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Gearódín Breathnach In this collection, Gearóidín Breathnach feels very close to her community. She is presenting songs that we have all learned in school in a way that school children of all ages will enjoy. -Lillis Ó Laoire Mo Mhadadh Beag Cruacha Glas na hÉireann Cad é Sin Don Té Sin Labhair an Teanga Ghaeilge Bog Braon don tSeanduine Tuirne Mháire Siobhán Ní Dhuibhir Gardaí an Rí Cill Aodáin A Stór a Stór a Ghrá Óró Sé do Bheatha Abhaile Preab San Ól GEARÓIDÍN BHREATHNACH “Ar Fhoscadh na gCnoc” Clo Iar-Chonnachta CICD130 The latest chapter in Clo Iar-Chonnachta’s ongoing exposition of the singing tradition of Donegal is quite a book of revelation, showcasing as it does the manifest talents of Gearóidín Bhreathnach. Perhaps the most impressive female sean-nós singer to emerge since Nóra Nic Dhonnchadha, Gearóidín Neidí Frainc (as she is known in Gaelic patronymic style) has everything that even the most demanding listener (mé féin) might ask for: great feeling, a superb voice, and wonderful timing and control. None of the foregoing, of course, counts for anything if the material be unworthy, but this is very far from being the case here. What we have, rather, is a multifaceted document of … well, of nothing less than a living tradition! So alive, indeed, that the authorship of the majority of the songs on this record is known, most having been composed well within living memory by Gearóidín’s family, friends and neighbours, or by the singer herself. Gearóidín hails from that singingest of spots, Rinn na Feirste in the Rosses on the northwest coast of Donegal, and was in the fortunate position of being exposed in her youth to such influences as the great Aodh O Duibheannaigh, and, in more recent times, Lillis O Laoire, already the subject of an earlier CIC record, “Bláth Gach Géag dá dTig” (CICD 075). Her parents both had a great store of songs, many of which she learnt almost before she could walk, but, if one influence overleaps all the others, it is surely that of her one-time next-door neighbours, the Mac Grianna family. The noted writer “Máire” (the pseudonym of Séamus Mac Grianna) was a member of the clan, and two of his songs are featured here; but there are no fewer than four by Seán Bán Mac Grianna (“an fear bán”, as Gearóidín refers to him), including the outstanding “Cumha an Fhile”, composed on the death of his sister. Gearóidín‘s lament for her own father, “Mo Sheanchara Dílis” (“My Sweet Old Friend”), sung to the air of “Bríd Og Ní Mháille”, is, for me, one of the highlights of the collection; but it should not be supposed that this record is a litany of laments. There are songs of love and of the joys of nature, but it has to be said that, despite the inclusion of a couple of light songs, the overall tone is one of seriousness – though with no excess of solemnity. I suspect that the feeling which so characterizes Gearóidín‘s singing works its magic better in the context of a serious song; and her other composition, “An Loch sa Ghleann”, is a fine example of this. An evocation of the beauty of the glen in which she has lived since her marriage, so different from her birthplace by the sea that true appreciation of it came only slowly, the song is a masterpiece of reflection in more senses than one, being dominated by the image of the Moon shining over the loch in the glen. The relatively esoteric, though fascinating, songs of the singer’s home place coexist on this record with some far more widely-known traditional ones, such as “An Droighne n Donn” and “An Seanduine Dóite”, all handled with consummate skill. Perhaps the very best of this particular bunch is her rendition of “Tiocfiadh an Samhradh”, so overexposed in recent years that it could easily have become a cliché. In Gearóidín‘s tender care, however, it is an exultant rhapsody, and as fresh as if it had just been written. Conall O Domhnaill’s introduction makes mention of the fear felt by some in recent years that the Donegal tradition was slowly dying. Apparently things are slowly on the mend now, thank God – certainly with a few more singers of the calibre of Gearóidín Bhreathnach it would be in the rudest of health. Christy Mac Hale
