#Anam an Amhráin

[cjbolan]

Back to making GIFs! This cartoon is the closest we’ll ever get to a movie version of The Pirate Queen...a seriously underrated musical.

[margridarnauds]

So, one of the most common complaints I’ve seen, since I began really getting into medieval/early modern Irish history/Celtic Studies in general, is that we still don’t have a Gráinne O’Malley movie. And, frankly....we do need one. Still. 

BUT! What’s less well-known is that Cartoon Saloon, the same people who produced The Secret of Kells, The Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner, WolfWalkers, etc. also did a collection of animated songs in Gaeilge, including the traditional “Oró sé do Bheatha Abhaile”, which is about Gráinne, invoking the image of her as a symbol of rebellion to come lead the Irish against the English, welcoming the 16th century chieftain back to the fight. 

The animated short itself is about 3-4 minutes long, isn’t AS political as the lyrics from the source material would suggest, mainly covering Gráinne’s life from the time she was a young girl up until her meeting with Elizabeth I. 

If you’re interested, the entire collection is called “Anam an Amhráin” and it’s available via the Cartoon Saloon website for about 20 Euro, and I do, highly, recommend supporting them given that this is an Irish company working to revitalize Irish culture, and doing some really fantastic work while not having nearly the same budget as some other animation companies. That being said, if you just want to see this song...searching the title + “Anam an Amráin” should do the trick as far as showing the full video.

[arkana-magi-archive]

Dún do Shúil:

Beautiful Irish song, with animated music video from Cartoon Saloon as part of the Anam an Amhráin series. Sung by Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh.

So calming and beautiful. Worth a listen!

[beetlekayleigh]

Bean Pháidín

'S é'n trua ghéar nach mise, nach mise 'S é'n trua ghéar nach mise bean Pháidín 'S é'n trua ghéar nach mise, nach mise 'S an bhean atá aige bheith caillte It's a great pity that I'm not, that I'm not It's a great pity that I'm not Páidín's wife It's a great pity that I'm not, that I'm not And the woman that he has to be dead Animation by Cartoon Saloon

[sockysocksockersock]

Hey, Listen!

You guys should totally check out this guy's music!

Bean Pháidín

Seanduine

Óró sé do bheatha abhaile

The artist is Anam an Amhráin, he's amazing with his music, which is original, beautiful, funny, and dark all at the same time. If you like nordic/celtic music you should definitely check out his stuff!

[kimanda]

I'll be completely honest when I say that I don't recognize this song. Didn't grow up with it, didn't even know it existed until this animation came around. Another straightforward story but I am still trying to understand how I completely missed this song during my childhood. The title of the song is "Seanduine" which basically means "Old person" and the song is really about a young woman being forced into an arranged marriage and knowing full well that the old man was marrying her for her dowry. The woman sounds rather resentful throughout the song, wishing she could just walk out with young men rather than staying with the old man. I really like the tune of this song, it was a nice discovery.

[ethniu]

Gréasaí Bróg (Shoemaker) - le Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh (ón gclár Anam an Amhráin ar TG4) (by Glgebhrste)

[sarapocock]

Animation Friday!

This is a project by Cartoon Saloon, the Dublin-based animation studio behind 2009's gorgeous The Secret of Kells. (Full disclosure, I have friends who worked on that film.)  A few years ago they made a series of short animated films illustrating traditional Gaelic songs.  Bean Pháidín is my favorite.

This piece is a shining example of everything I love about character animation.  Appealing designs, beautiful movement, expressive faces & emotions... and I LOVE Bean Pháidín.  It's a beautiful song, beautifully brought to life here. The translated lyrics are also delightfully macabre:

It's a pity that I am not, that I am not It's a pity that I am not Páidín's wife It's a pity that I am not, that I am not And the woman he has is dead

May you break your legs, your legs May you break your legs, Páidín's wife May you break your legs, your legs May you break your legs and your bones

[cjbolan]

More The Pirate Queen GIFs! Because y’all loved my first ones.

