Have you ever heard keening at a session? No no, real keening, this is not a windup, haha. Do sessions & wakes ever overlap? Does anyone know where I can find some recordings of keening? Are slow airs also related to keening?
There is a whole series of caoine/keens are there not associated with the Virgin Mary and Jesus? I have a few in my limited sean-nos song cd collection.
Caoine Mhuiri is one of them. I don't speak Irish but I'm sure the other Irish speakers who are knowledgeable about sean nos can illuminate you.
I do know the Catholic church discouraged keening. It was seen as slightly pagan [I believe it probably had its roots there] and 'backward'. As a result, keening has pretty much died out from my understanding.
I didn't think it was so formal or structured as songs. Isn't it more just an emotional, wordless expression of grief or loss? Extemporanous and singular, neither rehearsed or exactly replicable.
Mostly performed by woman of the 17th century lying on a coffin before it's buried, beside the gray sea of the west of Ireland, shrouded in fog, etc. etc.
hmmm....I suppose one could say the Church wasn't too "keen" on caoines!
Hector Zazsou [sp?] has an 'interesting' cd devoted to the Mary series of keens. the songs are in Irish and cleave to the originals...but the treatment is a bit new age. it's still lovely tho.
Iarla O'Lionard also includes some on his cds as i remember.
This book/cd combo publication would be excellent I'm sure. Perhaps Celtic Grooves in the U.S. carries it. As a note, today the words keen and "lament" are pretty much synonymous. It's common for pipers especially to include laments/keens as "pieces" in their repetoire.
there are two samples at this website for Clo Iar-Chonnachta:
A bilingual publication that explores the old musical traditions of Ireland.
Breandán Ó Madagáin has long been a noted scholar in the field of the Irish language and the song and poetic traditions associated with it. He was Professor of Irish in NUI, Galway and used often sing the poems to his students during lectures, illustrating the integral function of music in Irish poetry. In this book he brings together the many strands of his knowledge to uncover the fascinating historical musical traditions of Ireland. Included in this analysis are keens, work songs, macaronic songs, religious songs, elegies and political songs. Uniquely, this work examines not only the texts but also the music associated with them, examples of which can be heard on the accompanying CD.
The book explores the contexts in which these various poetic and musical traditions were performed, their social function, and examines the traditions of the ordinary people and those of the learned poets. The book also contains the texts of many historically-documented instances of these: a mother keening her daughter who is going to America, excerpts from the famed Caoineadh Art Uí Laoghaire and elegies for historic figures.
The Irish traditional lament and the grieving process*1
Angela Bourke
Department of Modern Irish, University College, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Available online 19 July 2002.
Abstract
“Keening” in English suggests a high-pitched, inarticulate moaning, but the Irish word caoineadh, from which it derives signifies among other things, a highly articulate tradition of women's oral poetry. The lamenting woman led the community in a public display of grief. Acting out in her appearance and behaviour the disorder brought about by death, she was often barefoot and dishevelled. Her caoineadh or lament was a series of breathless utterances of rhymed, rhythmic praise of the dead person (usually a man), and invective against his enemies. In the 20th century Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and others have identified the sequence of emotions which are the necessary components of the grieving process: notably denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, and acceptance. In this paper, texts of caoineadh, mostly from the 18th century, are examined and it is suggested that they embody a disciplined and powerful expression of these stages of mourning.
References
Alexiou, 1974. Margaret Alexiou , The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition. , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1974).
Bergin, 1970. Osborn Bergin , Irish Bardic Poetry. , Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin (1970) (Compiled and edited by David Greene and Fergus Kelly, with a foreword by D.A. Binchy) .
Clover, 1986. Carol Clover , Hildigunnr's Lament. In: John Lindow, Lars Lonnroth and Gerd Wolfgang Weber, Editors, Structure and Meaning in Old Norse Literature: New Approaches to Textual Analysis and Literary Criticism, Odense University Press, Odense (1986).
Hall, 1841. Mr. & Mrs. Samuel C. Hall Ireland: Its scenery, character, etc 3 Vols., Hall, Virtue & Co, London (1841).
Heaney, 1983. Seamus Heaney , Sweeney Astray: A Version from the Irish. , Faber, London (1983).
Kennelly, 1970. Brendan Kennelly , Penguin Book of Irish Verse. , Penguin Books, Harmondsworth (1970).
Knott, 1966. Eleanor Knott , Irish Syllabic Poetry, 1200–1600. , Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin (1966).
Kübler-Ross, 1973. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross , On Death and Dying. (1973) Tavistock, London .
Leach, 1949. Maria Leach, Editor, Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend 2 Vols., Funk and Wagnalls, New York (1949).
Lord, 1960. Albert B. Lord , The singer of tales. , Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (1960).
