An scéal

Tá an bhlag seo mo scéal. Tá mé ag obair anois, mar scríobhóidh mé é. Níl leabhar gramadach agam liom, mar ligfidh tú liom na earráidí, le do thoil.


This blog is my story [hmmm, should I use 'Is' instead of 'Tá'?]. I am at work now, as I write it. I don't have a grammar book with me, so please excuse all the errors.

That's about it, before I make a fool of myself.

Greann.com up and running!

Well, it's finally done: Greann.com is up and running, with over 100 posts and 33 members in its first week!

Go to Greann.com

Thanks to all the members who've made it a great success. We're always looking for more folks who like to practice Irish Gaelic every day, with a fun twist. Come answer a question, ask a question, or a post a poll of your own.

Have fun with Irish!

Afro Celt Sound System: Anatomic

Is maith liom Afro Celt Sound System.

Their latest album ("volume 5") is Anatomic, and I can't get enough of it. I had my doubts at first. The duet with the Uzbeki singer (My Secret Bliss) made me think "Afro Celts do Sade?!", while Sené (Working the Land) bordered on trance (a little too repetitive), and Dhol Dogs seemed to be a beat in search of a song.

But after listening to it a number of times, it's really grown on me. All the songs with Iarla are, of course, outstanding. For better or worse, he's singing more in English. Probably better for sales, but not as authentic. Ah, there's always his solo albums for lyrics as Gaeilge.

The group as a whole really seems to be maturing, with their songs becoming more song-like and less like dance tunes with lyrics. Beautiful Rain is a strong comment on rushed modern life and its indifference to what goes on around you, while the opening track, When I Still Needed You, references the genocide in Rawanda.

The album closes with Drake, sung entirely in Irish. Truly memorable.

The title song is an instrumental that will have even the most dour personality up and dancing in no time.

Afro Celt Sound System web site

Greann.com Irish Gaelic student forums almost ready

Bhuel, the forums at Greann.com are coming along faster than I thought. (This Ireland-like damp weather is certainly helping to speed things along!)

Greann.com should be ready in a few days for Irish language students of all ages & abilities. We've got a logo anois, and I've experimented with the moderation features (moving threads & posts to more appropriate places).

There's also a private forum for Minnesota Gaeltacht members.

Nua! Fóram ag Greann.com

Coming Soon! The forums at Greann.com. "Greann" means "fun" in Irish, and Greann.com will be the fun way of learning the Irish Gaelic (Gaeilge) language.

http://forums.greann.com

Currently Greann.com is in its testing stage. You can sign up and post there, but we don't have a logo yet and the forums may be rearranged and permissions may not work quite right, etc.

Within a few days I hope to have everything cleaned up and ready to go. When it's ready, I'll be deleting whatever posts are currently there (there's just a bunch of silly stuff there now; you can safely ignore it), and starting from scratch. So don't post the Great American (or Irish) Novel quite yet. Give me a week or so.

If you're interested in learning Irish Gaelic in a fun, stimulating environment then the forums at Greann.com are the way to go. It'll be a great environment for beginners, since we'll be very protective of members. We won't tolerate obnoxious users; it'll be a fun, nurturing environment.

And if you're an advanced student or teacher of Irish, we'd love to have you at Greann.com, too. We need experts as well as students.

Céard atá "shuffled" ar do iPod?

Céard atá "shuffled" ar do iPod? - What is "shuffled" on your iPod?

I put my iPod mini on Shuffle mode tonight while making dinner. First it played "Bad Man's Song" by Tears for Fears, then Ceacht a Trí from Turas Teanga, then some Beethoven. What a mix!

Ar mhaith leat teacht chuig mo chóisir?
Ba bhreá liom, ach tá mé an-tuirseach. :-(

Iarla Ó Lionáird of Afro Celt Sound System

"Is maith liom Afro Celt Sound System, ach b'fhearr liom Iarla Ó Lionáird." - I like ACSS, but I'd prefer Iarla.

I was never one who's into vocals. Give me a good bass line and I'm happy.

However, ever since I went to Ireland and found out about sean-nós singing, I've had a new appreciation for vocal works. Sean-nós literally means "old style" or traditional. It's generally without any instruments other than the singer's voice. It's all "as Gaeilge" (in Irish; and no, that doesn't mean English with an Irish accent).

