Talk:Coronach

"Update" template

This template really only relates to the line about how "no such songs have been recorded." This sounds like an excerpt from the 1911 Britannica article. Recording technology was comparatively rare in 1911, so this seems fair enough, but is it really still true 99 years later? i just find that unfathomable. tomasz. 20:02, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

I think the practice was dying out by then, and people would be reluctant to "perform" it for record. I have only ever heard one actual field recording of proper keening at all, from the 1950s. StrumStrumAndBeHanged (talk) 08:58, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Edits

I will edit what I can, but I also have some information I am not sure on how to go about added well. If anyone more knowledgeable on writing these wouldn't mind, here are is some more information on this subject:

Source: Tobar An Duelchais

I am not sure how to add these in properly, but Tobar An Duelchais is an archive for historic Scottish audio recordings, and there are some about this topic.

• (link) Summary: The contributor recites a verse which was used by paid keening women. | Track ID: 71933 | Year: 1952
• (link) Summary: The contributor speaks about keening women. When a MacNeil died, they would lament and praise him, hurling themselves to the ground. She does not know any of the verses they used. Some women were paid for this. Keening was always done by women. | Track ID: 108648 | Year: 1976
• (link) Summary: Detailed information about funeral preparations in South Uist. A piper started playing when the corpse was put in the coffin on the day of the funeral. The coffin was always carried clockwise. When the piping stopped a woman would start keening. The contributor names particular pipe tunes that were played. Information about a keening woman in Iochdar. She was paid in cash or in kind. Detailed information about the funeral procession. When somebody died work stopped until after the funeral. Information about the wake and candles in the church. There were candles, a crucifix and holy water beside the corpse in the house. People told stories during the wake and drank tea and alcohol. Sometimes somebody would read the litany for the dead. The rosary was said at particular times. A silver coin was placed in a new grave and it was then blessed by the priest. Everybody knelt as the coffin was lowered. | Track ID: 39795 | Year: 1958
• (link) Summary: In days of clan chiefs, women were paid to keen at their funerals. They wailed and beat themselves against the ground and praised him. They followed the coffin to the grave. | Track ID: 23596 | Year: 1964
• (link) Summary: A man died on board a ship and he was to be buried ashore. A man followed the funeral party clapping and improvising a keening verse. The ship's captain gave the man £5 after the funeral. The contributor recites the verse. | Track ID: 39688 | Year: 1958
• (link) Summary: The contributor has never heard of keening being done in his own time in Uig. If it was done at all it was no longer a practice by his grandfather's time. However, he did hear of a girl from the district who went to a wake in Point, where there were women keening by the side of the bed. Two or three of them took turns lamenting until the funeral took place. | Track ID: 44351 | Year: 1965
• (link) Summary: The contributor speaks of women keening at the funeral of Father Allan MacDonald, and the effect of this on the officiating priest. | Track ID: 107946 | Year: 1966
• (link) Summary: | Track ID: | Year:
• (link) Summary: This tune with vocables was used in a story. It was also said by the contributor to have been used in formal keening for the dead. | Track ID: 24917 | Year: 1965

BlairsTales (talk) 00:17, 2 March 2024 (UTC)