Barry Douglas won the
Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow in 1986. He was the first person from outside Russia
to do so.
Earlier this month he performed at the ultra-modern Metropolitan Arts Centre in Belfast, the MAC. On this occasion he wasn’t playing in front of a symphonic orchestra; neither was he playing Beethoven or Tchaikovsky.
Instead, he was joined on the stage of this appropriately-named venue - at least for the purposes of this gig - by two Scottish folk musicians (Catriona Mackay Scottish harp and Chris Stout Shetland fiddle) and an Irish compatriot (Eimear McGeown Irish flute and whistle).
Together they performed an exhilarating programme of tunes billed under the title of Celtic Orbit. The music came from Galicia, Shetland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Britanny, Scotland and Ireland.
After finishing a virtuosic medley of reels performed with turbo-charged vigour, Barry Douglas turned to the audience and remarked breathlessly - "that was far harder to play than Rachmaninov."
Earlier this month he performed at the ultra-modern Metropolitan Arts Centre in Belfast, the MAC. On this occasion he wasn’t playing in front of a symphonic orchestra; neither was he playing Beethoven or Tchaikovsky.
Instead, he was joined on the stage of this appropriately-named venue - at least for the purposes of this gig - by two Scottish folk musicians (Catriona Mackay Scottish harp and Chris Stout Shetland fiddle) and an Irish compatriot (Eimear McGeown Irish flute and whistle).
Together they performed an exhilarating programme of tunes billed under the title of Celtic Orbit. The music came from Galicia, Shetland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Britanny, Scotland and Ireland.
After finishing a virtuosic medley of reels performed with turbo-charged vigour, Barry Douglas turned to the audience and remarked breathlessly - "that was far harder to play than Rachmaninov."
 |
| Celtic Orbit |
The intricacy of the
music reminded me of the close international links, both musical and
linguistic, that tie these places together.
"Tie" is apposite because both the language and the melodies create effects that interweave just like the elaborate artwork of Celtic knots.
In the back of my mind, listening entranced to a mixtures of jigs, reels and the occasional ballad, I had an image of the beauty of the Book of Kells.
The regularly-misused adjective "iconic" applies here in its proper sense.
At that time, I was writing an essay in Irish about the richness of the language and the parallel beauty of the Gaelic script.
A starting point was that Irish has the oldest literary tradition in Europe after Greek.
The essay amplifies the case by providing four examples of qualities that demonstrate the language's richness - the importance of alliteration, historic and geographic derivation of place-names and surnames, unexpected connections between French and Irish vocabulary, and collective nouns ending with -lann (lán in Irish meaning full of).
Committing my text to paper in the standardised Roman font is one thing; but presented in the ancient Gaelic script which I learned half a century ago at school, the language and its poetic subtleties seem to spring into a beautiful new artistic life, like a Celtic Orbit.
Is grá liom mo theanga álainn, mo theanga neamhpholaitiúil, mo theanga filíochta. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an traidisiún liteartha is sine san Eoraip tar éis Gréigis - is é an Ghaeilge[i] é. Thar aon rud eile, tá an-dúil agam i saibhreas na teanga.
Ba mhaith liom ceithre
shamplaí teangeolaíochta a úsáid.
"Tie" is apposite because both the language and the melodies create effects that interweave just like the elaborate artwork of Celtic knots.
 |
| Newgrange Stone |
In the back of my mind, listening entranced to a mixtures of jigs, reels and the occasional ballad, I had an image of the beauty of the Book of Kells.
The regularly-misused adjective "iconic" applies here in its proper sense.
At that time, I was writing an essay in Irish about the richness of the language and the parallel beauty of the Gaelic script.
A starting point was that Irish has the oldest literary tradition in Europe after Greek.
The essay amplifies the case by providing four examples of qualities that demonstrate the language's richness - the importance of alliteration, historic and geographic derivation of place-names and surnames, unexpected connections between French and Irish vocabulary, and collective nouns ending with -lann (lán in Irish meaning full of).
Committing my text to paper in the standardised Roman font is one thing; but presented in the ancient Gaelic script which I learned half a century ago at school, the language and its poetic subtleties seem to spring into a beautiful new artistic life, like a Celtic Orbit.