ÓhAilín and ÓhAilín, 1971. Tomás ÓhAilín , Caointe agus Caointeoirí (Laments and Lamenters). Feasta (Jan.) i (1971), pp. 7–11 Eanáir .
Tomás ÓhAilín Feasta (Feb.) ii (1971), pp. 5–9 Feabhra .
O'Keeffe, 1913. James G. O'Keeffe , Buile Suibhne (The frenzy of Suibhne). In: being the adventures of Suibhne Geilt, a Middle-Irish RomanceIntroduction, Notes and Glossary, Irish Texts Society, London (1913) edited, with Translation .
ÓMuirithe, 1978. D. ÓMuirithe , Tuairiscí na dTaistealaithe. In: B. ÓMadagáin, Editor, Gnéithe den Chaointeoireacht (Aspects of the lament), An Clóchomhar, Dublin (1978), pp. 20–29.
ÓTuama, 1961. Seán ÓTuama , Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire (The Lament for Art O'Leary). , An Clóchomhar, Dublin (1961).
Partridge, 1980. Angela Partridge , Wild men and wailing women. Éigse XVIII (1980), pp. 25–37.
Partridge, 1983. Angela Partridge , Caoineadh na dtrí Muire: Téama na páise i bhfilíocht bhéil na Gaeilge (The Lament of the Three Marys: The Theme of the Passion in Irish Oral Poetry). , An Clóchomhar, Dublin (1983).
Synge, 1911. John M. Synge , The Aran Islands. , John W. Luce, Boston (1911).
References
Béaloideas, the Journal of the Folklore of Ireland Society (1927) Dublin .
Bromwich, 1948. Rachel Bromwich , The keen for Art O'Leary, its background and its place in the tradition of Gaelic keening. Éigse V (1948), pp. 236–252.
Caraveli-Chaves, 1980. Anna Caraveli-Chaves , Bridge between worlds: The Greek women's lament as communicative event. Journal of American Folklore 93 (1980), pp. 129–157. Full Text via CrossRef
Danforth, 1982. Loring M. Danforth , The Death Rituals of Rural Greece. , Princeton University Press, Princeton (1982).
Delargy, 1945. James H. Delargy , The Gaelic story-teller, with some notes on Gaelic folk-tales. Proceedings of the British Academy (1945) (Reprinted 1969, American Committee for Irish Studies, Chicago) .
Honko, 1974. Lauri Honko , Balto-Finnic lament poetry. Studia Fennica XVII (1974), pp. 9–61 (Helsinki) .
Jackson, 1971. Kenneth Jackson , A Celtic miscellany. , Penguin Books, Harmondsworth (1971) (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London) .
ÓMadagáin, 1982. Breandán ÓMadagáin , Irish vocal music of lament and syllabic poetry. In: Robert O'Driscoll, Editor, The Celtic Consciousness, The Dolment Press, Portlaoise (1982), pp. 311–331 Canongate, Edinburg .
Ross, 1959. J. Ross , Formulaic Composition in Gaelic Oral Literature. Modern Philology LVII (1959), pp. 1–12. Full Text via CrossRef
Van Gennep, 1960. Arnold Van Gennep , The Rites of Passage. , University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1960) 1909 .
Translated from Les Rites de Passage (1909).
*1 Paper presented to the 3rd International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, Dublin, July 1987.
Women’s Studies International Forum
Volume 11, Issue 4, 1988, Pages 287-291
Home Browse Search
- selected My Settings Alerts Help
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There's an old RTE documentary named talking to the dead which I saw some time ago. Also Newstalk 106.. sorry 107 they're nationwide now! did a documentary which may still be available as a pod cast via their website newstalk.ie
The O Madagáin references are good ones, also google Patricia Lysaght she has done some fine work on keening and the follore that surrounds it.
Additionally Google books has a free copy of Crofton Crokers book the Fairy legends and the traditions of the south of ireland.
I've not heard many laments at sessions unless the winging of melody players counts...sighing the death knell of a session due to too many Bodhrán players!
The Irish goddess Brigid is unusual among deities because she is found in several different religions. References to her are found in ancient Paganism, Neo-Paganism, Christianity and Voodoo.
Both Neo -Pagans and Pagans of old worshiped Brigid as a Celtic pagan triple goddess. The term triple Goddess refers to the belief that some deities have three distinct aspects covering the maiden, mother and crone phases of life. The three fates of Greek mythology are examples of a triple goddess.
Brigid reportedly has power over childbirth, motherhood, smith craft, peace, unity, poetry, inspiration, healing, hearth and home among others.
Legend holds that Brigid began the Irish tradition of keening (crying,wailing, and singing) over the body of a deceased person at a wake. After her son Ruadan died during battle it is said that let out keening such as never been heard or would be heard again. It is also said that Brigid's keening convinced both sides of the battle to leave the field and commit to peace.
