Our Music Our Language and Our Culture

[Music]

we are a trio of siblings

who are fortunate enough to grow up in

the heart of connemara

completely immersed in the irish

language and irish culture

we’ve always seen the irish language as

much more than just the tool with which

to communicate

it’s always been such an integral part

of our daily lives and forms a huge part

of our identities

it’s heavily rooted in our music that we

immersed in the sports we participated

the education we received and the

relationships we farmed and maintained

over the years

i think it’s very easy in this

fast-paced society to kind of take

a priority when it comes to

practical um

professional practicality over

interpersonal exchange and experience

and that brings us to a phrase that i’m

sure everyone in this room has heard

uttered at least once in their lives

whether it’s over a few friendly points

down the pub or on some long-winded

facebook rent from your veteran keyboard

warrior

that is

irish sure that’s a dead language

why should i have to learn language i’m

never going to use

where we completely appreciate that for

the vast majority of employers across

the country fluency irish is not going

to be at the top of any one employer’s

list of requirements

the issue here is that there is a

complete dismissal of an island that has

seen such hardship throughout the

centuries

and yet persevered

the names that we use to identify

ourselves on a daily basis are in the

irish language i’m sure there are others

in the audience that are the same way

and

the relationships we have formed and the

conversations that we have with our

family and friends on a daily basis are

had in the irish language and these are

conversations and words that were shared

by generations of our ancestors that

came before us

now certain conversations might not have

been had by them including like the

latest tick-tock trends that are

circulating online at the moment but

sure look we’ll keep that to ourselves

the songs that we so enjoy singing and

listening to

preserve preserve precious memories

within their lyrics and melodies

memories that very well have could have

been lost if it weren’t after the

survival of the irish language

we don’t claim to be academics that have

done extensive research into the history

and origins of our culture and language

we don’t claim to be experts on the

fields of linguistics political science

or irish history

all we can offer to you tonight is our

own experience of growing up in an area

so steeped in culture and language and

how it’s shaped our experience growing

up and the way we choose to participate

in society

by virtue of us being privileged enough

to be born into a great region

we have involuntarily become ambassadors

of irish music and language

our schooling which we received entirely

through irish was so much more to us

than grades sums and essay deadlines

it was an opportunity for us to learn

our heritage

including one of the oldest forms of

music to still exist on a global scale

channels when translated is pretty

self-explanatory

meaning all style it is a form of

singing which is usually a single line

of melody song unaccompanied

it is a beautiful tradition containing

beautiful

melodies

and

the stories often deal with very kind of

complex topics including

hardship heartbreak love

and even death but we assure you we’re

going to keep it nice and lighthearted

for tonight we won’t be taking out the

bad guns at all

but for tonight we’re going to start off

with a song for you that we would have

learned throughout that period of our

childhood as something that we hold very

dear to our hearts because it would have

been one of the first songs that exposed

us to this beautiful art form

it’s a beautiful love song

called pre-dog new alia we hope you

enjoy

[Music]

[Applause]

don’t you know

[Music]

lord

[Music]

