Imelda May on reconnecting with the Irish language: "It's time to get rid of the shame that comes with it, because it's not our shame"

Why can’t we speak our native language? Answers to this societal FAQ usually lay blame on bad teaching, little practical use and a general lack of interest.

They’re valid points. But some can’t help but think that the air of negativity surrounding Irish is more complex. That includes Imelda May, who tackles her “fractured relationship” with Gaeilge on her new TV series Amhráin na nGael (Songs of the Irish).

“A lot of people will pat themselves on the back for learning a bit of French or Spanish, and there's a lot of joy and lightness with that,” she says. “It's the heavy feelings that surround the reasons we're not speaking Irish that stop us from even trying.”

May digs into those emotions in the first episode, which shows her discussing the topic around a cup of tea with her family. ‘Shame’ is a word that comes up more than once.

“How come most of us have learned Irish our whole lives and we come out of school not knowing it? How does that work?” she says.

“With Irish, the negativity comes from our language being taken off us. The repercussions of that have been echoing for a long time, making it seem unattractive, backwards, left behind, as if you're uneducated if you spoke Irish. And that's the view that was given to us for a long period.

“It's time to get rid of the shame that comes with it, because it's not our shame. If you go to any country and they speak a different language than the name of the country, then nine times out of ten there's been colonialism or trauma involved.”

Did she draw parallels with Palestine, where heritage, language and culture are being systemically oppressed?

“That's on all of our minds all of the time, isn't it?” May says. “We’re seeing a lot of our history being reflected back to us and seeing how easy the world lets it happen. It’s shocking to us but it wouldn't have been shocking to our ancestors who experienced it.

“It does make me feel that identity is something worth holding on to.”

 

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For a vocalist as accomplished as May, music was a natural avenue for exploration. Guided by award-winning sean-nós singer Lillis Ó Laoire and with some creative input from Liam Ó Maonlaí, she delved into the sean-nós tradition in search of a greater connection with her native tongue.

“I was looking for a starting point within Irish that was more positive than what I had in school,” she explains. “I discovered through this programme that it would be through song.

“I started out singing blues and soul. It came to me that maybe the reason Irish people have been attracted for so long to those genres is that it’s music about longing, loss, sorrow. All these things we can easily relate to.

“[Sean-nós] songs are personal accounts of people's lives all around Ireland. whether it be about the famine or whether it be about a love story or somebody being lost at sea.

“All of these beautiful songs were not accessible to me because I didn't understand my own language. And I thought that was a terrible shame.”

For the uninitiated, Sean-nós is an unaccompanied, solo style of traditional Irish singing, with freer rhythms and a strong focus on emotional expression. Adapting to the style was a challenge.

“There are different areas within the Gaeltacht. Not only is it a different dialect in each area, as you'd expect, but it's also a different style of singing,” May explains. “ I took to the Kerry way like a duck to water. It's all long notes and it will pull at your heartstrings. The Connemara way, it hit me emotionally as well, but it was technically a different ballgame. It was like I was learning to sing in Arabic.

“It was very intricate with its phrasing and notes and there were more ad libs in it. I'm a professional singer, I should have been able to get my head around and I did eventually, but it was way more complicated than I realised.

“It's not about the arrangements, the musicianship or the production. It's about the song. It's about the lyrics. It's about the melody. And it's about the story. It's about the singer getting that across.”

It's also about the community.

“I found so much beauty in it,” May continues. “There's so much beauty in a room where somebody just starts singing and the place goes quiet and everyone's listening to all the words. There's a thing I learned along the way called winding. Have you ever heard of winding?"

Níl.

“Winding is when you're sitting in a room singing, and if you're struggling with it, somebody will grab your hand and literally wind you, physically hold and wind you.

“The whole community will lean forward, they'll put their hands on you and they will wind you. They’ll hold your hand and say ‘come on, go for it. You’ve got it in you. I nearly fell apart crying when they picked up my hand because it's so supportive.”

As a child of the Liberties, the singer is all too familiar with Jackeen vs Culchie stereotypes. Amhráin na nGael explores the supposed chasm between urban and rural populations regarding our native language. May found out that some biases are based in myth.

“I discovered there isn't a them and an us,” she says. “I would have thought that way more people from the countryside spoke Irish than they do. And then I also wrongly thought that less people in Dublin speak Irish than they do.

“There have been pockets of communities that were Gaeilgeoirs in the city centre for a long time that had to keep their heads down. And funny enough, when I heard Irish spoken in a Dublin accent, I was able to understand it with ease, because my ear wasn't having to cut through dialect or accent.

“I also learned that people in the Gaeltacht were made to feel ashamed for not speaking English. Can you believe that? They were made to feel like they were backwards for not speaking English.”

"People in the Gaeltacht are more open and warm and welcoming than I realised. They probably might have been more guarded at some point. But I think the reason for that is because they were literally the guardians of our language. So they had to be. Now there's this ‘come on in, the water's warm’ kind of vibe.”

It’s indicative of a greater shift in attitudes. It was reported recently that Queen's University in Belfast saw a 227% surge in registrations for Irish language courses this year.

“A lot of us just want to learn Irish and hear other people speak it," May says. "And there's a movement now for what seems like the last little while, but it's actually been a long time coming, with pockets of communities really working hard to bring it to the forefront.

"There’s KNEECAP - but it's not just them. It's their families who've been doing this for a long time. I'd like to add that the people in the North of Ireland have had to work extra hard, so i've a massive respect for those in the North who spread Irish.

"Kíla and the Ó Snodaighs, they've been doing this for a long time too.. It's like there's been seeds planted and now the flowers are starting to bloom, and I think it's a beautiful thing.

"I'd also like to mention Manchán Magan. He put so much work into giving us a new love and understanding for the Irish language. He was teaching us that there were 32 words for the field. He taught us all the words for animals and put a lot of care, warmth, love and joy into it - which was new for a lot of us. It wasn't heavy. It was accessible.”

• Watch Amhráin na nGael on Friday on RTÉ One at 8:30pm. The series is also available to stream via the RTÉ Player.