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Gearódín Breathnach Sa bhailiúchán seo déanann Gearóidín Breathnach gar mór dá pobal. Tá sí ag cur amhráin inár láthair a d’fhoghlaim muid uilig ar a’ scoil ar dhóigh go mbainfidh páistí scoile d’achan aois sult astu. -Lillis Ó Laoire Mo Mhadadh Beag Cruacha Glas na hÉireann Cad é Sin Don Té Sin Labhair an Teanga Ghaeilge Bog Braon don tSeanduine Tuirne Mháire Siobhán Ní Dhuibhir Gardaí an Rí Cill Aodáin A Stór a Stór a Ghrá Óró Sé do Bheatha Abhaile Preab San Ól GEARÓIDÍN BHREATHNACH “Ar Fhoscadh na gCnoc” Clo Iar-Chonnachta CICD130 Is mór an leabhar nochtaithe é an chaibidil is déanaí i léiriú leanúnach Clo Iar-Chonnachta ar thraidisiún amhránaíochta Dhún na nGall, ag taispeáint mar a dhéanann sé buanna follasacha Gearóidín Bhreathnach. B’fhéidir gurb é an t-amhránaí sean-nós baineann is suntasaí a tháinig chun cinn ó Nóra Nic Dhonnchadha, Gearóidín Neidí Frainc (mar a thugtar uirthi i stíl phátrúnach na Gàidhlig) gach rud a d’fhéadfadh fiú an t-éisteoir is éilithí (mé a iarraidh): mothú iontach, sármhaith guth, agus uainiú agus rialú iontach. Níl aon cheann de na rudaí sin roimhe seo, ar ndóigh, ag brath ar rud ar bith má tá an t-ábhar neamhfhiúntach, ach tá sé seo i bhfad ó bheith anseo. Is é atá againn, in áit, ná doiciméad ilghnéitheach de… bhuel, ar rud ar bith níos lú ná traidisiún beo! Mar sin beo, go deimhin, go bhfuil údar le húdar tromlach na n-amhrán ar an taifead seo, an chuid is mó díobh curtha le chéile go maith i gcuimhne bheo ag teaghlach, cairde agus comharsana Gearóidín, nó ag an amhránaí féin. Tagann Gearóidín ón spotaí amhránaíochta sin, Rinn na Feirste sna Rosses ar chósta thiar thuaidh Dhún na nGall, agus bhí an t-ádh air a bheith nochtaithe ina hóige do thionchair mar an Aodh O Duibhe caite, agus, le déanaí, Lillis O Laoire, a bhí mar ábhar cheana ar thaifead CIC níos luaithe, “Bláth Gach Géag dá dTig” (CICD 075). Bhí stór mór amhrán ag a tuismitheoirí, cuid mhaith a d’fhoghlaim sí beagnach sula bhféadfadh sí siúl, ach, má théann tionchar amháin os cionn na cinn eile go léir, is cinnte gurb é sin a comharsana béal dorais aon-uaire, teaghlach Mac Grianna. Bhí an scríbhneoir iomráiteach “Máire” (ainm bréige Séamus Mac Grianna) ina bhall den clan, agus tá dhá cheann dá amhráin le feiceáil anseo; ach níl níos lú ná ceathrar le Seán Bán Mac Grianna (“fear bán”, mar a thagraíonn Gearóidín dó), lena n-áirítear an “Cumha an Fhile” den scoth, Is é cumha Gearóidín dá hathair féin, “Mo Sheanchara Dílis” (“My Old Old Friend”), a chanadh le haer “Bríd Og Ní Mháille”, domsa, ceann de bhuaicphointí an bhailiúcháin; ach níor cheart a cheapadh gur litany cumha é an taifead seo. Tá amhráin ghrá agus lúcháir an dúlra ann, ach caithfear a rá, in ainneoin cúpla amhrán éadrom a bheith san áireamh, go bhfuil an ton foriomlán tromchúiseach - cé nach bhfuil an iomarca sollúntachta ann. Tá amhras orm go n-oibríonn an mothúchán atá mar thréith ag amhránaíocht Gearóidín níos fearr i draíocht i gcomhthéacs amhrán tromchúiseach; agus is sampla breá de seo a comhdhéanamh eile, “An Loch sa Ghleann”. Athlonnú ar áilleacht an ghleanna ina bhfuil sí ina cónaí ó phós sí, chomh difriúil óna háit bhreithe cois farraige nár tháinig fíor-thuiscint uirthi ach go mall, Tá na hamhráin réasúnta esoteric, cé go suimiúil, de áit bhaile an amhránaí taobh le taobh den taifead seo le roinnt amhrán traidisiúnta a bhfuil aithne níos fairsinge orthu, mar shampla “An Droighne n Donn” agus “An Seanduine Dóite”, iad go léir á láimhseáil le scil consummate. B’fhéidir gurb é an rud is fearr a bhaineann leis an mbrú áirithe seo ná an léiriú a rinne sí ar “Tiocfiadh an Samhradh”, a bhí chomh róshaothraithe le blianta beaga anuas go bhféadfadh sé a bheith ina cliché go héasca. Faoi chúram tairisceana Gearóidín, áfach, is rhapsody exultant é, agus chomh úr is dá mbeadh sé díreach scríofa. Luann réamhrá Conall O Domhnaill an eagla a bhí ar roinnt daoine le blianta beaga anuas go raibh traidisiún Dhún na nGall ag fáil bháis go mall. De réir cosúlachta tá rudaí ag dul chun donais anois, buíochas le Dia - cinnte le cúpla amhránaí eile den scoth Gearóidín Bhreathnach bheadh sé i ndrochshláinte na sláinte. Christy Mac Hale