alone

thanks very much

i suppose when it came to developing

into adolescence then

our understanding and our approach to

music also experienced somewhat of a

shift

i think

that’s the one that gets to laugh oh

jesus

up until that point i suppose we were

completely immersed in the challenge

tradition and uh had little to no

experience of modern music i know or

really from the shticks

but

through formal education and music at

school and through interacting with our

peers and friends after that we started

to develop an interest in a vast range

of genres and styles of music

suddenly our day-to-day lives are filled

with music of coldplay queen

bastille

the 1975 and i must admit there was the

ad beyonce track in there as well

now even though the music that we

decided to listen to and the music that

we chose to perform may have been worlds

apart in terms of style

this had a significant impact on our

wanting to make the shallow songs and

the ancient melodies more digestible not

only to our teenage selves but other

people who might not be as rooted in the

culture and and might be as engaged with

the language and just make that a bit

more accessible and digestible for those

people

we realized that we could

take the skills that we learned and

apply them to our channel singing roots

and

i’ll never forget an exchange we had

with a woman following a performance we

did at a concert she came up to us after

our set and said to us

jesus how to beat the blood harmony

and that was a phrase like we had never

heard before but we completely

understood it this

natural gift we had never realized was

such a gift having so clearly explained

to us as

this has been inherent in part of our

dna and it was very special to us

and then while we dabbled in other

musical interests we always stay true to

our traditional roots by

attending festivals and flowers

year-round i suppose when it came to the

the harmonies and stuff like that

growing up we didn’t realize that it was

such an innate part of our heritage but

the chanu’s tradition had a huge

developmental kind of um impact on our

learning music when we came to that

these melodies that had been so

intricate and the the kind of hidden

nuances under all the lyrics and

melodies really taught us a lot about

the music we were to learn in school

after that our being rooted in the irish

culture also served as a huge part of

our communication skills and i suppose

the sense of community and belonging we

had at home was equally reflected when

we traveled away and found irish people

all over the world

i think it’s no new news that the irish

people were obsessed with finding common

ground

and by virtue of you being irish or

affiliated with ireland you have this

kind of unique ability to go away and

connect with complete strangers by

virtue of having something in common

that’s your irishness and our connection

to our irishness is so heavily rooted in

our language and in our music

throughout our many years of traveling

to various festivals across the country

we’ve experienced this firsthand take

for example the toyota katy band who

blew audiences away at black young

hayden with their performance

this band comprised entirely of japanese

musicians took it upon themselves to

immerse themselves in the irish music

and were met with a huge welcome by the

irish music community

what is it about irish music that tugs

on so many heartstrings

what is it about the phenomenon that is

riverdance that commands such rapturous

applause each time it hits the stage

why is it that there have been so many

gaa clubs established across the globe

there is a certain magical element

associated with our island

that demands to be viewed worldwide

our connection to this magic is deeply

rooted in our music and in our language

we feel a huge responsibility as the

next generation of irish speakers to

ensure that this magic doesn’t die

we’ll continue with one song that we’ve

decided to apply our

knowledge of other music to and put some

arrangement to really go against the

grain when it comes to shamas this is

one called mohi a kind of a lighthearted

love song about unrequited love so we

hope you enjoy it

[Music]

[Laughter]

[Music]

thanks very much

i suppose it wasn’t until adolescence

and early adulthood that we truly came

to appreciate our culture and heritage

there are people preserved in these

songs

there are relationships preserved in

these stories

there are moments in time preserved in

these melodies

we realize now that it is such a

privilege to be able to share the

stories of our ancestors

and thus become vessels for the

preservation and promotion of our irish

folklore and language

yeah absolutely

no through interaction with our friends

at school and at college

we appreciate the fact that the current

day schooling when it comes to teaching

irish does not suit everyone we actually

have come to realize that it has the

opposite effect more often than that

when it comes to inspiring students to

engage with the right heritage

we also appreciate the fact that by

virtue of us being born in the goyalth

area that we have a significant

geographic and demographic advantage

when it comes to engaging with the irish

culture and language on a daily basis

for that reason we wish to make very

clear that our aim is not to come up

here and preach from a point of

privilege

that make no sense at all

what we want to do is to inspire anyone

who may have the desire to engage with

any aspect of the culture to simply go

for it

with the technology that we have these

days there’s such a wealth of resources

and opportunities to engage with the

irish language and music on platforms

like zoom and skype and the likes there

really is no into it

we want you to know that it’s not an

exclusive club

and there’s no right time

there’s just a desire to engage with it

or not

yeah we see the irish language and

culture as this incredible gift that has

been passed down from generation to

generation

and in that sense

we feel

it should be celebrated and

by anyone who shows an interest in it

rather than as being this exclusive club

solely reserved to those who are

fortunate enough to have reared on it

and if we siblings can contribute in any

small way to the preservation and uptake

of the irish language and culture then

we’ll endeavor to do so

we’ll leave you now this evening by

reminding you all that it’s never too

late to connect or indeed reconnect with

your culture

and for one final song we’re going to

sing you one of our favorites it’s a

gorgeous song written about our own

village in third war it’s always given

us such a sense of grounding and

belonging um in our locality we hope

that you enjoy it as much as we enjoy

singing it this is oran the hearty

mother guru

maharaja

foreign

[Music]

thank you

[Music]

thanks very much

[Applause]

[Music]

you