May Morning Dew + a treat!

Post by **Nanohedron** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:12 pm

carel wrote:I found this No E
http://www.abc.net.au/southwestwa/stories/s1354873.htm
at bottom right
but the video doesn't open on my player

Carel

"Link may be outdated or innacurate", sez my RealPlayer thingum. Curses.

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:28 pm

Here's the article:

Learn how to lilt the Irish way with Seàn Keane from Galway
Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Find the heart and the soul of Irish singing with one of the best exponents of seanòs, or the traditional style, Seàn Keane. You can watch a short video of Seàn singing a traditional song and also showing you how to diddle, or lilt.

Sean Keane
Seàn Keane hails from Galway in Eireann's west. He was born into a musical family and grew up singing in the seanòs or old style. Seanòs in the hands of the older singers was unaccompanied and depicted the life of the day, the historical and political events.

Fundamental to seanòs is the love of singing, says Seàn.

"They just sang the songs for the love of singing and the want of singing..."" The heart and the lyric and the song is more important to seanòs singers and the story of the songs, than perfection in vocal technique."

The style has probably changed, says Seàn with the introduction of accompaniment but the songs still have the same themes – life and love. People write songs about life events, what's happening, what's going on on the world stage, he says.

At about age six or seven, Seàn began to sing in the Fleadh Ceol which is organised by Comhaltas Ceoltiori Eireann, the organisation dedicated to preserving Irish heritage, especially music and songs. Competing in the song competitions gave Seàn "a way out." He travelled the country, one week in Dublin, another in Kerry and saw parts of Ireland that his mates in school would not have done.

Importantly, Seàn also met up with other boys such as Paul Byrnes and Vinnie Kilduff who, like Seàn, still sings and plays today. But the competition wasn't all seriousness. "The most important thing was to get up there and sing the songs so we could go off and play the rest of the day."

The music takes him further afield these days. One of the standout acts at this year's Fairbridge Folk Festival, Seàn and his band drew the audiences whenever he performed. Irish music seems easily to touch the heart strings.and for Seàn, emotion is integral to his performance."The only way I can sing a song is to get lost in the story," he says, regardless of what's going on around him.

"Any song that I sing has got to move me..."If it doesn't, I couldn't hope to sing it, I wouldn't get any satisfaction out of it."

The May Morning Dew is a song that he's been singing since he was a youngster and yet it doesn't grow stale for him. Each time he sings it, he says, he can conjure up different images or find different nuance in it. "I just dive into the song," says Seàn. If you get lost in the song, if your heart is in what you're doing, that's the only way you can possibly hope to do it. And that in a nutshell is what seanòs is all about.

Lilting or diddling (pron dighdling) is another style that Seàn demonstrates. The technique developed as a way of thwarting the English laws designed to stamp out Irish nationalism. It was a crime to speak the Irish tongue or to sing or play Irish songs, says Seàn. "Basically, you couldn't have an Irish instrument in your house." So people developed diddling or mouth music.

"It's something I have been doing all my life because one of the easiest ways to learn tunes is to say to somebody,' diddle a bit of it.'" Watch the video to learn how to diddle.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:31 pm

...diddling (pron dighdling)...

I loved that part.

No E · Post by **No E** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:43 pm

OK, This in from Lillis O Laoire:

"I don't know of an Irish set of words to that particular air." So, the short answer to my original questions is "no." Lillis goes on to say that "May Morning Dew" is somewhat similar to "Siubhan Ni Dhuibir," and that the most common version of "May Morning Dew" is associated with (singer) Paddy Tunney, and appears to have originated along the Fermanagh-Donegal border.

Many thanks to Lillis for his prompt and thorough reply!

No E

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:04 pm

Did anybody notice that the photo of the supposed Ronan Browne in the latest "Pipers Review" was of Edmund Tunney and not the bauld Ronán? Is Edmund descended from the Tunney singers? Paddy's songs are fantastic, the words he used are so poetic.... does this make me a blouse?

Patrick.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:11 pm

Patrick D'Arcy wrote:Did anybody notice that the photo of the supposed Ronan Browne in the latest "Pipers Review" was of Edmund Tunney and not the bauld Ronán? Is Edmund descended from the Tunney singers? Paddy's songs are fantastic, the words he used are so poetic.... does this make me a blouse?

Patrick.

Paddy would be Éamonn's great-uncle, if I have it right. I wanted to find a sound clip of Paddy singing "Green Fields of Amerikay" to check it against the version that I've got, but that's one that isn't available on the web for what I could find.

Ya big blouse.

No E · Post by **No E** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:49 pm

Patrick D'Arcy wrote:Did anybody notice that the photo of the supposed Ronan Browne in the latest "Pipers Review" was of Edmund Tunney and not the bauld Ronán? Is Edmund descended from the Tunney singers? Paddy's songs are fantastic, the words he used are so poetic.... does this make me a blouse?

Patrick.

A big GIRL'S blouse, in fact.

No E

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:51 pm

No taco's for you Dunner!

PD.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 6:04 pm

Patrick D'Arcy wrote:No taco's for you Dunner!

PD.

A taco eating BIG girl's blouse, no less.

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 6:52 pm

Joseph E. Smith wrote:
Patrick D'Arcy wrote:No taco's for you Dunner!

PD.
A taco eating BIG girl's blouse, no less.

...and proud of it... I won't go any further with THAT one!

PD.

misterpatrick · Post by **misterpatrick** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 8:25 pm

So any versions of May Morning Dew being sung out there on the internets?

tommykleen · Post by **tommykleen** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 8:47 pm

Patrick D'Arcy wrote:No taco's for you Dunner!

PD.

That's Dunnr! No "E", you bounder!

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 8:48 pm

tommykleen wrote:
Patrick D'Arcy wrote:No taco's for you Dunner!

PD.
That's Dunnr! No "E", you bounder!

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:08 am

Nice avatar TK

Gimme a T.... gimme an O.....

tommykleen · Post by **tommykleen** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Patrick D'Arcy wrote:Nice avatar TK

Gimme a T.... gimme an O.....

Gimme an R...gimme an M...gimme an F...gimme an L...gimme an A
...gimme another R...gimme a G...gimme an L...gimme another A...gimme yet another R...gimme a final G!

What does it spell? TORMFLARGLARG! TORMFLARGLARG!

Peppily,
T