Keening has decreased in recent years but is still practiced in Ireland where expert female keeners are often paid to keen over bodies at wakes.
Interestingly Brigid appears in Christianity, specifically in Catholicism in the form of St. Brigit. Catholics claim that St. Brigit lived in Kildare, Ireland which is also the home of the pagan goddess Brigid. An Abbey in Kildare is dedicated to St. Brigit. This is also the location of Brigit's well which folk lore holds is the resting place of the Holy Grail of Arthurian legend.
The Catholic nuns who maintain the Abbey host visitors who have come to Brigit's well and eternal flame. The eternal flame is maintained by 19 nuns that reside at the abbey. Many of the visitors to the abbey are Neo-Pagans who worship Brigit in her Pagan incarnation.
On Alan Lomax's "World Library Of Folk & Primitive Music, Vol. 2: Ireland"
there are two versions of a keen for a dead child, one is sung, the other
piped.
You can purchase the recording, and listen to samples, at amazon.com
--From an IRTRAD List serve contributor [i have that cd. it's excellent btw-mtodd]
I have heard a field recording of Keening once played in a lecture - it was really haunting.
It might be of interest that composer Dave Flynn who is a member of thesession.org has written a really great suite for string quartet inspired by the keening tradition. It may be worth sending him an email to see if it's possible to get a recording of it.
In the meantime, here is a text describing the piece:
String Quartet No.3 'An Caoineadh' (The Keening) (2007)
This piece was partly inspired by Breandán Ó Madagain's book 'Caointe agus Seancheolta Eile - Keening and other Old Irish Musics'
In this book he describes the ancient Irish singing style called 'Caoineadh' or in English 'Keening'. The English term is derived from the Irish and has been used to describe mournful cries of people all over the world. Recently keening has most particularly been attributed to Iraqi women lamenting the deaths occurring from the war there.
However according to Ó Madagain's description there is a lot more to keening than the piercing cries it is often associated with. In his book he describes three main stages to the Keen and I have taken these descriptions as inspiration for the three movements of the string quartet.
I. Ag Monabhar/Murmuring
"The mourner commences by some deep murmuring, repeating over and over the name of the deceased, such as 'Thomas, Thomas, my sorrow and my loss"
II. Reacaireacht/Dirge
"The lone keener (more usually a woman) sang her verse to old reacaireacht music, chant like, many syllables on the same note, with little ornamentation and ending on a falling cadence"
III. Gol/Cry
"The gol...was the third stage of the round of keening - probably the culmination.....The music of the gol, in contrast to that of the preceding verse, was explosive and highly ornamented".
In writing the piece I was also inspired by the following quotation found in the book Irish Wake Amusements by Sean O'Suilleabháin -
"One stood near the head of the bed or table on which the corpse was laid, one at the feet, who was charged with the care of the candles, and one or more at each side; the family and immediate friends of the deceased sat around near the table. The mourner at the head opened the dirge with the first note or part of the cry; she was followed by the one at the foot with a note or part of equal length, then the long or double part was sung by the two side mourners, after which the members of the family and friends of the deceased joined in the common chorus at the end of each stanza of the funeral ode or dirge, following as closely as they could the air or tune adopted by the professional mourners. Sometimes one or more, or even all the principal singers, were men.-- O Súilleabháin, Irish Wake Amusements., p.136.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this account is that it involves a quartet of keeners and as such makes the String Quartet an interesting way of expressing the sentiments of the keen.
Whilst these passages have proved very influential on the piece it should be noted that I have deliberately not listened to any recorded keening, I have heard snippets of keening in the past but chose not to listen to any in detail because I didn't want to simply create a direct imitation of keening. Instead I have used the texts mentioned as an inspiration to create the music, so any similarity to actual keening is merely the result of the accuracy of the descriptions and my interpretations of them.
In writing the music I have been particularly inspired by the slow air playing of a number of Irish fiddlers and certain Irish fiddle techniques are used in the piece but at no time is an existing traditional melody used. The first movement contains an air I composed called 'The Murmuring Lament', the second movement is based around an improvisatory 'melody' on the Viola which is mostly based on the note A, thus echoing the description given in the book of 'many syllables on the same note'.
I was very fortunate to hear it briefly at a funeral in Conamara about 18 years ago. The keener was brought in from further back the country even though the waking house was about as far back as it gets. It's not disimilar to the Waiata Tangi of NZ Maori in it's raw ability to cut to the quick.
