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Keening (, ) is a traditional form of vocal lament for the dead in the Gaelic Celts tradition, known to have taken place in Ireland and Scotland. Keening, which can be seen as a form of sean-nós singing, is performed in the Irish and Scottish Gaelic languages (the Scottish equivalent of keening is known as a coronach).
Keening was once an integral part of the formal Irish funeral ritual, but declined from the 18th century and became almost completely extinct by the middle of the 20th century. Only a handful of authentic keening songs were recorded from traditional singers.
The words are thought to have been constituted of stock poetic elements (the listing of the genealogy of the deceased, praise for the deceased, emphasis on the woeful condition of those left behind, etc.) set to vocal lament. Words of lament were interspersed with non-lexical , that is sounds that are without meaning.
The keen can be formed of three motifs: The salutation (introduction), the dirge (verse), and the gol (cry).
In ancient times, a chief's own bard (assisted by the chief's household) would perform the funeral song. More recently, keeners would be hired female mourners. The mourners accompanied the keening woman (bean chaointe), with physical movements involving rocking and kneeling. The Irish tradition of keening over the body during the funeral procession and at the burial site is distinct from the wake, the practice of watching over the corpse, which takes place the night before the burial, and may last for more than one night.
The practice of keening was "generally adhered to" throughout Ireland irrespective of social class until around the middle of the 18th century. Fisherman's Drowned Child" (1851) by the Irish painter Frederic William Burton, which appears to show paid keening women in the doorway.]]
Around 1791, the antiquarian William Beauford (1735–1819) described in detail the practice of keening at a traditional Irish funeral ceremony and transcribed the keening melodies that were sung. He provided the following information:
Keening women have been described as "the (human) structural adjunct of the banshee".
Keening in County Kerry was said to be closest to the wailing of a banshee.
In the early 1950s, Cití Ní Ghallchóir (Kitty Gallagher) of Gweedore in County Donegal, Ireland sang a keening song she had learnt from an old woman to Alan Lomax, which can be heard online. A recording of Gallagher's keening song was featured on the album Traditional Songs of Ireland (1995). Below is Gallagher's version with a translation.
S'airiú, ( Word for lamenting – no literal translation)Joe Heaney of Carna, Connemara sang a traditional keening song which he learnt from his grandmother Béib (Bairbre) Uí Mhaoilchiaráin, who had lived during the nineteenth century. The recording is available on the official Joe Heaney website. Heaney was also recorded discussing his childhood memories of keening women in Connemara and the ways funeral traditions have changed since.Agus a leanbh (My child)
Cad a Dhéanfaidh mé? (What will I do?)
Tá tú ar shiúl uaim (You are gone from me)
Agus airiú
Agus anuiridh, níl duin ar bith agam (I've been left alone after a year)
'S airiú
Agus mé liom fein (I am alone)
Dá mbeithea go moch agam (If I were early)
Agus och, och, airiú, gan thú, gan thú (Alas, alas, without you, without you)
The album Songs of Aran (1957) has two recordings of keening songs collected from the oral tradition on the Aran Islands, both entitled Caoineadh na Marbh ('The Keening of the Dead’). Both of the recordings, which were made by Sidney Robertson Cowell, are reminiscent of the cronán, described by Eugene O’Curry as a ‘purring,’ beginning ‘in the 'chest or throat on a low key and rising gradually to the highest treble’.
The Tobar an Dualchais Scottish music archive has two recordings related to keening which are available to the public; the first is a keening song sung by Calum Johnston (1891–1972) of Barra, and the second is a verse performed by Donald MacIntyre (1899–1964) of South Uist said to have been used by paid keening women.
Phyllida Anam-Áire, author of The Celtic Book of Dying, heard keening in its traditional environment in the County Donegal Gaeltacht in the 1940s, and described and sang a rendition of what she heard.
The lack of authentic recordings of keening songs may be due to the reluctance of singers to share something so private.
In 1986, Robin Williams and Carol Burnett performed a comical version of a keening song for a sketch called "The Funeral" as part of Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin.
Irish musician Róis explores keening on her 2024 album Mo Léan with samples of 20th century singers and her own interpretations of keening songs.
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