Saturday, August 9, 2008

Saturday serenade

An angelic sweetness that can easily turn into a primal howl, Sinéad O'Connor's voice has, to me, always been the voice of Celtic women everywhere. It becomes even more powerful when she's singing about the history of her own people.

Oró Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile is a rebel song dedicated to the great sea warrior, Gráinne Ní Mháille, better known as Grace O'Malley, pirate and patriot.


Molly Malone is a song that most everyone has heard and can sing along to, Irish or not. Sinéad's version, however, is haunting - as it should be.


(as a side note: sifting through videos of Sinéad and Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries is really making me reconsider my attempts to grow my hair long again)

9 comments:

Willorith said...

That woman can certainly sing.

Anonymous said...

Me, I prefer Máire Brennan. (The voice of Clannad.)

M

Kelly said...

She may be a little crazy in the head (heck, aren't we all?) but she sings beautifully.

I think my favorite experiences in Ireland were sitting in pubs with a bunch of locals, when spontaneous singing and dancing would break out. Lovely.

Haji said...

She's pretty angry, though. I'd love to see her and Bjork duke it out. I'd have to put my money on Sinnead.

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

I love the 'bald' women. Always have. Probably the fault of that first Star Trek movie.

Rogue Medic said...

As I read this, Zombie came on on my laptop. :-)

Anonymous said...

You know, I don't think I've ever really listened to her music. Thanks for posting those.

B Smith said...

It may make me a sexist pig, but I am unrepentant and adamant on this point: a woman with a shaved head loses serious sexiness points. She'd have to have some seriously nice qualities to make up for it: a great singing voice (check),or a really nice personality (maybe not-so-much, based on what I've read and heard, though I don't know the woman personally).
Perhaps if she was a thoughtful, gun-toting librarian/blogger...do you know any who are currently 'uninvolved'? ;-)

Anonymous said...

I do believe I'll have to add she to my list of artists whose work I should revisit now that I've (debatably) grown up a little...

Also I'd point you to Amy Macdonald, if you enjoy Sinead O'Connor you might like her music also. Jim