minstrel: Re: minstrel digest, Vol 1 #156 - 11 msgs

[Corrie Bergeron]

On Mon, 30 Dec 2002, nickolas kaugon wrote:

> > ("Gra mo-chree ma kroosh-kin, Slaw-tche gal
> > ma-voor-neen, Gra mo-chree ma 
> > kroosh-kin lawn, lawn, lawn, Gra mo-chree ma
> > kroosh-kin lawn.")
> 
> love of my heart, my ------- health(general fuzzy
> feelings) my faithfull lady , love of my heart> 
> but what a terrible script.
 

Nobody claimed it was great literature <G>.  It happens to be one I know, 
and have successfully taught. The kicker is that it IS a drinking song - 
the "mochraidhe mabhuirnin" (love of my heart) is a little brown jug.  

> many irish traditional folk songs have period
> versions, but usually in gaelic. i'm not sure hwhat
> people n\mean by "irish drinking songs" ....

I suspect it's a generally derisive term for dance-hall ballads such as 
Black Velvet Band and blatantly OOP songs that reference the Troubles or 
"goin' to A-merry-kay"
 
> as i have posted many times i believe there is an
> inherent bigotry against acepting celtic music for
> what it actually is among the sca snob8ish crowd. i
> have repeatedly found if you use gaelic sources they
> will not accept them without acedemic
> transalations--which rarely exist, or if you use more
> modern english versions of older gaelic sons they are
> dismissed as "irish drinking songs"

I agree that there can be snobbery.  My reaction to snobs is either pity -  
"I'm SO sorry that you feel that way" or impertinent dismissal: "It must 
REALLY suck to be you.  Glad I'm not."  

But let's be honest.  There's been a fair amount of ignorance on the part 
of non-academic performers.  After all, "traditional" MEANS "period," 
right?  And what do you mean, O'Carolan tunes are OOP?  And I know that 
Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention used modern instruments, but those 
ARE period arrangements, right?  Keep in mind, folks, that the SCA got 
its start during the heyday of the Folk Revival.  

There's also the fact that "serious period performance" is bloddy well 
intimidating to the newcomer.  Most folks who can sing - and who would 
like to sing - cannot sight-sing.  Handing them a motet or madrigal part 
is a sure-fire chase-away.  OTOH, coaxing them with something that's 
accessible to their admittedly modern ears and throat, and easing into the 
more complex and non-modern forms, that's how we get new folks involved.  
 
> in ealdormere this went so far as a local senechal
> told me he didn't have to acept anything from "that
> f--cking gobblegook language".

Is that individual still living?  If so, I commend you for your restraint.  
At the very least, you could select a few choice items from "An tInneal 
Mallachtaí - The Curse Engine" at 
http://hermes.lincolnu.edu/~focal/scripts/mallacht.htm  

> and of course at events i could simply get beyond that
> bigotry by playing for the crowd. i'm a good muscian
> and people like good music, they won't listen to the
> naysayers at an event, they want some fun.

There we go.  As Duchess Seiglinde (long-time bardic patron, and a 
classically-trained singer) told me at my very first bardic event, 
"Whether it's really and truly period or not isn't the point.  Does the 
song make me FEEL like I'm back in the Middle Ages?  THAT'S the idea!"

Brendan O Corraidhe LYLYW
corrie at itasca.net
www.itasca.net/~corrie/scahome.htm