A small group of us from Monday night Irish language class went over to Ireland to take a week-long Irish language class in An Ceathrú Rua (Carraroe). I can't sing to save my life, so I considered worming my way out of one of our classes, which was dedicated to sean-nós singing. We were surprised and honored when Meaiti Jo Sheamuis (music director at Raidió na Gaeltachta) sang sean-nós live for our little Irish language class, and I was blown away by his singing. What a huge amount of emotion and nuance put into the singing. I was hooked.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a copy of his CD in the US. In the meantime, I was surprised to find out that the Afro Celt's lead singer actually has a sean-nós singing background.

Iarla Ó Lionáird is the lead vocalist of Afro Celt Sound System. I first heard them (and him) in a duet with Sinéad O'Connor while listening to the Celtic Melt radio station at Live365.com. It just seemed different at first. But after a few listenings, I felt compelled to buy the album. Best thing I ever did. Of course, I now own all their albums, up through Anatomic (Vol. 5) which is truly their crowning glory. Their compositions and execution have really matured over the last few albums.

So after really getting into ACSS, I heard about Iarla's solo albums. They got rather mixed reviews on amazon.com. So I went to his web site (link in sidebar at right), and listened to "Aobhinn Crónán (The Humming of the Bees)" and over the course of week decided it was definitely worth trying out the album. His solo stuff is nothing like ACSS--except the outstanding voice, of course. The great thing is that his solo work really accentuates his great voice in a way that most ACSS songs don't.

To see a free video with one of his songs (that does have some musical accompaniment), click on the "Iarla Ó Lionáird" link on the sidebar at right, then click the "Audio & Video" link on Iarla's web site. Then click on one of the video downloads for "Aoibhinn Cronan (The Humming Of The Bees) Live".

It's a song that, while seemingly simple at first, will grow on you.

I can't play it enough. Enjoy.

Neach na hÉireann

Neach na hÉireann - The Spirit of Ireland. (If my Irish is correct.)

Travelling through western Ireland is like travelling through a dreamscape. Mists and fog. Lakes and bogs.

I stayed in Líonán (Leenaun/Leenane) a year and a half ago. It's a small town with a picturesque "downtown" with a tavern, a tiny grocery, and an out-of-this-world restaurant (something with 'berry' or 'blackberry' in the name). This is a photo of downtown Líonán at dusk.

Actually, I stayed just outside Líonán, at a country B&B. I took a walk along a path that overlooked Killary Harbour, the only fjord in Ireland. Talk about spectactular views. The weather was misty and the path was boggy; I was half expecting to see bodies floating in the bogs, a la The Lord of the Rings.


This photo is of the forest that I saw on the way back. It was very dark in the forest, even though it was the middle of the day. I like to think this exposure captured my feelings very well.

Earlier in the week, I had travelled to Connemara National Park. They have some wild Connemara Ponies there. On the drive there, I stopped by Kylemore Abbey just to grab a few photos. This photo and the photo at the top of this post are both from the Abbey. Yes, it was foggy, and one of the few wooded areas I saw in Ireland.

It's hard to convey the grandeur and mystery of a place in a small, two-dimensional photo. But I hope you get a feel for western Ireland (Connemara) from these photos. With EU money pouring in, Ireland is changing fast. Progress is good, but with the widening of the roads and the installation of gas (petrol) stations and fast food joints, it's quickly losing its mystical qualities. Just the change between 2002 and 2004 was significant. I hope to get back there later this year--and practice my Irish while staying in a Gaeltacht.

Apple's Aperture and Photos of Ireland

I've been playing around with Apple's new photo workflow program called Aperture, and I am totally smitten!

The bad news is that it doesn't support the raw format of my camera (Pentax *ist DS). The good news is that this means I get to import scanned TIFFs of a couple trips to Ireland I've taken over the past few years.

I think I've finally figured out how to use the Nikon Coolscan IV ED negative/slide scanner. I've got my full color workflow set up, so I use Adobe RGB color space for scanning and the images are coming out quite nice.

Then throw in some full-image tweaking and cropping with Aperture (all are non-destructive edits), and you get some fairly nice images, like this one of Pol na Brón ("Poulnabrone").

Tá mé anseo!

Tá mé anseo! Sa bhlog-saol!