Celtic Lullabies - World Music Network

MUSICROUGHGUIDES
THE ROUGH GUIDE to
Celtic Lullabies
In Celtic music and cultural circles, one often
encounters a notorious quotation from Alfred
Perceval Graves, the Victorian Anglo-Irish
poet and father of the more celebrated writer
Robert Graves: ’Celts do not have lullabies;
they are too warlike.’ One suspects, however,
that Graves was speaking ironically. ‘Songs
Of Old Ireland’, a major work published
at the end of the nineteenth century, was
an encyclopedic collection of sheet music
and lyrics translated into English (where
necessary) by Graves himself, and annotated
by the eminent Irish composer and music
professor Charles Villiers Stanford (who
counted, among his pupils, Gustav Holst and
Vaughan Williams). In fact, it was probably
Stanford, and not Graves, whose proacademic, anti-folkloric aspirations belittled
traditional Irish song: George Bernard
Shaw famously enraged him by writing that
‘Stanford the Professor’ was as nothing
compared with ‘Stanford the Celt’. Perhaps
Stanford was just railing against the notion
of ‘Celtic song’ when much of his early
academic life was devoted to distinguishing
Irish from other Celtic traditions, to little
avail. In any event, Graves’ translations and
transliterations were painfully accurate and
reflected an obvious love and respect for
Irish traditional music, with an entire section
devoted to ‘Lullabies and Sad Songs’.
Although the Celts were never a united
nation in the modern sense, their early tribal
influence extended from Greece across
Northern Italy, down into Spain, up into
Austria, Gaul, Scandinavia and, finally, the
British Isles. It’s believed that they developed
from earlier Bronze Age and Indo-European
tribes, but nothing is certain. They are first
mentioned by name in the sixth century
BCE by the Greek writer Hecataeus, who
remarked – it seems, of the Ligurian Celts
– that their social and cultural cohesion was
one of the most impressive that he had ever
witnessed.
But, for obvious geographic reasons, the
Celts that found their way to the British
Isles very soon lost all contact with the
Celts of Gaul, from whose numbers they had
originally emanated, and suddenly at this
time we start hearing about ‘druids’. Were
the druids simply high-ranking Gallic-Celtic
chieftains and priests, or was druidism a
genuine Anglo-Celtic innovation? We don’t
know, but we do know that druidism entailed
several strands of training. The filidh – the
Bardic Order – were great storytellers,
with allegedly prodigious memories. The
musicians were the oirfidigh, and a master
musician was an ollamh re ceol. A master
musician was expected to be able to play and
compose all three strains of music (lullabies,
sad airs and merry airs) with equal fluency.
Britain continued to be the focus of repeated
invasion. After the Romans came the Angles
and Saxons, the Danes, and finally the
Normans. The Celts were forced to the most
inaccessible parts of the West Coast – Wales,
Anglesey and Cornwall. From Cornwall,
where they were still pursued, many crossed
the Channel to Brittany, where Welsh
and Cornish refugees continued their old
traditions in comparative peace.
Meanwhile, other Celts had emigrated
northward from Ireland to Scotland, where
the rugged terrain helped defences, and
from Scotland to the Northern Isles and
the Isle of Man. The Islands have a special
place in Celtic song and mythology, and
the traditions are very different. The Outer
Hebrides, because of their remoteness, have
remained very Celtic, with more Ancient
Gaelic speakers than anywhere else in
Britain, while Orkney has largely lost its
Celtic past (partly because of the intensive
Viking incursions in the early Middle Ages).
Christianity, too, has played a major part in
modifying the old ways. The Outer Hebrides
from the Butt of Lewis to Benbecula is largely
Protestant, and mostly Catholic from Barra
Head to the southern isles. The Protestants
gifted Celtic song with their great hymn and
choral traditions, while the more laissezfaire attitude of the Catholic priests helped
preserve the old songs and lullabies.
Possibly the most fertile pasture for Celtic
song today, however, is found across the
Atlantic, on the Northern Seaboard of the
United States and Canada, in Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island and so forth. The
abundance of fine modern-traditional Celtic
music from that part of the world is reflected
in this collection, almost half the lullabies
are sourced from that side of the world.
