Category Archives: Musical

Irish Drum – Bodhran

Nationality: American (British and Irish Descent)
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Williamsburg, VA
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English

“Music is a big deal, um, in my family. Particularly Irish music.”

 

“Mhm.”

 

“Um, my uncle plays the bodhran, or I guess both of my uncles do.”

 

“I’m not sure if my grandmother’s family. They were like a working family so I don’t they would have, like, sat down and, I don’t know, maybe they would have, um, just played for fun or whatever in the evenings. Um, but, um, yeah as long as I can remember they’ve come around at Christmastime and that drum comes out, or both the drums come out depending on how many brothers bring the drums haha. And uh, so they sit there and play for hours an hours.”

 

“Well that’s cool. So is it during a specific holiday or just whenever they come?”

 

“Just whenever they come around to visit.”

 

“The rowdy Irish come to town.”

 

“Oh yes, the rowdy Irish and the Guinness come out or Smithwick’s.”

 

“So did they, where did they learn that from? Like did they…”

 

“I think it was all by ear, I think, I don’t think it was any kind of professional training.”

 

“But did they, like, learn that in Ireland?”

 

“I don’t think so, um. My grandma and grandpa immigrated in the 1950s, um, and then, like, my mom and her brothers were raised in Cincinnati. I think it was just, like, listening to Irish music over the years and picking it up from there.”

This is an interesting, unique cultural find since there probably aren’t that many people in America who are familiar with such an old world cultural item. I doubt very few have ever even heard of the instrument, but it’s a great way for traditional Irish culture to be spread beyond its tiny land boundary.

Irish Lullaby – “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral That’s An Irish Lullaby”

Nationality: American (German, Irish, French Descent)
Age: 57
Occupation: Former financial analyst, homemaker
Residence: Del Mar, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2012
Primary Language: English

“When you were a little kid, I started singing you an Irish lullaby. I believe it was called ‘Tura Lura.’ And just a tiny, short little song. I have no idea where I heard it, um, something I started singin’ to you. Why, I again, don’t know the origin of that. And you seemed to like it.”

 

“Do you know the words?”

 

“Yeah…

‘Tura lura lura, tura lura lai,

Tura lura lura, hush now don’t you cry.

Tura lura lura, tura lura lai

Tura lura lura, Tis an Irish lullaby.’”

Lullabies, typically sung to infants and young children, are a classic feature that connects parents to their children. They can be a distinct family tradition and memory passed down to generations, or at least a hint of the homeland of generations before.
This particular lullaby, classically Irish, was first written in 1914 by James Royce Shannon. Several decades later, though, Bing Crosby popularized it in his 1944 film Going My Way.
Source: http://parlorsongs.com/issues/2007-3/thismonth/feature.php

“I Went to a Chinese Restaurant”

Nationality: Chinese/Japanese/Pakistani
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Contextual data: When asked about childhood games or rhymes she knew, my informant immediately thought of this game. My informant was born and grew up in Hawaii. She says she first learned this in first grade at school through a friend. She says at the time everyone used to play it. The lines are said simultaneously by two partners, to a simple tune, clapping hands in different patterns every other syllable. At the end of the game, both players freeze, and whoever moves first loses. This can be decided by the spectators surrounding the players, or by one of the players themselves. The following is a transcription of the song’s lyrics (line breaks my addition):

I went to a Chinese restaurant / to buy a loaf of bread. / The lady asked my name, / and this is what I said: / my name is L-i-l-i pickle-eye pickle-eye pom-pom beauty x-y cutie Indiana Jones don’t move!

My informant and I both had difficulty thinking about the significance behind the song or game–in her own words, the game “sounds nice” and “it doesn’t matter when you’re in first grade”–but I’m sure there is some. Perhaps “pickle-eye pickle-eye” is some kind of racial slur against Asian facial features (perhaps the owner of the Chinese restaurant?), and “pom-pom beauty x-y cutie” could reference any number of things, from cheerleading to large breasts. The lyrics are so abstract and seemingly disparate that it’s hard to string them together. Perhaps by this point they’ve changed so much from their earliest forms that it’s actually impossible to pinpoint any original, intended meaning (if there ever was one), and now people find significance in the simple pleasures of playing the game.

“There’s a Place in France…”

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 24th
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 24th, 11:58 a.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of EVK Dining Hall

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Childhood (10 or 11 years old)

When Folklore is Performed: During recess, amongst fellow students.

 

Transcript:

“There’s a place in France where the naked ladies dance,

There’s a hole in the wall where the boys see it all.

There’s a place downtown where the freaks come around,

There’s a hole in the wall, it’s a dirty free for all.”

 

This (remarkably mature) children’s song was sung during my informant’s gradeschool years. My informant remembers singing it with a group of his friends while the girls in the surrounding area would react in disgust. Like cooties, this seems to be the sort of activity that young boys would create once they begin to “notice girls” in order to grow accustomed to them.

Hush Little Baby

Nationality: Caucasian American
Age: 48
Occupation: Database Manager
Residence: Monterey, CA
Performance Date: 4/22/2012
Primary Language: English

Informant Bio/Context
My informant is a mother in her late 40s who works as a database manager for a community college. Her two children are both grown and live away from home. She lives with her husband, their dog and two cats.

My informant used to sing the lullaby written below to her kids when they were infants. She told me: “I like lullabies and I think it worked to calm the kids when they were cranky and tired but couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe it didn’t make a difference, plenty of moms don’t sing to their kids, but me I like music, so I did and they slept.”

Song Lyrics
Hush little baby, don’t say word
Mamma’s gonna buy you a mockingbird
If that mockingbird don’t sing
Mamma’s gonna buy you a diamond ring
If that diamond ring turns to brass
Mamma’s gonna buy you a looking glass
If that looking glass gets broke
Mamma’s gonna buy you  a billy goat
If that billy goat won’t pull
Mamma’s gonna buy you a cart and a bull
If that cart and bull falls down
You’ll still be the sweetest baby in town
So hush little baby, don’t say a word
Mamma’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.

Analysis
My informant told me that she couldn’t remember where she first heard the song, only that she can’t remember not knowing it, so she suspects she learned it in her childhood. She does not remember her parents ever singing it to her. She likes lullabies because she finds them “endearing and calming.” So when she had children she would sing them the ones she remembered from her youth, and others she would look up in books of nursery rhymes.

Lullabies feel personal, even if singing them doesn’t come from a family tradition. The lilting melodies are soothing, and the rhymes innocent and nonsensical, making them easy for parents to share with their kids. The association of lullabies with childhood and our children gives us a sense of the cycle of life, from child to parent, regardless of whether or not we are singing the same lullabies to our kids as our parents sang to us.