I wrote in a book some years ago of my experiences of 'going to wakes' Yes I'm afraid that I am old enough to remember Wakes. I remember that when someone died, the neighbours washed and laid out the body. My mother did it on many occasions in our street.. The body was usually dressed in a 'Habit' the same colour of the Scapular in which they were enrolled. I talking RC here. The majority of 'Habits' were brown, but I have seen Blue and Green ones. Tea, sandwiches, porter and whiskey were provided for the mourners and saucers of cigarettes and snuff were passed around at intervals (Hence the expression....Going around like snuff at a wake) I also remember playing the traditional games that were peculiar to Wakes. 'Forfeits' and 'My Man Jack' I can still remember the rigamarole that was My Man Jack. The idea of a game was to keep the bereaved occupied and to take their mind of things. The body was coffined the following evening and removed to lie overnight in the church, prior to interment. The coming of Funeral Homes put paid to the wake as I remember it, but strangely over the past year or so I have noticed that more and more families are choosing to have their loved ones waked at home prior to removal to the church. The cigarettes, the snuff and the games are gone however. On many occasions I've played Reels, jigs and 'whatever you having yourself' at the graveside of a musician, and enjoyed a session in the pub afterwards. Thankfully that still happens.
That is interesting FreeReed. We had such a wake at my grandfather's house in rural Australia when he died in 1960 (similar in many details, I don't remember any games but I was only five at the time) I don't know if it was keening, I don't think so really, not in the terms described above, but the old women made a crying noise which scared me.
Strangely enough, last Monday we were at the Tenement Museum in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and we did a "tour" through the life of an 19thC Irish immigrant family, which included recordings of music intended to convey atmosphere and tradition, even if some of it was anachronistic, and there was a recording of a lament in Irish for a dead baby which the tour guide described as "keening".
Closer still is the "Caoineadh Inion Ui Mhuiriosa" on the Labhras O Cadhla cd from RTE titled Amhrain O Shliabh gCua. There were men who keened too, although it was mostly the trade of women completely unrelated to Cathy's wailing at another Dervish recording drawing to a close!
There are few recordings of genuine keening for obvious reasons fewer still of men in the communities who performed the ritual.
I would just like to give a tremendous THANK YOU to all the very interesting & informative posts on this thread!
This past weekend, I reproduced a traditional Irish wake in my basement as part of a larger Halloween party, including a trad session. Although most of the details were lost on the majority of partygoers, I really tried to keep it as authentic as possible & even posted a little note near the coffin informing folks about the role of the keener, covering the mirrors, stopping the clocks, having the corpse near a window, lighting candles all around, also the significance of the presence of a banshee. Apparently a banshee can attract ravens, crows, black cats, etc so we had some of those as well. I had photos of JFK, the Pope, St. Brigid & even Michael Coleman for the parlor, as well as several Celtic crosses, lots of black lace & a stained glass reproduction of a window from O'Connor's in Doolin (harp, bodhran & concertina)... There was a coffee maker with Bailey's & whiskey nearby with lots of finger food.... I DID cheat on the keening. I found a French sean nos recording of two women that sounded esp creepy & had that playing in lieu of keening, but it still was pretty damn mournful. The corpse in the coffin was in an advanced state of decay (ie already a skeleton), however I put a long red wig on her, two black roses & a fiddle in there with her. The keener was my favorite part, but have not had the wherewithall to name her, but she kept excellent vigil with her long white hair, rosary, head scarf, black woollen dress etc... In any case, there was drinking, dancing, tunes & great craic with the last ones to bed around 0830. Thanks again for the all the posts! Happy Halloween!
keening
keening
Have you ever heard keening at a session? No no, real keening, this is not a windup, haha. Do sessions & wakes ever overlap? Does anyone know where I can find some recordings of keening? Are slow airs also related to keening?
Thanks!!!!
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by emily_bmore
Re: keening
For the inexperienced, can you tell us what keening is?
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by Merry Mary
Re: keening
Laments sung at a wake (post-funeral gathering), as far as I know.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by nicholas
Re: keening
There is a whole series of caoine/keens are there not associated with the Virgin Mary and Jesus? I have a few in my limited sean-nos song cd collection.
Caoine Mhuiri is one of them. I don't speak Irish but I'm sure the other Irish speakers who are knowledgeable about sean nos can illuminate you.
I do know the Catholic church discouraged keening. It was seen as slightly pagan [I believe it probably had its roots there] and 'backward'. As a result, keening has pretty much died out from my understanding.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by mtodd
Re: keening
I didn't think it was so formal or structured as songs. Isn't it more just an emotional, wordless expression of grief or loss? Extemporanous and singular, neither rehearsed or exactly replicable.
Mostly performed by woman of the 17th century lying on a coffin before it's buried, beside the gray sea of the west of Ireland, shrouded in fog, etc. etc.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by a sheamuis
Re: keening
I think the wake is *traditionally* before the funeral, yes? I dunno, I'm just researching on the net myself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keening
http://www.igp-web.com/carlow/An_Irish_Wake.htm
Just wondering if anyone here had any personal anecdotes esp wrt keening. Again, am very interested in recordings!