( footage from this cartoon. And yes this is by Cartoon Saloon! )

[atalantapendrag]

Anam an Amhráin - Bean Pháidín (by sydcarten)

[kimanda]

I really don't like this version of the song, and maybe I dislike it so much because I adore this song and it isn't sung at the right pace. It shouldn't be sung so slowly! I grew up singing this song at a quick pace, you know, to hint at the quick speed of the goat going nuts and running all over the place with the poor Irishman on his back. The way it is sung here, I constantly feel like tripping because I want the pace to pick up! Anyway, this song is called "Poc ar Buile" which means "Mad Billy/Buck Goat" and the story is rather basic. An Irishman is dumb enough to take a shortcut through a field where there is a territorial billy goat and the goat chases after him and somehow in all the scuffling, the man ends up on the back of the goat. The goat goes really nuts and breaks out of the field and starts running through towns with the poor guy holding on for dear life. A couple of English policemen try stopping them but the billy goat rips off one of the officer's trousers and continues on its merry way with the Irishman still on his back. The stories of this billy goat and the man become so quickly widespread that in one church where mass is being held, a priest starts telling the other people that it is actually the devil coming, riding on the back of an enraged billy goat. We never find out what happens to the poor guy. XD I love this song and I am really disappointed by this cover. I really should put up a faster-paced version so that you guys can see why I find this too slow for my liking.

[kimanda]

Another silly song from Anam an Amhráin! (audio quality is purposefully bad, it improves later) Title is "Bléan Na Bó" which means "Milking the Cow". The farmer sings about how he used to play her traditional Irish songs to get a lot of milk out of her but one day she stopped giving milk and stopped reacting to the music. So the farmer had the crazy idea to start playing her some Rock and Roll music and not only did the milk come back, but it came in streams and the cow even began dancing. And the farmer sings about how weird the Rock and Roll music must be or else a cow wouldn't be dancing to it. Yeah, a rather simple song that I personally didn't grow up with, it must be a rather recent song.

[kimanda]

Ah, a song I grew up with! This one is called "Gréasaí Bróg" which means "Shoemaker" and the song is about a young girl wishing she can go to a fair in County Clare and though she asks her mother a couple of times, her mother keeps saying no. There is a verse in the song that my father sang to me EVERY BIRTHDAY until I reached the age 13, the verse always was "You're not 10 or 11 yet, you're not 10 or 11 yet, you're not 10 or 11 yet, when you'll be 13 you'll be big." The girl goes on to sing about her being in love with a shoemaker and she says that if she doesn't get him she won't live. To contrast the animation, the girl doesn't actually escape and run into the woods in the song. It just kind of stays with the girl constantly asking her mother to let her go to the fair because she really wants to find her beloved shoemaker but her mother reminds her she's too young.

[kimanda]

A rather silly song from the series Anam an Amhráin. XD The title of the song is "An Damhán Alla" which translated means "The Spider". The story of the song is quite straightforward, a spider falls from his spider web and hits a wall, breaking his back. The people of the house put him on a bed and called their priest Father Larkin but the spider didn't survive . ...That's about it, the song is so silly that even the singer in the end just laughs. Notice the pattern that if an Irish song sounds rather cheerful, in most cases something terrible or sad is happening.

[kimanda]

Not my most favourite song of the "Anam an Amhráin" series, the name of the song "Cailleach an Airgid" meaning "Witch of the Money" or "Money Witch". (keep in mind, witches aren't badly seen in Ireland as they would be in other parts of Europe. Witches were mostly seen as wise women who could be quite tricky) Basically, the song is about a guy's grandmother being locally known as the "money witch" because she was really good at gambling and usually took all the money. There was also the question if she would marry anyone, and other things like that. It is a song I grew up with but I don't really feel close to it. The animation has a rather interesting style though!