Lullabies, of course, have been in existence
in every part of the world since the beginning
of human existence. Even the derivation of
the word ‘lullaby’ is uncertain: is it from the
eleventh-century Turkish writer Mahmud alKashgari, who mentions children’s balubalu
(‘sleep-songs’), or from the Hebrew tradition
of scaring away Lilith, the child-stealing
demon (Lilith-abi! – ‘demon, begone’)?
Celtic lullabies have these traits, too.
Although most of them are simply soothing
sleep-aids, a good number are admonitory –
warning against the substitution in the night
of the child for a changeling, or against the
Selkie with her magical powers derived from
the ocean, or against the Sleep Faery. Many,
too, find their origins in the body of ‘sad
songs, ballads and tales’, many of which are
retold in Graves’ book.
Perhaps what makes Celtic lullabies truly
unique is their initial inspiration. If one has
ever visited the Atlantic coast of Eire, or
the Hebrides, or Land’s End, or the Gower
Peninsula, or bleak Prince Edward Island,
or Brittany’s rugged, pine-covered coastal
hills, it’s easy to imagine how the sadness,
yearning, uncertainty, remoteness and
eeriness of the choppy northern waters
can transmute into plaintive song and
story. In this context, Liz Carroll’s fiddle,
Margie Butler and Alan Stivell’s harps, the
Protestant-Celtic choral majesty of Plethyn
and the Glasgow Hebridean Choir, the more
contemporary (yet still mystery-laden)
pleasures of Flook and Altan, the fiercely
guarded integrity of Jerry Holland and
Kirkmount and the playful crib-side charm
of Tommy Sands are all so clearly part of one
continuity.
«Les Celtes n’ont pas de berceuses, ils sont
trop belliqueux»: la citation est d’Alfred
Perceval Graves, poète anglo-irlandais de
l’époque victorienne et père de l’écrivain plus
connu Robert Graves. Elle revient souvent
dans les milieux musicaux et culturels
celtiques, même si on soupçonne le propos
de Graves d’être empreint d’ironie. Dans
les Songs Of Old Irland (Chants de l’Ancienne
Irlande), œuvre majeure publiée à la fin du
XIXème siècle, Graves a lui-même regroupé
et traduit en anglais – le cas échéant - une
collection encyclopédique de partitions et de
paroles, annotées par l’éminent compositeur
et professeur de musique irlandais Charles
Villiers Stanford (qui eut notamment Gustav
Holst et Vaughan Williams pour élèves). En
réalité, c’est probablement Stanford, non
Graves, qui contribua par ses aspirations
académiques et anti-folkloriques à rabaisser
la chanson traditionnelle irlandaise. George
Bernard Shaw affirmait que «Stanford
le professeur» ne valait pas «Stanford le
Celte», suscitant l’ire du professeur. Peutêtre Stanford ne faisait-il que s’insurger
contre la notion de «chant celtique» alors
qu’il avait consacré une grande partie des
débuts de sa vie universitaire à distinguer
- en vain - la tradition irlandaise des autres
courants celtes. En tout état de cause, les
traductions et translittérations de Graves,
douloureusement précises, témoignent
d’un amour et d’un respect évidents pour la
musique traditionnelle irlandaise. Dans cette
œuvre, une section entière était consacrée
aux «berceuses et chansons tristes».
Bien que les Celtes n’aient jamais constitué
une nation au sens moderne du terme,
leur influence s’exerçait sur un territoire
immense, allant de la Grèce à l’Italie du
nord, en passant par l’Espagne, l’Autriche,
la Gaule, la Scandinavie et, enfin, les îles
britanniques. Vraisemblablement originaires
de tribus indo-européennes des débuts de
l’âge du bronze, ils sont mentionnés pour la
première fois au VIème siècle avant notre ère
par l’auteur grec Hécatée, qui fit observer - à
propos des Celtes ligures, semble-t-il - que
leur cohésion sociale et culturelle était l’une
des plus impressionnantes qu’il ait jamais
vue.