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by emily_bmore
Re: keening
Interesting topic. I hope some knowledgeable folks can contribute.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by Bob himself
Re: keening
Ah ok, cross-posting.... will look into sean nos as well.... totally fascinating. I found one 30 second mp3 on iTunes, haunting!
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by emily_bmore
Re: keening
Also, in the interests of full disclosure, I am dressing as a banshee for Halloween, but dunno if banshees wail or keen, haha:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banshee
No, I'm wearing white. Also taking suggestions for tunes to be played at the session, Vincent Broderick notwithstanding.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by emily_bmore
Re: keening
hmmm....I suppose one could say the Church wasn't too "keen" on caoines!
Hector Zazsou [sp?] has an 'interesting' cd devoted to the Mary series of keens. the songs are in Irish and cleave to the originals...but the treatment is a bit new age. it's still lovely tho.
Iarla O'Lionard also includes some on his cds as i remember.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by mtodd
Re: keening
This book/cd combo publication would be excellent I'm sure. Perhaps Celtic Grooves in the U.S. carries it. As a note, today the words keen and "lament" are pretty much synonymous. It's common for pipers especially to include laments/keens as "pieces" in their repetoire.
there are two samples at this website for Clo Iar-Chonnachta:
http://www.cic.ie/product.asp?idproduct=960
Caointe agus Seancheolta Eile / Keening and other Old Irish Musics - Breandán Ó Madagáin
Údar: Breandán Ó Madagáin (Author)
Rannóg: Amhráin / Songs (Category)
Tagairt:
ISBN 1 902420 97 7 (Reference)
Igh:
156 (Pages)
Praghas:
Clúd. Bog / Paperback €16.00
Clúd. Crua / Hardback €23.00 (Price)
A bilingual publication that explores the old musical traditions of Ireland.
Breandán Ó Madagáin has long been a noted scholar in the field of the Irish language and the song and poetic traditions associated with it. He was Professor of Irish in NUI, Galway and used often sing the poems to his students during lectures, illustrating the integral function of music in Irish poetry. In this book he brings together the many strands of his knowledge to uncover the fascinating historical musical traditions of Ireland. Included in this analysis are keens, work songs, macaronic songs, religious songs, elegies and political songs. Uniquely, this work examines not only the texts but also the music associated with them, examples of which can be heard on the accompanying CD.
The book explores the contexts in which these various poetic and musical traditions were performed, their social function, and examines the traditions of the ordinary people and those of the learned poets. The book also contains the texts of many historically-documented instances of these: a mother keening her daughter who is going to America, excerpts from the famed Caoineadh Art Uí Laoghaire and elegies for historic figures.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by mtodd
Re: keening
this looks interesting:
The Irish traditional lament and the grieving process*1
Angela Bourke
Department of Modern Irish, University College, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Available online 19 July 2002.
Abstract
“Keening” in English suggests a high-pitched, inarticulate moaning, but the Irish word caoineadh, from which it derives signifies among other things, a highly articulate tradition of women's oral poetry. The lamenting woman led the community in a public display of grief. Acting out in her appearance and behaviour the disorder brought about by death, she was often barefoot and dishevelled. Her caoineadh or lament was a series of breathless utterances of rhymed, rhythmic praise of the dead person (usually a man), and invective against his enemies. In the 20th century Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and others have identified the sequence of emotions which are the necessary components of the grieving process: notably denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, and acceptance. In this paper, texts of caoineadh, mostly from the 18th century, are examined and it is suggested that they embody a disciplined and powerful expression of these stages of mourning.
References
Alexiou, 1974. Margaret Alexiou , The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition. , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1974).
Bergin, 1970. Osborn Bergin , Irish Bardic Poetry. , Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin (1970) (Compiled and edited by David Greene and Fergus Kelly, with a foreword by D.A. Binchy) .
Clover, 1986. Carol Clover , Hildigunnr's Lament. In: John Lindow, Lars Lonnroth and Gerd Wolfgang Weber, Editors, Structure and Meaning in Old Norse Literature: New Approaches to Textual Analysis and Literary Criticism, Odense University Press, Odense (1986).
Hall, 1841. Mr. & Mrs. Samuel C. Hall Ireland: Its scenery, character, etc 3 Vols., Hall, Virtue & Co, London (1841).
Heaney, 1983. Seamus Heaney , Sweeney Astray: A Version from the Irish. , Faber, London (1983).
Kennelly, 1970. Brendan Kennelly , Penguin Book of Irish Verse. , Penguin Books, Harmondsworth (1970).
Knott, 1966. Eleanor Knott , Irish Syllabic Poetry, 1200–1600. , Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin (1966).
