This song is the reason I committed myself to seeking out popular music from minority language groups. Seo Linn is a bilingual folk/indie band from Ireland who aim to revitalize national interest in Irish Gaelic as a living language of communication and expression. I came across this video randomly on my YouTube Recommended page, and have loved it ever since.
The song itself is a more modern reimagining of the Irish folk song “Óró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile,” a tune of rebellion that welcomes home the Irish historical figure Grace O’Malley in the hope that she and the warriors she brought with her will free Ireland from foreign rule by the English. I have studied the nuances of this song intensely, and find most exciting a moment near the end of the song, where they choose to end the third verse early. They remove the line “dispersing the foreigners,” leaving this imagined freedom little more than a fantasy. Ireland would not gain full independence until 1949.
The emotive quality of this song and the earnest passion for the recognition of their ancestral language that lay just below surface of their performance have stayed with me, years after I first saw this video. When we began the song share assignment this semster, I had the thought to seek out the “cousins of ‘Óró,'” to find people from other cultures around the world who wish preserve their minority language in the musical style of the present-day. This rejuvenation of the old and neglected deeply appeals to me, and I hope that my collection of “cousins” at the end comes to something moving and impactful, in some small way.
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