Cependant, pour d’évidentes raisons
géographiques, les Celtes qui gagnèrent
les îles britanniques perdirent rapidement
contact avec les Celtes de la Gaule, région
dont ils étaient originaires. C’est à ce moment
que les «druides» apparaissent dans les
récits. S’agissait-il de chefs et prêtres
gallo-celtes de haut rang ou d’une véritable
innovation anglo-celte? Nous n’en savons
rien, mais il est certain que le druidisme
présentait plusieurs composantes. Le filidh
- l’Ordre bardique - rassemblait de grands
conteurs, dont la mémoire était, paraît-il,
prodigieuse. Les musiciens s’appelaient les
oirfidgh. Quant à l’ollamh re ceol, il désignait
un maître musicien, aussi à l’aise pour
jouer et composer dans les trois genres de
la musique celtique (berceuses, chansons
tristes et airs joyeux).
Mais la Grande-Bretagne continuait de
subir des invasions répétées. Après les
Romains vinrent les Angles et les Saxons,
les Danois puis les Normands. Les Celtes
furent repoussés dans les régions les plus
inaccessibles de la côte occidentale - Pays
de Galles, Anglesey et Cornouailles. Les
réfugiés gallois et corniques en Cornouailles,
sans cesse poursuivis, traversèrent la
Manche, gagnant la Bretagne, où leurs
traditions purent perdurer dans une paix
relative.
Pendant ce temps, d’autres Celtes avaient
migré vers le nord, de l’Irlande à l’Écosse,
dont le terrain accidenté favorisait
leur défense, et de l’Écosse aux îles
septentrionales et à l’île de Man. Les îles ont
une place particulière dans la chanson et la
mythologie celtiques, et leurs traditions sont
très différentes. Les Hébrides extérieures,
en raison de leur éloignement, sont restées
très celtiques. Elles comptent davantage de
locuteurs du gaélique ancien que toute autre
partie de la Grande-Bretagne, tandis que
les Orcades ont largement perdu leur passé
celtique (en partie du fait des nombreuses
incursions vikings au début du Moyen-âge).
Le christianisme a également joué un rôle
majeur dans l’évolution des traditions. En
ce qui concerne les Hébrides extérieures,
elles sont majoritairement protestantes de
la pointe de Lewis à Benbecula, et en grande
partie catholiques de Barra Head aux îles
du sud. Les protestants ont donné au chant
celtique leurs hymnes et leurs traditions de
chant choral, alors que l’attitude des prêtres
catholiques, caractérisée par un plus grand
laissez-faire, a contribué à préserver les
vieilles chansons et berceuses.
Pourtant, le terrain le plus fécond pour
le chant celtique se trouve aujourd’hui
de l’autre côté de l’Atlantique, sur la côté
septentrionale des États-Unis et du Canada,
notamment dans la Nouvelle-Écosse ou l’Île
du Prince Édouard. Notre sélection reflète
l’abondante contribution de cette région du
monde en matière de musique celtique: près
de la moitié des berceuses, tantôt modernes,
tantôt traditionnelles, en proviennent.
Naturellement, les berceuses sont présentes
dans toutes les régions du monde depuis
que les hommes existent. L’étymologie
du terme anglais «lullaby (berceuse)»,
bien qu’incertaine, est instructive: le mot
serait issu du balubalu («chansons pour le
sommeil») cité par l’écrivain turc Mahmoud
al-Kashgari au XIème siècle ou proviendrait
de la tradition hébraïque visant à faire fuir
Lilith, la démonesse voleuse d’enfant (Lilithabi ! - «démon, hors de ma vue!»).
Les berceuses celtiques témoignent de
cette ambivalence: si la plupart d’entre elles
visent tout simplement à guider l’enfant
vers le sommeil, un bon nombre contient
un avertissement. Elles mettent en garde
contre le risque que l’enfant soit échangé
durant la nuit, contre la Selkie qui tire ses
pouvoirs magiques de l’océan ou contre la
Fée du Sommeil. Beaucoup d’entre elles
trouvent leur origine dans le répertoire des
«chansons, ballades et contes tristes», et
figurent dans le livre de Graves.
