The main purpose of this channel is to conserve and share authentic recordings of all kinds of traditional music, and to increase awareness and historical understanding. To support this goal, simply subscribe to this channel and explore what it has to offer. Here are my two previous videos on keening: Traditional death wails and keening songs from around the world | Europe, Asia, America, Oceania ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2CtDi8TmSKI.html Traditional Irish Keening Song - Cití Ní Ghallchóir / Kitty Gallagher (1951) | Transcription/lyrics ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mY5qkW5C3SY.html If you're interested in hearing more traditional music in the Irish language, have a look at these three videos I uploaded: Amhrán Mhuínse | Traditional sean-nós song with transcription and lyrics ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CJcApwfSrhE.html Traditional Irish music in Spiddal, Co. Galway (c.1962) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6lrP4KzApI4.html Sean-nós singing (1907) | Traditional songs in the Irish language: Waterford, Kerry, Dublin, Donegal ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vE6KKs2HPSU.html
It sounds very much like the burial mourning songs I hear at my American Indian tribe's Ho-Chunk Nation traditional ceremonies. Our singers at the gravesite actually fall to weeping. It gets pretty deep.
@@TheFolkRevivalProject That's a good question. I am not aware of any, and it may be taboo to record anything at the gravesite. Native American tradition can be very strict. And much of it is oral and not transcribed, kinda like the very old Irish verse and songs. I just observe the rites and try not to do anything wrong. Famous 19th C Siouix warrior Crazy Horse never even allowed his photo to be taken. Felt it would rob his soul. He has a good point there.
Same. I'm from the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe in Washington State and there are no recordings of our mourning songs because it is a closed practice. Our medicine man doesn't allow phones to even be out during ceremony since we have younger generations now taking part in ceremony this has to be clarified before anything starts
@@desimisner7440 Legendary Lakota warrior Crazy Horse never allowed his photo to be taken. Said it steals the soul. I happen to agree with him. I've been looking into the traditional Irish wakes going way back into the 8th century. A 3-day around the clock communal gathering very similar to our traditional 3-day HoChunk bereavement process. As distinct cultures, we do share basic human traits. It's interesting to find the connections. We are all One. Good to hear from you from your tribal homeland. Our cultures are still very much alive!
It's mindblowing for me, as a Brazilian, to hear something that I can relate to as keening. Here in the Brazilian northeast we have a similar tradition, in both context and musicality: the "toadas" are songs of sadness, sung to remember and honor those who have passed away. It's strongly related to the Brazilian outback culture, with it's "vaqueiros" and the hardships of the arid "caatinga", a local semi-desert biome. Maybe there's some connection lost to time, due to the Gaelic presence in the Iberian peninsula, which could've made it's way to Brazil with the Portuguese colonization. Anyway, here's an example of a "toada" song during a burial ceremony of a departed "vaqueiro": ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IeZlSTPcNFQ.html
Wow. Thank you so much for your comment. I would recommend watching this video that I uploaded, of 'keening songs' from around the world: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2CtDi8TmSKI.html It's seems to be something of a universal phenomenon.
You think like me, we have something similar in Venezuela, but it might be much more recent, during the independence there was an influx to the Venezuelan llanos there was a great influx of Irish mercenaries brought in by Bolivar to combat the Spanish forces. The "tonadas de ordeño" might have passed to the north east of Brazil through wayfaring Irish-Amerindian descents that had routes beyond the Guyana shield.
Thank you for sharing this. I am a Canadian living in Michigan in the US. I have a Celtic background and have been pulled to learn Keening. I think every culture has some sort of lament for the dead and it is so amazing to watch how similar we all truly are. 🩷
It's wild. I'm Portuguese, born in 1993, and I distinctly remember hearing laments very similar to these in a couple of funerals as a child. I also remember my grandmother doing it when someone she knew passed away! I know it was common in northern Portugal (where I'm from) and Galícia
That's very interesting to hear. You may be interested in watching a video on this channel comparing traditional laments across cultures. There are also a couple of videos of traditional Portuguese music :)
I love reading through these comments and seeing people from all different cultures saying "that sounds similar to something we have!" I love that humans all over the world often have the same ideas over and over again without ever talking to each other. Shows how similarly our brains work, as a species. ❤
Wow. That's amazing. Could I ask what year that was? To be quite honest, I wasn't aware there was anyone still around who had witnessed keening in the proper context. Please share any other details that you remember!