Kübler-Ross, 1973. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross , On Death and Dying. (1973) Tavistock, London .
Leach, 1949. Maria Leach, Editor, Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend 2 Vols., Funk and Wagnalls, New York (1949).
Lord, 1960. Albert B. Lord , The singer of tales. , Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (1960).
ÓhAilín and ÓhAilín, 1971. Tomás ÓhAilín , Caointe agus Caointeoirí (Laments and Lamenters). Feasta (Jan.) i (1971), pp. 7–11 Eanáir .
Tomás ÓhAilín Feasta (Feb.) ii (1971), pp. 5–9 Feabhra .
O'Keeffe, 1913. James G. O'Keeffe , Buile Suibhne (The frenzy of Suibhne). In: being the adventures of Suibhne Geilt, a Middle-Irish RomanceIntroduction, Notes and Glossary, Irish Texts Society, London (1913) edited, with Translation .
ÓMuirithe, 1978. D. ÓMuirithe , Tuairiscí na dTaistealaithe. In: B. ÓMadagáin, Editor, Gnéithe den Chaointeoireacht (Aspects of the lament), An Clóchomhar, Dublin (1978), pp. 20–29.
ÓTuama, 1961. Seán ÓTuama , Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire (The Lament for Art O'Leary). , An Clóchomhar, Dublin (1961).
Partridge, 1980. Angela Partridge , Wild men and wailing women. Éigse XVIII (1980), pp. 25–37.
Partridge, 1983. Angela Partridge , Caoineadh na dtrí Muire: Téama na páise i bhfilíocht bhéil na Gaeilge (The Lament of the Three Marys: The Theme of the Passion in Irish Oral Poetry). , An Clóchomhar, Dublin (1983).
Synge, 1911. John M. Synge , The Aran Islands. , John W. Luce, Boston (1911).
References
Béaloideas, the Journal of the Folklore of Ireland Society (1927) Dublin .
Bromwich, 1948. Rachel Bromwich , The keen for Art O'Leary, its background and its place in the tradition of Gaelic keening. Éigse V (1948), pp. 236–252.
Caraveli-Chaves, 1980. Anna Caraveli-Chaves , Bridge between worlds: The Greek women's lament as communicative event. Journal of American Folklore 93 (1980), pp. 129–157. Full Text via CrossRef
Danforth, 1982. Loring M. Danforth , The Death Rituals of Rural Greece. , Princeton University Press, Princeton (1982).
Delargy, 1945. James H. Delargy , The Gaelic story-teller, with some notes on Gaelic folk-tales. Proceedings of the British Academy (1945) (Reprinted 1969, American Committee for Irish Studies, Chicago) .
Honko, 1974. Lauri Honko , Balto-Finnic lament poetry. Studia Fennica XVII (1974), pp. 9–61 (Helsinki) .
Jackson, 1971. Kenneth Jackson , A Celtic miscellany. , Penguin Books, Harmondsworth (1971) (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London) .
ÓMadagáin, 1982. Breandán ÓMadagáin , Irish vocal music of lament and syllabic poetry. In: Robert O'Driscoll, Editor, The Celtic Consciousness, The Dolment Press, Portlaoise (1982), pp. 311–331 Canongate, Edinburg .
Ross, 1959. J. Ross , Formulaic Composition in Gaelic Oral Literature. Modern Philology LVII (1959), pp. 1–12. Full Text via CrossRef
Van Gennep, 1960. Arnold Van Gennep , The Rites of Passage. , University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1960) 1909 .
Translated from Les Rites de Passage (1909).
*1 Paper presented to the 3rd International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, Dublin, July 1987.
Women’s Studies International Forum
Volume 11, Issue 4, 1988, Pages 287-291
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# Posted on October 24th 2008 by mtodd
Re: keening
There's an old RTE documentary named talking to the dead which I saw some time ago. Also Newstalk 106.. sorry 107 they're nationwide now! did a documentary which may still be available as a pod cast via their website newstalk.ie
The O Madagáin references are good ones, also google Patricia Lysaght she has done some fine work on keening and the follore that surrounds it.
Additionally Google books has a free copy of Crofton Crokers book the Fairy legends and the traditions of the south of ireland.
I've not heard many laments at sessions unless the winging of melody players counts...sighing the death knell of a session due to too many Bodhrán players!
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by newdeafman
Re: keening
The Irish goddess Brigid is unusual among deities because she is found in several different religions. References to her are found in ancient Paganism, Neo-Paganism, Christianity and Voodoo.
Both Neo -Pagans and Pagans of old worshiped Brigid as a Celtic pagan triple goddess. The term triple Goddess refers to the belief that some deities have three distinct aspects covering the maiden, mother and crone phases of life. The three fates of Greek mythology are examples of a triple goddess.