C’est pourtant ce qui inspire les berceuses
celtiques qui les rend vraiment uniques. Pour
qui a visité la côte occidentale de l’Irlande,
les Hébrides, Land’s End, la péninsule de
Gower, la sombre île du Prince Édouard,
ou les collines de Bretagne, escarpées et
couvertes de pins, il est facile d’imaginer
comment la tristesse, la nostalgie,
l’incertitude, l’éloignement, les eaux agitées
et étranges du nord peuvent transmuer
en un chant et une histoire plaintifs. Dans
ce contexte, le violon de Liz Carroll, les
harpes de Margie Butler et Alan Stivell,
les majestueux chœurs celtes protestants
de Plethyn et du Glasgow Hebridean Choir,
les délices plus contemporains (mais
toujours pleins de mystère) de Flook et
Altan, l’intégrité farouche de Jerry Holland
et Kirkmount, ainsi que le charme ludique
et enfantin de Tommy Sands témoignent à
l’évidence d’une continuité.
ALTAN - Nearly thirty years old and thirteen
albums old, this Donegal-based, six-piece
string/fiddle/accordion/flute institution have
honed to perfection their rabble-rousing
combination of Donegal fiddle airs (littleknown outside Donegal before Altan’s
appearance) and northern flute tunes.
Mairéad Ni Mhaonaigh’s violin is a wonder
to the ears, probably one of the most
recognizable fiddle sounds of the ‘new’ Celtic
generation.
LIZ CARROLL - Born in Chicago of Irish
parents, Liz is a junior and senior All-Ireland
Fiddle Champion, and has toured as a solo
artist with the Greenfields Of America,
Trian, String Sisters and as a duo with John
Doyle. She’s featured on ten albums and has
appeared on many more, and in 2009 became
the first Irish-American musician nominated
for a Grammy. She’s also a recipient of the
National Heritage Fellowship Award of 1994.
PLETHYN - This group from Wales base
their harmony singing on the plygain carol
tradition. Featuring the distinctive voice
of co-founder Linda Healy, the trio have
struck out from their Welshpool beginnings
in the mid-1970s to perform extensively in
Brittany, the USA and Canada, as well as
being familiar faces at Celtic festivals and
eisteddfods throughout Wales, Scotland,
Ireland and even Sardinia.
KIRKMOUNT - The three Utah-born and
bred Bigney brothers – Kirkmount –
learned their Celtic licks from greats like
Jerry Holland, Alasdair Fraser and Buddy
McMaster, imbuing their repertoire with airs
and ballads gleaned from their Nova Scotia
heritage. They make regular appearances
on the famed Prairie Home Companion public
radio show, immortalized by the humorous
novelist Garrison Keillor.
MARGIE BUTLER – The harps that Margie
plays are based on ancient Celtic lands.
The traditional song ‘Baloo Baleerie’ is
from Scotland and takes its name from
the Scottish word for lullaby, ‘baloo’. It is
sometimes referred to as ‘The Bressay
Lullaby’ and is said to date back to the
twelfth century. Margie’s trademark crystalclear harp playing, mixed with her melodious
singing voice, creates a lovely soothing mood
on this track.
ALAN STIVELL - Undoubtedly the single
most influential living Celtic harpist, but also
a musician who has drawn many newcomers
to Celtic music because of his sheer genre
range, Alan Stivell has played rock with
seminal Breton folk-rocker Dan Ar Bras,
and latterly has been expanding interest in
‘serious’ and orchestral Celtic music. Born
Alan Cochevelou, his father was a Breton
harp-maker who had himself been playing
since the 1920s. Stivell has been performing
professionally since the age of 11.
BRIAN HUGHES & GARRY O’BRIAIN - Clarebased guitarist and mandolinist Garry is
probably best known for his work with the
legendary Boys Of The Lough, whom he
joined in 1997. For some years now he has
worked either a solo artist or in duets, mining
the riches of lesser-known Irish airs and
lullabies. Brian Hughes is a distinguished
North American guitarist with skills across
the board, and has recorded jazz, blues, folk
and even rock.
TERESA DOYLE - A native of Canada’s Prince
Edward Island, a part of the world with an
active Celtic community, guitarist/singer
Doyle has been at the forefront of Canadian
Celtic music – both traditional and more
adventurous fusions with Kenyan, Japanese
jazz and bluegrass – for many years. An avid
children’s musical educator, Teresa was
a winner of the prestigious Martyn LynchStaunton Award (2007), which recognizes
outstanding mid-career Canadian artists in
all fields.