Thx alot go raibh mile maith agat for this vid. Keening woman helped the bereaved carry the grief & drew it out so everyone could release all the pain... It was a collective thing What Heaney said is so important The keeners were expressing their own personal losses through the keening as well as of the current deceased unrelated to them clan etc it was the women who primarily keened.Back then it was a profession that got respect - the respect for their taking the pain of others & helping everyone release it. I find keening comforting almost like a lullaby soothing effect but one that allows u to feel & weep & share the pain. It is a great tragedy this practice has near ceased. I also believe we carry these trads in us because I have instinctively keened twice in times of great sorrow when in ireland One time my sister was with me when it happened & she wasnt scared or shocked We just never talked about it because she knew or knows what it all is...
I'm not musical by any means, but it sounds very similar to a style of singing I associate with middle eastern and indian cultures, the Islamic call to prayer I hear occasionally in town, it's cool how completely different cultures can have similarities like that :)
It's called "melismatic" singing which signifies long vocal runs, usually is associated with middle eastern music, or modern singers like Christina Aguilera haha
I'm beginning to understand how some musical 'ideas' are essentially Universal to all Humans - in this case of Grief songs, seemingly the Minor scale sound and certain interval jumps. It's certainly the case with the etymology of language. I noticed the other day watching Reactistan that the Urdu language ( Pakistan ) for ' Wow! ' was ' Woy!. Is this mouth shape/sound a universal questioning/attention sound? eg. What? Why? WOW! My current hypothesis for this particular sound is : - Novel ( Wow!/ What? ) situation presents itself -sudden intake of breath - eyes narrow for more focused view and and brow scrunches in thought - this raises the upper cheeks and lower lip slightly purses - as the intaken breath or alarm cry is given, the opening of the mouth from closed narrow pursed to open wide retract naturally makes the sound a ' WWWAAAAAHHHH' - same as an opening mute on a trumpet. - So this natural alarm call developed into the WHAT? WOW! WHERE? words
I agree with most of the points you made, although I'm not sure about what you said about the minor scale - many cultures don't have anything resembling a minor scale! The second, third and fifth examples in this video use a scale that's more major than minor. Have you seen this video I made about keening songs from around the world? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2CtDi8TmSKI.html
@@TheFolkRevivalProject Indeed, I think they're under-estimating the level of exposure of Scottish music to common practice harmony for a very long time before this.
My mother used the word keening, She was a Yorkshire woman and that word was used when you were mourning the loss of something as well as the dead. e.g. If your boyfriend fell out with you and you were weeping tears of anguish she would say, "You can stop keening over the loss of your boyfriend" It's a good word very expressive of the emotion of loss and grieving.
This is beautiful and just where my soul has brought me. I needed this. My Mom just passed away November 25th and I’m missing her and mourning and needing this. This heals my broken heart 💔
does anyone know the names of any of these piece/if they have names? i was hoping to potentially use these in an assignment for my music cultures class
These pieces do not have unique names. They are all simply examples of the practice of keening. The name and origin of each performer and the date of performance accompanies each recording, so you can reference them that way. Good look with your assignment!
This is really interesting and neat to find something from 1965; I was born in 1965 so it's neat to learn about something else going on in the world at the time I came into it!
the best is it actually shows people wearing hide shoes - soft leather shoes which were worn across Europe for several millennia (from around the Neolithic, it seams) and are still worn in the Carpathian mountains to this day in folk costume but have vanished from the Isles... 16:53
Two of these were used by Irish metal band Altar of Plagues in the song "When The Sun Drowns In The Ocean". Cití Ní Ghallchóir / Kitty Gallagher (9:47) at the start and Bríd Ní Mhaoláin / Bridget Mullin (3:40) at the end.