Brigid reportedly has power over childbirth, motherhood, smith craft, peace, unity, poetry, inspiration, healing, hearth and home among others.
Legend holds that Brigid began the Irish tradition of keening (crying,wailing, and singing) over the body of a deceased person at a wake. After her son Ruadan died during battle it is said that let out keening such as never been heard or would be heard again. It is also said that Brigid's keening convinced both sides of the battle to leave the field and commit to peace.
Keening has decreased in recent years but is still practiced in Ireland where expert female keeners are often paid to keen over bodies at wakes.
Interestingly Brigid appears in Christianity, specifically in Catholicism in the form of St. Brigit. Catholics claim that St. Brigit lived in Kildare, Ireland which is also the home of the pagan goddess Brigid. An Abbey in Kildare is dedicated to St. Brigit. This is also the location of Brigit's well which folk lore holds is the resting place of the Holy Grail of Arthurian legend.
The Catholic nuns who maintain the Abbey host visitors who have come to Brigit's well and eternal flame. The eternal flame is maintained by 19 nuns that reside at the abbey. Many of the visitors to the abbey are Neo-Pagans who worship Brigit in her Pagan incarnation.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by mtodd
Re: keening
On Alan Lomax's "World Library Of Folk & Primitive Music, Vol. 2: Ireland"
there are two versions of a keen for a dead child, one is sung, the other
piped.
You can purchase the recording, and listen to samples, at amazon.com
--From an IRTRAD List serve contributor [i have that cd. it's excellent btw-mtodd]
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by mtodd
Re: keening
I have heard a field recording of Keening once played in a lecture - it was really haunting.
It might be of interest that composer Dave Flynn who is a member of thesession.org has written a really great suite for string quartet inspired by the keening tradition. It may be worth sending him an email to see if it's possible to get a recording of it.
In the meantime, here is a text describing the piece:
String Quartet No.3 'An Caoineadh' (The Keening) (2007)
This piece was partly inspired by Breandán Ó Madagain's book 'Caointe agus Seancheolta Eile - Keening and other Old Irish Musics'
In this book he describes the ancient Irish singing style called 'Caoineadh' or in English 'Keening'. The English term is derived from the Irish and has been used to describe mournful cries of people all over the world. Recently keening has most particularly been attributed to Iraqi women lamenting the deaths occurring from the war there.
However according to Ó Madagain's description there is a lot more to keening than the piercing cries it is often associated with. In his book he describes three main stages to the Keen and I have taken these descriptions as inspiration for the three movements of the string quartet.
I. Ag Monabhar/Murmuring
"The mourner commences by some deep murmuring, repeating over and over the name of the deceased, such as 'Thomas, Thomas, my sorrow and my loss"
II. Reacaireacht/Dirge
"The lone keener (more usually a woman) sang her verse to old reacaireacht music, chant like, many syllables on the same note, with little ornamentation and ending on a falling cadence"
III. Gol/Cry
"The gol...was the third stage of the round of keening - probably the culmination.....The music of the gol, in contrast to that of the preceding verse, was explosive and highly ornamented".
In writing the piece I was also inspired by the following quotation found in the book Irish Wake Amusements by Sean O'Suilleabháin -
"One stood near the head of the bed or table on which the corpse was laid, one at the feet, who was charged with the care of the candles, and one or more at each side; the family and immediate friends of the deceased sat around near the table. The mourner at the head opened the dirge with the first note or part of the cry; she was followed by the one at the foot with a note or part of equal length, then the long or double part was sung by the two side mourners, after which the members of the family and friends of the deceased joined in the common chorus at the end of each stanza of the funeral ode or dirge, following as closely as they could the air or tune adopted by the professional mourners. Sometimes one or more, or even all the principal singers, were men.-- O Súilleabháin, Irish Wake Amusements., p.136.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this account is that it involves a quartet of keeners and as such makes the String Quartet an interesting way of expressing the sentiments of the keen.
Whilst these passages have proved very influential on the piece it should be noted that I have deliberately not listened to any recorded keening, I have heard snippets of keening in the past but chose not to listen to any in detail because I didn't want to simply create a direct imitation of keening. Instead I have used the texts mentioned as an inspiration to create the music, so any similarity to actual keening is merely the result of the accuracy of the descriptions and my interpretations of them.
In writing the music I have been particularly inspired by the slow air playing of a number of Irish fiddlers and certain Irish fiddle techniques are used in the piece but at no time is an existing traditional melody used. The first movement contains an air I composed called 'The Murmuring Lament', the second movement is based around an improvisatory 'melody' on the Viola which is mostly based on the note A, thus echoing the description given in the book of 'many syllables on the same note'.
