Irish language and traditional music

Speedwell · 16-08-2015 02:48PM #1

Hello, everyone. Please restrict your posts to the relevance and usefulness of the Irish language in traditional music. I don't want to start a fight. There are other threads where they talk meaningfully about Irish and its role in modern Ireland in general.

As a beginner learning Irish instruments and traditional music, I have been told that a knowledge of the Irish language is not necessary to learning and performing. Since I was a chorister who took Latin classes in order to better pronounce and understand the Latin texts of the choral music we performed, that seems odd to me. Would any experienced performers like to weigh in?

Blade · 16-08-2015 03:55PM

"Music is the universal language of mankind." - Henry Wadsworth

Singing is a different story though.

RenaRuadh · 17-12-2015 01:33PM

Hallo Speedwell,

I'm a Scottish Gaelic seann nos singer and I'm on the way to becoming a fluent Gaelic speaker. I disagree with what you have been told. Every song tells a story and unless you know what every single word means, how can you perform a song properly and tell the story? I'm performing quite a bit and have frequently been told by non-Gaelic speakers in the audience that even if they didn't understand the words, they understood the theme and the sentiments. In my opinion, you cannot achieve that without knowledge of the language.

Irish language and traditional music

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