Hearing and appreciating Celtic folk music and traditions really make me feel understood about my feelings and anxiety. It also put a lot of context into the works of people like Dolores O’Riordan.
Very reminiscent of the sung part of the pibroch, "The Old Men of The Shells" composed by Alistair Roberts performed by Calum Johnston and John Burgess. Sounds like keening to me; ...I left the ones who love me well To find my home in the ocean swells And follow the old men of the shells...
It’s sounds like icaro songs from Amazon. Just learned about keening and came to hear examples but this sounds very much like sacred songs, they also weave them into fabric as patterns.
Very good question. I think people of all ages (mainly women) keened this way. The Wikipedia page on keening is quite comprehensive and doesn't mention anything about keeners being old.
In the song The Limerick Rake, it mentions wives and children "keening" at the singer's wake. I always wondered exactly what that meant. Now I know. Thanks.
My parents RIP from Co. Kerry, often spike about the Keening, they had another word for it, sounded like 'yowl a goning'. They said that the old local women would start about 2 or 3 minutes before reaching the farmyard. It was really sad but I lovely tradition that they missed.
The first song at 0:48 sounds really similar to this traditional folk music of these headhunting tribes from Borneo ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S6TdYXdD4aY.htmlsi=xtbFK6jW0dbi3-Gs at timestamp 27: 28. Amazing.
I love everything that you do and your pitch is absolutely amazing but being Irish, it’s missing the pure raw emotion.. Dolores was passionate about this song because it conveyed how she felt about being Irish and Ireland..
I don’t care what any of these smug bourgeois “scholars” among the current milieu of academic overlords says about the “true” roots of Appalachian culture, the style of keening you hear at 1:30 is PROOF that Southern Appalachian folk music/singing style is 100% CELTIC in origin and not in any way influenced by blk blues music or west African music. Not even a little bit. Just listen to the pitch and high notes she’s hitting there; that particular song is straight from Connacht.
I assume you're referring to my "origins of Appalachian music video". I think it's possible you're correct. As I pointed out in that video, there are "bluesy" melodies in traditional Irish, Scottish and in fact English music. I definitely agree that if the recording at 1:30 was Appalachian, people would assume it was blues-inspired. However, the following statements are also true: 1) Traditional African American music / blues was directly inspired by traditional African music 2) Traditional African American music / blues is extremely similar to traditional white Appalachian music. The same songs were sung, the same instruments played etc. It's also worth pointing out that there are many similarities between different types of unrelated traditional music. Some people would say it's because of some sort of innate human form of expression (in this case of grief). A commenter mentioned how strikingly similar the recording at 9:47 is to this recording of a traditional Tatar lament: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QR0x-lIn01o.html Ultimately, we will never know exactly what inspired what, but I do think there is more Irish/Scottish influence behind "bluesy" sounding traditional American music than most people are aware of.
@@TheFolkRevivalProject This kind of music predates the blues by thousands of years. All music and cultures are connected, intertwined, borrowed, inspired by another... Celtic music and traditional African music is very similar and uses similar instruments. The connection between Ireland, Africa and the West Indies certainly produced the blues we hear these days.
@@TheFolkRevivalProject 100% agree - besides, there's probably all the undocumented cross-pollinating between black and Irish musicians. One of the rare examples we have is the Snowden Family Band, who had the property to be a black family of musicians comprising two female fiddlers (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowden_Family_Band). Even if there's quite a bit of controversy over which piece of music they might have contributed/inspired to white composers like Dan Emmett, it's clear that Irish and Black-American music certainly had enough social and musical overlap to influence each other
@@unidentifiedshrubz if you saw a comment somewhere saying "beautiful black people" you wouldn't write a response calling it "division". You can't lie about this, we all know you wouldn't. you are anti-white.
Tolerant left and the tiny hats will be working to ban this video for its outdated views and appearance, while BLM will demand it's remade to include them.