Martin.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by martin t
Re: keening
I'd forgotten that, far from being buried or cremated, the corpse was / is very much there at a wake.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by nicholas
Re: keening
I was very fortunate to hear it briefly at a funeral in Conamara about 18 years ago. The keener was brought in from further back the country even though the waking house was about as far back as it gets. It's not disimilar to the Waiata Tangi of NZ Maori in it's raw ability to cut to the quick.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: keening
lovely martin. thanks. i just might buy that based on your description.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by mtodd
Re: keening
I wrote in a book some years ago of my experiences of 'going to wakes' Yes I'm afraid that I am old enough to remember Wakes. I remember that when someone died, the neighbours washed and laid out the body. My mother did it on many occasions in our street.. The body was usually dressed in a 'Habit' the same colour of the Scapular in which they were enrolled. I talking RC here. The majority of 'Habits' were brown, but I have seen Blue and Green ones. Tea, sandwiches, porter and whiskey were provided for the mourners and saucers of cigarettes and snuff were passed around at intervals (Hence the expression....Going around like snuff at a wake) I also remember playing the traditional games that were peculiar to Wakes. 'Forfeits' and 'My Man Jack' I can still remember the rigamarole that was My Man Jack. The idea of a game was to keep the bereaved occupied and to take their mind of things. The body was coffined the following evening and removed to lie overnight in the church, prior to interment. The coming of Funeral Homes put paid to the wake as I remember it, but strangely over the past year or so I have noticed that more and more families are choosing to have their loved ones waked at home prior to removal to the church. The cigarettes, the snuff and the games are gone however. On many occasions I've played Reels, jigs and 'whatever you having yourself' at the graveside of a musician, and enjoyed a session in the pub afterwards. Thankfully that still happens.
# Posted on October 24th 2008 by Free Reed
Re: keening
That is interesting FreeReed. We had such a wake at my grandfather's house in rural Australia when he died in 1960 (similar in many details, I don't remember any games but I was only five at the time) I don't know if it was keening, I don't think so really, not in the terms described above, but the old women made a crying noise which scared me.
Strangely enough, last Monday we were at the Tenement Museum in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and we did a "tour" through the life of an 19thC Irish immigrant family, which included recordings of music intended to convey atmosphere and tradition, even if some of it was anachronistic, and there was a recording of a lament in Irish for a dead baby which the tour guide described as "keening".
# Posted on October 25th 2008 by Bren
Re: keening
This might interest you - http://bit.ly/4xti6E.
The only recording I can think of which comes anywhere close to keening is on Dervish's 'Spirit' CD - the hidden track at the very end.
# Posted on October 25th 2008 by Floss the Tethers
Re: keening
Closer still is the "Caoineadh Inion Ui Mhuiriosa" on the Labhras O Cadhla cd from RTE titled Amhrain O Shliabh gCua. There were men who keened too, although it was mostly the trade of women completely unrelated to Cathy's wailing at another Dervish recording drawing to a close!
There are few recordings of genuine keening for obvious reasons fewer still of men in the communities who performed the ritual.
# Posted on October 26th 2008 by newdeafman
Re: keening
Patricia Lysaght is my best mates mother.
If you need any info mail me.
# Posted on October 27th 2008 by Hugo Chavez
Re: keening
My thoughts exactly, NFD! That's why I wrote 'close to keening'.
# Posted on October 27th 2008 by Floss the Tethers
Re: keening
I would just like to give a tremendous THANK YOU to all the very interesting & informative posts on this thread!
This past weekend, I reproduced a traditional Irish wake in my basement as part of a larger Halloween party, including a trad session. Although most of the details were lost on the majority of partygoers, I really tried to keep it as authentic as possible & even posted a little note near the coffin informing folks about the role of the keener, covering the mirrors, stopping the clocks, having the corpse near a window, lighting candles all around, also the significance of the presence of a banshee. Apparently a banshee can attract ravens, crows, black cats, etc so we had some of those as well. I had photos of JFK, the Pope, St. Brigid & even Michael Coleman for the parlor, as well as several Celtic crosses, lots of black lace & a stained glass reproduction of a window from O'Connor's in Doolin (harp, bodhran & concertina)... There was a coffee maker with Bailey's & whiskey nearby with lots of finger food.... I DID cheat on the keening. I found a French sean nos recording of two women that sounded esp creepy & had that playing in lieu of keening, but it still was pretty damn mournful. The corpse in the coffin was in an advanced state of decay (ie already a skeleton), however I put a long red wig on her, two black roses & a fiddle in there with her. The keener was my favorite part, but have not had the wherewithall to name her, but she kept excellent vigil with her long white hair, rosary, head scarf, black woollen dress etc... In any case, there was drinking, dancing, tunes & great craic with the last ones to bed around 0830. Thanks again for the all the posts! Happy Halloween!
# Posted on October 28th 2008 by emily_bmore