FLOOK - After thirteen years, hundreds
of gigs, four group albums and numerous
side-projects (such as the Afro-Celt
Soundsystem), Sarah Allen, Brian Finnegan,
Ed Boyd and John Joe Kelly –Flook ¬– finally
decided to call it a day at the end of 2008.
Or, at least, that was the story until early
in 2012, when they announced a series of
reunion gigs around the UK. As Flook, they
have left behind a unique heritage of Celtic
music, with an eye to the modern dance club
as much as to the old-school ceilidh.
CHRISTINA STEWART - Traditional Scottish
singer Christina’s voice is warmly regarded
throughout the Highlands and Isles. She
has recorded three albums and combines
a busy live-performance schedule with
educational and fundraising projects related
to traditional Gaelic and Scots music.
Christina’s ‘Kist o Dreams’ project has three
main strands: a CD to be distributed free
of charge to newborn babies’ parents and
carers; visits to mother and baby groups to
offer songs and advice; and a website with
lots of useful information on lullabies.
NADIA BIRKENSTOCK - Celtic and electroharpist Nadia, born in Solingen, West
Germany, was drawn to the harp as a child
after being inspired by a concert given by the
legendary Scottish harp duo Patsy Seddon
and Mary MacMaster. Her sixth album, The
Enchanted Lake, was winner of the Global
Music Award 2011.
ALASTAIR MCDONALD - Born in Glasgow
in 1941, Alastair emigrated at 8 years old
to Australia with his family, returning to
Scotland in the late 1950s just in time to
become involved in the skiffle boom. By
1970, he was a full-time professional singer
and champion banjoist, accepting the role
of frontman in the long-running Scottish TV
show Songs Of Scotland in 1973. McDonald’s
versatility is key to his performance but
also, in a way, an added complication for his
press office: ‘Well, he’s … he’s the leading
Scottish jazz banjo-playing folk singer,’
explained one nonplussed PR person in a
radio interview recently when asked for a
‘nutshell’ description of his style.
GLASGOW HEBRIDEAN CHOIR - Although
this is one of the few Gaelic choirs in
Glasgow, in the last two decades there has
been a renaissance of Gaelic choral singing
throughout Scotland and the islands, and
this choir, with their groundbreaking 1993
album, were in the revival’s vanguard. They
perform regularly at the Royal National Mod,
in the city.
JCB WITH JERRY HOLLAND - The late
Jerry Holland (1955–2009) was a fiddler
who lived on Cape Breton Islands, Canada,
Born in Boston, the city’s strong Cape Breton
community took a hold on his imagination
early in life and by his early twenties he was
playing with the Cape Breton Symphony, a
seminal group of Breton fiddlers. He released
his first album in 1976, although it was the
second release, Master Breton Fiddler in
1982, which cemented his reputation. He
released thirteen albums in a style that was
celebrated for being more progressive than
any other of his contemporaries.
TOMMY SANDS - Not to be confused with
the 1950s American rock ’n’ roll star of
the same name, County Down’s Tommy
Sands’ reputation as a singer, songwriter
and activist is universally known among
Irish music fans. From pioneering days
with the Sands Family, who performed Irish
music in New York’s Carnegie Hall as well
as in Moscow’s Olympic Stadium, Tommy
has developed into one of Ireland’s most
immediately recognizable popular voices.
His songwriting, which has drawn lavish
praise from Poet Laureate Seamus Heaney,
as well as Pete Seeger, prompted the USA
magazine Sing Out to call him ‘the most
powerful songwriter in Ireland, if not the rest
of the world’.
GOLDEN BOUGH - Renowned Celtic harpist
Margie Butler, featured earlier on this
compilation, originally worked as a duet with
multi-instrumentalist Paul Espinoza, until
forming Golden Bough in 1980. The idea of
Golden Bough was to give traditional Celtic
music a more contemporary flavour. Since
their inception, the band has toured all of
Europe and become popular on both sides
of the Atlantic. As well as the usual Irish
traditional instrumentation, they’ve added
octave-mandolin, recorder and a variety of
rare early instruments.
01 ALTAN Dún Do Shúil
from the album LOCAL GROUND (VERTCD069)
(trad, arr Ní Mhaonaigh, Tourish, Sproule) pub Vertical
Records. Licensed from Vertical Records.
