Baitsiléir beag mise - Cáit Ní Ghuibhirín

Thu, 10/11/2012 - 14:05 | by Eoghan

Recording: [Download audio file] [Download AIFF audio file (of processed ‘user’ version)] [Download AIFF audio file (of archive version)]

Transcript

An gcluin tú... No.

Baitsiléir beag mise, (a rún), níl agam (lón) ná stór,
Níl agam ar an tsaol seo ach cnáimhín (sheanbhó),
(Sulmá) bheinn do mo bhuaireamh féin (dá) ceangailt insa chró,
Bhéarfainn 'un an aonach agus (dhéanfainn iad a dh'ól).

Translation

Do you hear... No.

I'm a little bachelor, my dear (?), I don't have provisions(?) or wealth,
All I have in this life is a bony old cow(?),
Before(?) I would trouble myself tying her (?) in the byre,
I'd bring her to the fair and drink her price (?).

Commentary

This is a verse from the song 'Lá Fhéile Pádraig', a three-verse version of which appears in Énrí Ó Muirgheasa, Dhá chéad de cheoltaibh Uladh (Dublin, 1934), 292. Ó Muirgheasa notes that he collected that version from Sorcha Ní Dhuinn (Mrs Humphreys) of Lislea, county Armagh, in 1908. He also comments that a third version was collected by Seán Mac Maoláin in Armagh, and that he heard the song performed by Róis Bean Uí Ghallchobhair of Dungloe, county Donegal. It is not to be confused with the Munster song also entitled 'Lá Fhéile Pádraig' that tells the story of two brothers, a farmer and a schoolmaster, competing for the love of a young woman, which Nioclás Tóibín sings on Amhráin aneas (Gael Linn, 1977).

This item is transcribed also in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 276.

Title in English: I am a little bachelor
Digital version published by: Doegen Records Web Project, Royal Irish Academy

Description of the Recording:

Speaker: Cáit Ní Ghuibhirín from Co. Louth
Person who made the recording: Karl Tempel
Organizer and administrator of the recording scheme: The Royal Irish Academy
In collaboration with: Lautabteilung, Preußische Staatsbibliothek (now Lautarchiv, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Recorded on 25-09-1931 at 16:30:00 in Queen's University, Belfast. Recorded on 25-09-1931 at 16:30:00 in Queen's University, Belfast.
Archive recording (ID LA_1223d4, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 00:27 minutes long. Archive recording (ID LA_1223d4, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 00:27 minutes long.
Second archive recording (ID LA_1223b4, from a shellac disc stored in Belfast) is 00:26 minutes long. Second archive recording (ID LA_1223b4, from a shellac disc stored in Belfast) is 00:26 minutes long.
User recording (ID LA_1223d4, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 00:26 minutes long. User recording (ID LA_1223d4, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 00:26 minutes long.

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