Irish accent right or wrong?

Subject: RE: Irish accent right or wrong?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 05:06 PM

I have avoided using accents on any songs unless they are a very broad burlesque of a certain style. Henry The 8TH frinstance. I view it the same way as I do singing songs in a foreign language that I don't speak to an audience that hasn't a clue what I am singing about. (This happens too frequently in music clubs.) Phil Shapiro, who runs Bound For Glory on WVBR in Ithaca NY won't let anyone on his show who affects and accent, not their own. I feel the same way.

I still recall in amazement the night my band finished a Tom Paxton tune that I sing. John Stack of County Mayo and County Clare can up to me after I finished Can't Help But Wonder.... and said " Good job Donald, got the accent just right!"

Don

Subject: RE: Irish accent right or wrong?
From: Indy Lass
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 01:00 PM

When I asked a couple of singers who play around the Chicago area if they used the accent, their reply was, "Well, after we heard an Irishman attempt to sing with an American accent, we decided that not using our own native, established accent maybe was a mistake." I've listened to the Gealic dialects and accents from recordings so much that I find it easier to use the Irish accent. I've asked people after a casual performance about my fake accent and they said they don't really notice any "fakeness." So it works for me.

Subject: RE: Irish accent right or wrong?
From:
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 12:29 PM

It depends on two things.

First, the song has to require, it and as others above have noted, some do. Water is Alright in Tay would never work without at least a little lapse into an accent. Same for Rocky Road to Dublin. Also, a lot of blues tunes require that the singer get the dialect and intonation right, Big Road Blues for instance. And You can't sing a cajun song, especially in its original french dialect without that accent.

Second, you have to be able to do the accent right. If the singer doesn't have the ear for the accent, or lays it on too thick it can sound phony, which is worse for the song than no accent at all.

Subject: RE: Irish accent right or wrong?
From: Big Mick
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 10:24 AM

To me this is no different than when one is singing a song of the sea and one affects the slang and the idioms of the sailor. In Irish music, could you imagine singing "The Finding of Moses" without taking on the appropriate Dublin accent? It seems to me that if one is compelled to sing a song that requires an accent, then one should commit themselves to learning to reproduce it faithfully. Imagine also trying to sing in the language of a country, such as Gaelige or French, but taking no time to learn appropriate pronounciations. I feel that if a dialect is needed for the interpretation, then one should be used. In my opinion it has to do with remaining faithful to the music. On the other hand, there are large numbers of songs that require no accent to sing well.

Mick

Subject: RE: Irish accent right or wrong?
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 10:22 AM

Hi Ted!

The whole idea of accents is quite interesting.

When they make movies of the Old West, everybody speaks with a "Why, thank you, Miss Mollie, that'd be right nice of you" accent. How did people in the Old West really speak? I read somewhere that majority who took part in the 1849 Gold Rush were from the Eastern U.S. and that, of those, a great many were immigrants.

By the time I was 17, I had lived in England, Ireland, Canada, America, England again and America again. Most people figure you're born someplace and die there or you're born in A and move to B. They like it simple. I've never lived anywhere where people didn't think I was from somewhere else!

Kevin Burke, the fiddler, was born in London of Irish parents. He spent a lot of his youth in Ireland and, of course, in his parents' company. I haven't seen him in years but he used to pronounce individual words in a sentence either with an English accent or an Irish accent. That was one of the more bizarre ways of speaking I've ever heard but it was entirely natural.

If I can be so bold as to offer advice, concentrate on singing a song as though you really mean it, as though you were there when the events were taking place. That's how Joe Heaney sang; that's how I try to sing. If you can't do that with certain songs, just sing them for yourself until you can.

Some songs are dialect pieces. I would not say that "The Patriot Game" is one of them. Hey, just sing it like your name's O'Hanlon and hear what comes out.

All the best, Dan

Subject: RE: Irish accent right or wrong?
From: Allan C.
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 10:00 AM

Last night, for instance, I took a stab at "The Mountains of Mourne". Its lyrics don't require an accent to make it rhyme, but without one, the song seems lacking.

Subject: RE: Irish accent right or wrong?
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 09:53 AM

I agree with Allan. There are some things where the lack of at least a shot at an accent would jar due to ruining a rhyming bit. Can't think of an example right now to justify myself, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

Kris

Subject: RE: Irish accent right or wrong?
From: Bert
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 09:51 AM

I usually try to avoid using a 'foreign' accent. Sometimes you have to though, to get the words to rhyme.

I don't think it's problem, if it feels right to you, it should be OK.

How do you react when you hear other folks singing Aussie songs? Do they sound funny to you or don't you notice?

Bert.

Subject: RE: Irish accent right or wrong?
From: Allan C.
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 09:46 AM

I fully agree that there are certain songs which cry out for an accent of one kind or another. My sense of it is that as long as my poor imitation of a particular accent adds to, rather than detracts from the feeling of the song, then I go ahead and give it my best shot. Sure, there would always be purists who would tell me to just leave the song to those more linguistically qualified; but I think the majority of audiences would lean more toward getting the flavor of the song rather than being picky about the inflections, etc.

Subject: Irish accent right or wrong?
From: Ted from Australia
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 09:25 AM

When I am singing Irish songs I find myself slipping deeper and deeper into my version of an Irish accent, or as I have heard my Irish friends sing it

Does anyone else do this ? And do you think it right or wrong to assume an accent to go with the song?
To sing, say. "The Patriot Game" in my aussie accent would just sound ludicrous,
Let us know what you think.

Regards Ted