02 LIZ CARROLL A Day And An Age
from the album LAKE EFFECT (GLCD1220)
(Liz Carroll) pub Grow Your Own Music (BMI). Licensed
from Compass Records.
03 PLETHYN Cysga Di Fy Mhlentyn Tlws (Sleep, My
Little One)
from the album SEIDIR DDOE (SCD2083)
(trad, arr Plethyn, Healy) pub Cyhoeddiadau Sain. Licensed
from Sain Records.
04 MARGIE BUTLER Baloo Baleerie
from the album CELTIC LULLABIES (EUCD2150)
(trad, arr Margie Butler) pub Arc Music. Licensed from
Arc Music.
05 BRIAN HUGHES & GARRY O’BRIAIN The Fairy
Child
06 KIRKMOUNT I Wonder As I Wander
from the album MITTENS FOR CHRISTMAS
(DOR93236)
(trad, Kirkmount) pub Metronome. Licensed from
Kirkmount.
07 ALAN STIVELL An Hirañ Noz
from the album EMERALD (K3111)
(Stivell, Ceiriog Hughes, Bolton, Taldir) pub Keltia III.
Licensed from Keltia III.
08 TERESA DOYLE A Lullabye
from the album CRADLE ON THE WAVES (TDCD007)
(trad, arr Teresa Doyle) pub Bedlam Records. Licensed
from Bedlam Records.
09 PLETHYN Si Hei Lwli Mabi (Hush, My Little
Baby)
from the album CANEUON GWERIN I BLANT/
WELSH FOLK SONGS FOR CHILDREN (SCD2292)
(trad, arr Plethyn, Healy) pub Cyhoeddiadau Sain. Licensed
from Sain Records.
(trad, arr Hughes, O’Briain) pub Celtic Airs Music.
Licensed from Irish Music Licensing.
Christina Stewart
from the album RUBAI (004CD)
(Brian Finnegan, arr Sarah Allen, Ed Boyd, John Joe
Kelly) pub Flook/SGO Music Publishing Ltd. Licensed
from Flook.
11 CHRISTINA STEWART Nam Bu Leam Fhìn Thu
Thàladhainn Thu (If You Were Mine I Would Lull
You)
from the album BAIRN’S KIST (FB003)
(trad, arr Christina Stewart, Bill Taylor, Bob Pegg) pub
Feisty Besoms. Licensed from Christina Stewart.
12 NADIA BIRKENSTOCK Arran Boat Song
from the album THE ENCHANTED LAKE (HTCD
0023)
(trad, arr Nadia Birkenstock) pub Hidden Tracks. Licensed
from Nadia Birkenstock.
13 ALASTAIR MCDONALD Highland Fairy Lullaby
from the album BEARS, CROWS & CENTIPEDES
(CBNCD 021)
14 GLASGOW HEBRIDEAN CHOIR All Through
The Night
from the album THE HEBRIDEAN SOUND (CDLOC
1077)
(trad, arr Roberton) pub Roberton Publications. Licensed
from Lochshore.
15 JCB WITH JERRY HOLLAND Boo Baby’s
Lullaby
from the album A TRIP TO CAPE BRETON (CDLDL1269)
(Jerry Holland) pub Jerry Holland CA. Licensed from KRL.
16 TOMMY SANDS Night Night And Einini
from the album DOWN BY BENDY LANE (GLCD1085)
(Tommy Sands) pub Elm Grove Music/MCPS. Licensed
from Compass Records.
17 GOLDEN BOUGH The Mermaid’s Song / Song of
the Seals
from the album CELTIC FOLK SONGS (EUCD2078)
(trad, arr Golden Bough) pub Arc Music. Licensed from
Arc Music.
(Alastair McDonald) pub Corban Recordings. Licensed
from Corban Recordings.
from the album THE CLEAR AIR (CACD2501)
Alastair Mcdonald
10 FLOOK Rosbeg
Tommy Sands
Kirkmount
Visit www.worldmusic.net/celticlullabies
for music information, video clips and free tracks.
Teresa Doyle
MUSICROUGHGUIDES
RGNET1273CD
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