Sean-Nós Northwest

Two weeks ago, we packed ourselves up and went down to Olympia for the 3rd annual Sean-Nós Northwest festival. Sean-nós translates as 'old style', and it refers to Irish singing and dancing traditions that have been handed down for generations. It's my understanding that this style came from the peasantry and that the other old style of music - the formal bardic and harping traditions - have been almost entirely lost. At the moment, sean-nós (especially the dancing) is extremely popular in both Ireland and America. I speculate that this is somewhat of a backlash against Riverdance...

Anyway, the festival was lovely. There was a concert Friday night, which we missed, and classes all day Saturday, which I attended. I went to three singing classes (2 on Irish songs, one on English), a singing session, and a dance class. Then there was the afterparty - I think we played tunes for about 3 1/2 hours?

And now, an explanation of the videos below. There's an older video and a newer video for both dancing and singing; in both cases, the older one is from a recognized master of the form. The second dance video was taken at the Friday night concert at the festival this year. The second singing video features two people (the program host and the singer) that we met in Monaghan during our trip to Ireland in Dec. 2008. The first song has a bit of lilting at the beginning and is about a young man knocking at his lover's window as she (initially) refuses to let him in. The second song is "The Red-Haired Man's Wife" and covers the universal theme of unrequited love. Enjoy!

More information, as always, on Wikipedia.