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Sean-nós singing ( , ; Irish language for 'old style') is A cappella, traditional Irish vocal music usually performed in the Irish language. Sean-nós singing usually involves very long melodic phrases with highly ornamented and melodic lines, differing greatly from Folk music singing elsewhere in Ireland, although there is significant regional variation within Ireland. Sean-nós songs cover a range of genres, from love song to lament to lullaby, traditionally with a strong focus on conveying the relevant emotion of the given song. The term sean-nós, which simply means 'in old way', is a vague term that can also refer to various other traditional activities, musical and non-musical.
The musician and academic Tomás Ó Canainn said:
...no aspect of Irish music can be fully understood without a deep appreciation of sean-nós singing. It is the key which opens every lock.
The origins of sean-nós singing are unknown, but it is probably at least seven centuries old.
In early Irish history, Irish poetry and had distinctly separate social roles from musicians. However, the Tudor and Cromwellian conquests of Ireland led to a suppression of traditional Irish culture, and the 1662 Act of Settlement, which banished Irish Catholic landowners to Connacht, meant that the remains of these once complex social and regional styles combined. The once lowly bard became the nonprofessional composer of "street poetry" ( sráid éigse), and the strict, professionally composed meters of older Irish ballads were replaced with the far more accessible amhrán ("song") meters.
The tradition of the sean-nós song was exclusively oral and remains customarily so, however, a few songs were known to have been conveyed to script as early as the 16th century. A songbook for Elizabeth I contained English interpretations of sean-nós songs. Songs started to be more extensively written down in the eighteenth century and distributed in print from then on.
The Irish antiquarian Thomas Crofton Croker described an elderly female sean-nós singer he encountered in the early 1800s known for her "skill in keening":
This woman, whose name was Harrington, led a wandering kind of life, travelling from cottage to cottage about the country, and though in fact subsisting on charity, found everywhere not merely a welcome, but had numerous invitations on account of the vast store of Irish verses she had collected and could repeat. Her memory was indeed extraordinary; and the clearness, quickness, and elegance with which she translated from the Irish into English, though unable to read or write, is almost incredible. Before she commenced repeating, she mumbled for a short time, probably the beginning of each stanza, to assure herself of the arrangement, with her eyes closed, rocking her body backwards and forward, as if keeping time to the measure of the verse, She then began in a kind of whining recitation, but as she proceeded, and as the composition acquired it, her voice assumed a variety of deep and fine tones, and the energy with which many passages were delivered, proved her perfect comprehension and strong feeling of the subject.The first recordings of sean-nós singing were made in 1905 by Richard Henebry (Risteard De Hindeberg) in An Rinn (Ring) and Kilgobnet, County Waterford, all of which have been digitised and made available online via the ITMA website. In 1907, the Austrian Ethnology Rudolf Trebitsch made several recordings in Counties County Waterford, County Kerry, County Donegal as well as Dublin. Later in the twentieth century, particularly during the folk revival, some sean-nós singers gained popularity in international folk music circles. The most notable of these was the Connemara singer Joe Heaney, who toured United States, performing at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 before then settling in New York City. Others, including Elizabeth Cronin of West Cork, were visited and recorded by song collectors and their recordings inspired future generations of musicians.
The use of the term "sean-nós" ("old style") to describe traditional Irish language singing was coined in the early 1940s at the Gaelic League Oireachtas. It was coined as part of the Gaelic Revival in an attempt to distinguish the genre from "less authentic" styles of music.
...a rather complex way of singing in Irish language, confined mainly to some areas in the west and south of the country. It is unaccompanied and has a highly ornamented melodic line....Not all areas have the same type of ornamentation—one finds a very florid line in Connacht, contrasting with a somewhat less decorated one in the south, and, by comparison, a stark simplicity in the northern songs...
Alternatively, the term simply refers to "the old, traditional style of singing" and encompasses non-ornamented regional styles. According to Hiúdaí Ó Duibheannaigh, who served on the Irish Folklore Commission from 1936 to 1939, "...people... think it's a particular style of singing: it's not!" It is largely accepted that what constitutes sean-nós singing cannot be defined in any precise way.
Ornamentation gives the movement between main notes a logicality and inevitability which it would not otherwise have: it smooths the musical texture and, while indispensable, its overall effect should be so subtle.
The Connacht / Connemara style is highly ornamented. It is certainly the most widely recognised regional style, to the extent that other styles are often forgotten. The most famous performer of Connemara style sean-nós is Joe Heaney (Joe Heaney). Connemara singers would often take care to decorate each individual word. Sean-nós songs in Connemara often involve the sea, with fishing disasters being a common theme.
The Munster style is also highly ornamented, but unlike the Connemara style, the gap between notes within ornaments can be wide.
The Ulster / Donegal style has a more open, less nasal vocal tone than southern styles, and a higher pitch. Donegal sean-nós has a more consistent pulse and it is much less ornamented, which can make it stand out from other regional styles; these features seem to have come from Scottish Gaelic singing. Cow herding songs are popular in Donegal; it has been theorised that these came from around County Londonderry, which has more fertile land. Donegal songs also use the English language more often than in other regions, which may be due to contact with Scottish people and their .
Keening ( Chaointeoireacht) songs, traditional songs of lament for the dead in the Gaelic Ireland Celts tradition, are a form of sean-nós song in Ireland.
Songs with a detailed narrative, such as , are far more common in traditional English language music than sean-nós songs. Themes frequently found in Gaelic music include the great beauty and spiritual qualities of nature and laments for lost loved ones, the latter being nearly always sung from the female perspective.
The performance of most songs is not restricted by gender, although the lyrics may imply a song is from a woman's or man's point of view. There are a few songs that men have a tendency not to sing. Women, however, do not seem to have the same hesitation. The term "sean-nós" is applied to songs in English language where the style of singing is characteristic of Irish language sean-nós singing, although some traditionalists believe that songs must have some Irish lyrics to belong to the tradition. A number of traditional sean-nós songs are macaronic, combining two or more languages, such as Siúil a Rún, the popular version of which was taken from Elizabeth Cronin, who sang in Irish and English. Paddy Tunney, who sang English language songs in the sean-nós style, emphasised:
The traditional style of singing in English is just as much sean-nós as in Gaelic ... traditional singing is all sean-nós.
Many of the English language songs sung in sean-nós style are those found on Broadside ballad, including the famous Child Ballads.
The listeners are not expected to be silent throughout and may participate in the performance through words of encouragement and commentary. At any point in the performance, particularly at emotional moments – a listener may interject with expressions such as Maith thú! (good for you), Dia go deo leat! (God be with you always). Sometimes a listener will hold the performer's hand, and together they will move or "wind" their linked hands in the rhythm of the song. Such interactions do not disturb the flow of music, and the performer will often respond musically. The person who holds the singer's hand to support them is known as the windáil.
New composition is a controversial issue within sean-nós song circles. Some singers insist that the traditional should be supplemented with new material, arguing that since society has changed, then the content of the lyrics should reflect this. On the other hand, some singers say that only the older, "traditional" songs represent the essence of a sean-nós song and therefore deserve a protected, preferential status. There is often confusion between authentic sean-nós singing and popular music which uses the Irish language. Some young singers have made an effort to restrict their repertoire only to local songs, in order to preserve their local traditions.
Sean-nós singing is largely overlooked in academia. Its association with cultural nationalism within the context of the Gaelic Revival have pushed it to the periphery of Irish musical culture; English language songs and instrumental music are considered "popular", and sean-nós somewhat "elite" and inaccessible.
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