SaibhreaS na Gaeilge
Is grá liom mo theanga álainn, mo theanga neamhpholaitiúil, mo theanga filíochta. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an traidisiún liteartha is sine san Eoraip tar éis Gréigis - is é an Ghaeilge[i] é. Thar aon rud eile, tá an-dúil agam i saibhreas na teanga.
Ba mhaith liom ceithre
shamplaí teangeolaíochta a úsáid.
Sampla a h-aon: Uaim
Nuair a bhí mé i mo ghasúr óg, dalta falsa agus amaideach, ar scoil na
Bráithre Críostaí san Ómaigh, is cuimhin liom mo sheanmhúinteoir Gaeilge. Dúirt sé go minic go bhfuil uaim an-tábhachtach i nGaeilge. Is feidir leat roinnt focail a úsáid le chéile. Cuireann uaim béim bríomhar agus dath deas ar an frása.
Suigh síos nó seas suas, a d’ordaigh sé
dúinn. Bhí an-dúil agam i spórt agus spraoi. Dúirt mo mháthair liom - druid an doras, a Mhícheál.
Tá samplaí eile agam - Is saighdiúir sona sásta é, tá a dearthár dubh dóite, bhí an fear fuar fliuch. Tá neart onamataipé ag an teanga
fosta, focail ar nós fliuch.
Sampla a dó: logainmneacha agus sloinnte
Is breá liom an chiall agus na ceangail stairiúila is tíreolaíochta le sloinnte agus logainmneacha.
Mar shampla, is é Ioruais an logainm Cúige Ulaidh (Uladztir)[iv]. Mar an gcéanna, an sloinne Mac Con Uladh – is Albanach é, tá an t-ainm sin coiteanta i nGallobhach (smoainigh ar bplandáil na nUladh).
Tagann sloinnte Gaelacha eile ón GCríoch Lochlann[v], mar shampla MacLachlannach, Mac Dubh
Ghall, agus an sloinne is fearr liom, MacSomhairle. Tagann mo shloinne féin ó dhá focail Sean-Ioruais, sumor lida. Ciallaíonn siad seoltóir shamhraidh – is é sin
le rá, Lochlannach[vi]. Tháinig an clann MacSomhairle go hÉireann blianta fada ó shin idir an tríú haois déag agus an séú haois déag, agus iad gallóglacha fosta, saighdiúirí. Tagann an focal gallóglach ó cúpla focal Gaeilge, gall agus óglach[vii].
Sampla a trí: ceangail teangeolaíochta idir Gaeilge agus Fraincis
Tá roinnt focail a bhfuil cosúil lena chéile as Gaeilge agus as Fraincise. Ag an am céanna, tá an focal Béarla rud eile ar fad.
Sílim go bhfuil sé sin suimiúil agus speisiúil mar is teanga Ind-Eorpach í an Ghaeilge agus is teanga Laidine í an Fhraincis. Seo samplaí chun an pointe a
léiriú:- eaglais, église, church; ubh, oeuf, egg; leabhar, livre, book; seomra, chambre, room; anann, ananas, pineapple; mil, miel, honey; Cáisc, Pâques, Easter; airgead, argent, silver/money; garsún, garçon, boy.
Sampla a ceathair: focallann
Níl a lán focail Gaeilge agam, ach taitníonn cnuasaimneacha liom mar sin. Bialann, amharclann, sólann,
leabharlann, iarsmalann, spórtlann, pictiúrlann, dialann, ceardlann agus otharlann.
An cló galánta gaelach, an fíor-Ghaeilge féin, is teanga ceolmhar ciallmhar í.
© Mícheál MacSomhairle 2017
[i] “Lingo, a language spotter’s guide to
Europe” p207-212 Gaston Dorren
[ii] Foclair.ie Foras na Gaeilge
[iii]
In English “she said it outright.”
[iv]
Patrick McKay “A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names" 1999 p 144 ISI QUB.
[v]
Scandinavia
[vi]
“The name Somhairle and its clan” H Palsson, from “So Many People, Longages
& Tonges,” Edinburgh 1981.
[vii]
Collins English Dictionary millennium edition p 627,Gallowglass means
heavily-armed mercenary soldiers, originally Hebridean (Gaelic-Norse), from
Irish gall (foreigner) + óglach (young warrior-servant)
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