ia fai·mer who kne1w ;no English and had no education. Yet he wrote a number of fine songs, many of which are known in Conuaught where he spent 'Some years. What must have s1truck tthe reader, as it certai.nly stru·ck me, in regard to our heritage of oral tradition, is the extraordinarily retentive memories of our singers and our seanchai:dhthe. They can sing a song ·of many 'verses, or tell a story that goes on for hours, without betrayi1!1g the slightes\t lapse of memory. The modern song consists of t1wo or three verses-·yet, if you ask one of our younger generation to 'SingJthey will :prob~bly tell you that he·can never re- ~all the words of more than 1a few lines of a song. Co..11trasted with this we have the experience of Henry Morris 1who took down 2,00 Hines of songs from a famous singer, Conall Mac Cuini!leagain of Oappagh, Teelin, who wias 1then 80 years of a(ge. And if we require proof of the wealth of native :lore which 1until lately lay hidden i.n our mi.dst, we have the w1ord of Sean 0 hEochaidh of the Folklore Commission that in one distri1C1t of Donegal, Na Cru:1acha, Glentie1s, he has just completed two years, working six days a week, in iwri:tir.lg down ond making gramophone records iaf a wide 1lange of folklore, proverb1s, prayers aind poems. Yet the total population of that arF.:a is represented by only 1:wenty-serven households ! And one fin1al h:.si:.ance whkh must surely be a record. From o~e seanchaidhe a1one, Niall Duff.y, Goritahork, Seian has recorded 750 g~amophone records and 1written dJw.n 1,500,00C words ! It, is not eas·y, within the limits of a short article c.~ music, to do mor1e tl1a~ touch the fringe of the subject. But from all that has been said it should be abundantly clear that we in Donegal have inherited friom our ancestors a vast trc1asure .of music a.nd song. It is to be hoped that the light which I haive tded to sh~d on the matter may serve to 1sUmulate our moide·rJ:. musicians to seek inspiratio:n from the past, and to encom'aige 'those who 1are interested in the folklore of Dcl!legal to complete the splendid work which a .small band of en1thusiasits have be1gun; f:or it is only 1thus that we 'can fulfil an obvious duty, n1a1nely. to 1preserve and transmit to future generations of our kith a;~d kin 1~he he·:-itage of a gloriou~ past. }"c1ot11JOlte: Mr. Eamon O'Gallchobhair, to jwho.m as an ;e:xipert on music I have alreiady .referr•ed, has something very interesting to S·flY on Da!legal traditional musk. His theory is :that music, just like ,speech, custom and manners, is conditioned by environment. And in ·support of t.ha>t contention he instances the rem'arkable re· semlX•ance bettween Donegal and Kerry music. Both counties are faci;~g the Atlantic at the extreme ends of the country ; they are 1movmtainous and noted for their beautiful scenery; they .ar;e still strongholds of the Irish language •and retain to a great extent the trtaditions of an ancient dvi1isation. But just 1as there are differen~es ii"'!"l speech and accent, there ·are differences in the music of both eountie.s; but they are subtle dissimilarities; and for the expert imusicimn these subtleties con:s~itute a source of great pleasure. Mr. O'Qaillchobhair finds {that Ke!\ry mus~c is more multi'.'"
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQxNzU3