US soldier earns stripes at Sean-nos song contest
Monday November 02 2009
A SERVING US soldier from Brooklyn, New York, who learned Donegal Irish from the internet, progressed to the finals at a weekend Sean-nos singing competition.
Seamus O Fianghusa (33), or Seamus na Gaeilge as he is affectionately known in the Donegal Gaeltacht, was attending his second Oireachtas na Samhna, the most prestigious event in the Irish language calendar.
But he wasn't the only international competitor to impress judges at the competition, which drew up to 15,000 Irish language enthusiasts to Letterkenny, County Donegal.
Yolanta Kruk, a Canadian travel agent of Polish descent, drew praise with her haunting rendition of the Connemara lament, 'Amhran Mhuinse' learned from listening to recordings and to local singers on her many visits to the Connemara Gaeltacht.
Their shared passion for the Irish language and culture was awakened in recent years, both turning to the internet, and particularly Raidio na Gaeltachta, to learn the language as well as joining Irish groups in their respective cities.
Seamus, a member of the famed 69th 'Fighting Irish' regiment in New York, was born of an Irish father and Korean mother and raised in Brooklyn. He was always conscious of his Irish heritage.
He was drawn to the language after meeting a native of the Donegal Gaeltacht in New York and visited his spiritual home for the first time last summer when he was offered a scholarship to attend the Oideas Gael school in Glencolmcille.
"Even though I had never been here before, it took me zero seconds flat to get used to it. I am in heaven in the Gaeltacht. I have been waiting my entire life to get here," he enthused.
In 2001, Yolanta, from Montreal, happened on a Michael Flatley show on TV on St Patrick's Day while she was mourning the death of her partner.
Spiritual
"For someone in a dark place, to see this beautiful, special and amazingly spiritual music woke something up in me.
"It has opened so many doors for me. My life changed. I discovered the joys of 'craic, ceol agus ol'," said Yolanta, who has visited Ireland 16 times since 2003.
"The minute that plane landed and I smelt the air, it just fit me like a glove. In Kerry on that first trip when we came to the sign that said 'An Gaeltacht' there was something magical about it," she added.
At the weekend event, worth up to €6m to the local economy, Gaeltacht minister, Eamon O Cuiv moved to reassure delegates that the future of the language was not under threat from proposed McCarthy cuts.
He said that a 20-year 'roadmap' for the language, which will be published before Christmas, will aim to increase those who speak Irish with fluency from 85,000 to 250,000, thus ensuring that it will pass from generation to generation.
Oireachtas na Samhna, now in its 112th year, is considered the Mecca for Irish language speakers, drawing singers, dancers, musicians and lovers of the language from all over.
Organisers point out that Sean-nos unaccompanied singing and freeform dance, is currently enjoying a huge revival.
- Anita Guidera
Irish Independent
