:
> Is a seisiun a gathering of musicians, like a jam session, or does it apply
> to any musical event?
I dont know when this word entered the Irish language. It's obviously
borrowed from English. It refers to a gathering of traditional Irish
musicians for something similar to a jam session.
Other Irish terms for music events:
fleadh - festival
aonach - fair
Bill Pfeiffer
In article <34498C...@worldnet.att.net>, Joseph Mulvanerty
<mulva...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> Brian Sack wrote:
>
> > Is a seisiun a gathering of musicians, like a jam session, or does it apply
> > to any musical event?
>
> I dont know when this word entered the Irish language. It's obviously
> borrowed from English. It refers to a gathering of traditional Irish
> musicians for something similar to a jam session.
>
Unless, as I found out in the last week, you're in Cape Breton, Nova
Scotia. When an event was advertised as a "session," I was expecting what
I normally find in the Irish community (similar to Joseph's definition
above). It was actually a gathering where different groups/individuals
are invited up to the stage at different times by an emcee to strut their
stuff (tunes, songs, step dancing). There wasn't a lot of mixing of
people outside of their normal element (people playing with the same group
with whom they normally appear). I only stayed until 3 AM...maybe people
mixed it up after that time (the sessions normally went until 7 AM!), but
I didn't see it.
Also, while I've come to understand a ceili/ceilidh as mostly a dance
function in the Irish/Scottish communities, that's not it means in Cape
Breton at all. If it's a dance, it's called a "dance."
Bill
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Joshua Mittleman
> It is not used for concerts etc.
Unless you happen to be Guinness, in which case you call your concert
anything you want. Seriously: That was not an isolated instance. I've
seen growing use of "session" to mean "concert" when the promoter wants to
suggest an informal, spontaneous atmosphere.
===========================================================================
Josh Mittleman mit...@panix.com
Tom Cosgrave
A session is a *small* gathering of people to do an
activity - like Trad session down the pub.
Tom
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Lawrence E Mallette
Joshua Mittleman (mit...@panix.com) wrote:
: > It is not used for concerts etc.
: Unless you happen to be Guinness, in which case you call your concert
: anything you want. Seriously: That was not an isolated instance. I've
: seen growing use of "session" to mean "concert" when the promoter wants to
: suggest an informal, spontaneous atmosphere.
That may be, but it's a lie. But then we should be used to being
lied to by people with something to sell.
As I understand it the spelling "seisiun" is simply an attempt
to Gaeli-fy the word session - really unnecessary IMHO.
I haven't yet found a good reason to adopt the "new" spelling.
But I keep an open mind.
Erich Marschner
Lawrence E Mallette wrote:
>
....
> As I understand it the spelling "seisiun" is simply an attempt
> to Gaeli-fy the word session - really unnecessary IMHO.
> I haven't yet found a good reason to adopt the "new" spelling.
> But I keep an open mind.
Perhaps, but if so, the "new" spelling was adopted sometime prior to
1927. Dineen's "Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla" published in that year
lists the word "seisiún" (in the old orthography) with the meaning
'session' and without any particular reference to music.
Note that English "session" is apparently derived from Latin "sedeo",
'to be seated' (thus "session" means a "sitting" of a group, as in a
session of the legislature), so whether we use the English "session" or
the Irish "seisiún" (which is presumably derived in like manner from the
Latin), it seems that the key idea is that a session involves playing
music _while sitting down_.
By the way, to address the original question, here is Dineen's
definition for "seisiún", including idiomatic usage:
"Seisiún, -uin", pl. id., m., a session, assizes;
"s. cainnte", a jumble of voices; "ceathramha-sheisiuin (-eoin)",
quarter sessions; "aimsear seisiuin", session-time; also
"seiseon", "siosón".
FWIW.
Erich
John Haughey
The original "seisiun" or "session" was a unplanned gathering of local
communities in a certain home in that village or town, where music,
story-telling, dancing, sean n=F0s, drinking. Just a simple night of
craic for everyone. It wasn't restricted to musicians, anyone could
come and join in with their "party piece". It finished when everyone
went home. No boundaries, no rules.
Any of these planned "sessions" now, aren't technically "sessions",
because that is what they are... planned. Though widely called this,
they aren't a "seisun" in the pure sense of the word.
John
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pdraper
John Haughey <john_h...@webtv.net> wrote in article
<63c1vl$gjv$1...@newsd-122.bryant.webtv.net>...
The original "seisiun" or "session" was a unplanned gathering of local
communities in a certain home in that village or town, where music,
story-telling, dancing, sean nðs, drinking. Just a simple night of
craic for everyone. It wasn't restricted to musicians, anyone could
come and join in with their "party piece". It finished when everyone
went home. No boundaries, no rules.
Any of these planned "sessions" now, aren't technically "sessions",
because that is what they are... planned. Though widely called this,
they aren't a "seisun" in the pure sense of the word.
>>>>
Surely the above is the original definition of ceilidh. I have been told
that the session as we know it didn't really exist as far as Irish music
was concerned until people started meeting to play in pubs and bars abroad
and that the habit was taken home by returning musicians.
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