Keening
Keening ( Caointeoireacht) is a traditional form of vocal lament for the dead in the Gaelic Celtic tradition, known to have taken place in Ireland and Scotland. Keening, which can be seen as a form of sean-nós singing, was performed in the Irish and Scottish Gaelic languages (the Scottish equivalent of keening is known as a coronach). Keening was once an integral part of the formal Irish funeral ritual, but declined from the 18th century and became almost completely extinct by the middle of the 20th century. Only a handful of authentic keening songs were recorded from traditional singers . Etymology. "Keen" as a noun or verb comes from the Irish and Scottish Gaelic term ("to cry, to weep"), as well as ("gentleness, pleasantness, beauty"), and references to it from the 7th, 8th, and 12th centuries are extensive. Melody and text. The tune and lyrics rely on the repetition of a couple of basic motifs which can be variably extended or shortened. It seems that there was never an established keening ‘text’; the singer is expected to improvise as feeling dictates. Despite the keen varying between performances, keeners worked within the same body of motifs and diction. Keening was rhythmically  free, without a metre. The words are thought to have been constituted of stock poetic elements (the listing of the genealogy of the deceased, praise for the deceased, emphasis on the woeful condition of those left behind etc.) set to vocal lament. Words of lament were interspersed with non-lexical vocables, that is sounds that are without meaning. The keen can be formed of three motifs: The salutation (introduction), the dirge (verse), and the gol (cry). History and mythology. Historical record and performance practice. In the 12th century, Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) described vocal laments taking place in which  the mourners were divided in two, each alternately singing their part and sometimes joining in full chorus. Written sources that describe the singing style appear from the sixteenth century on. In ancient times, a chief's own bard (assisted by the chief's household) would perform the funeral song. More recently, keeners would be hired female mourners. The mourners accompanied the keening woman (), with physical movements involving rocking and kneeling. The Irish tradition of keening over the body during the funeral procession and at the burial site is distinct from the wake, the practice of watching over the corpse, which  takes place the night before the burial, and may last for more than one night. The practice of keening was "generally adhered to" throughout Ireland irrespective of social class until around the middle of the 18th century. Around 1791, the antiquarian William Beauford (1735-1819) described in detail the practice of keening at a traditional Irish funeral ceremony and transcribed the keening melodies that were sung. He provided the following information: Samuel Carter Hall described Irish funeral traditions and keening songs in his 1841 book "Ireland: Its Scenery, Character and History." He wrote that mourners would often rock back and  forth and clasp their hands together during the keening song. Parallels elsewhere. Wailing and singing in lamentation, is as old as funerals, going back to Homeric, Estruscan, and biblical times Keening has strong parallels in the Middle East and elsewhere. Sir Walter Scott compared Gaelic keening to the "ululatus" of the Romans. The irish word "caoine" or "cine" is cognate with the Hebrew "cina", a lament involving the clapping of hands, which could suggest an ancient link between the two traditions. Banshees. According to Irish mythology, keening laments are sung by banshees. A banshee could sing when a family member  died or was about to die, even if the person had died far away and news of their death had not yet come. In those cases, her wailing would be the first warning the household had of the death. Keening women have been described as "the (human) structural adjunct of the banshee". Keening in County Kerry was said to be closest to the wailing of a banshee. Survival into the twentieth century. Authentic keening was effectively extinct by the early twentieth century. In the early 1950s, Cití Ní Ghallchóir (Kitty Gallagher) of Gaoth Dobhair in County Donegal, Ireland sang a  keening song she had learnt from an old woman to Alan Lomax, which can be heard online. A recording of Gallagher's keening song was featured on the album "Traditional Songs of Ireland" (1995). Below is Gallagher's version with a translation.S'airiú, ("Word for lamenting - no literal translation") Agus a leanbh (My child) Cad a Dhéanfaidh mé? (What will I do?) Tá tú ar shiúl uaim (You are gone from me) Agus airiú Agus anuiridh, níl duin ar bith agam (I've been left alone after a year) 'S airiú Agus mé liom fein (I am alone) Dá mbeithea  go moch agam (If I were early) Agus och, och, airiú, gan thú, gan thú (Alas, alas, without you, without you) Seosamh Ó hÉanaí (Joe Heaney) of Carna, Connemara sang a traditional keening song which he learnt from his grandmother Béib (Bairbre) Uí Mhaoilchiaráin, who had lived during the nineteenth century. The recording is available on the official Joe Heaney website. Heaney was also recorded discussing his childhood memories of keening women in Connemara and the ways funeral traditions have changed since. The album "Songs of Aran" (1957) has two recordings of keening songs collected from the oral tradition on  the Aran Islands, both entitled Caoineadh na Marbh ('The Keening of the Dead’). Both of the recordings, which were made by Sidney Robertson Cowell, are reminiscent of the "cronán", described by Eugene O’Curry as a ‘purring,’ beginning ‘in the 'chest or throat on a low key and rising gradually to the highest treble’. The Tobar an Dualchais Scottish music archive has two recordings related to keening which are available to the public; the first is a keening song sung by Calum Johnston (1891-1972) of Barra, and the second is a verse performed by Donald MacIntyre (1899-1964) of South  Uist said to have been used by paid keening women. Phyllida Anam-Áire, author of "The Celtic Book of Dying", heard keening in its traditional environment in the Donegal Gaeltacht in the 1940s, and described and sang a rendition of what she heard. The lack of authentic recordings of keening songs may be due to the reluctance of singers to share something so private. See also a contemporary reimagining of Cití Ní Ghallchóir’s version in a new composition by traditional singer Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, Caoineadh Cine (Ancestral Keen). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZ5g0KCYxc In popular culture. John Millington Synge's one-act play  Riders to the Sea (1904) features a chorus of women from the Aran Islands mourning the death of their loved ones at sea. In 1986, Robin Williams and Carol Burnett performed a comical version of a keening song for a sketch called "The Funeral" as part of "Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin".