Sliabh na mBan, in memory of Karen Andersen

Finbar and Eddie Furey play the old air Sliabh na mBan (The Mountain or the Women) presented here in memory of Karen Andersen (RIP), who through her artistry, showcased in numerous videos on this channel, did great work in raising much needed funds for the welfare of Irish Republican Prisoners of War, and in raising awareness in the USA of the struggle for freedom, unity and justice in Ireland. Karen passed away in the Spring of 2007. May she rest in peace. The words to this air tell of a battle fought in 1798 between the poorly armed rebels and the well equiped British troops on the slopes of the mountain Sliabh na mBan in County Tipperary.. One of the verses translated from the Irish goes: "Oh, bitter the fight And bitter the taste of defeat that night When the Strangers had us in disorder thrown. But more bitter still As we scattered in retreat down the hill Were the taunts and jeers of the invaders of our home!" Never again! Beir bua!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Sliabh
• na
• mBan
• Slievenamon
• Traditional
• Irish
• Music
• Karen
• Andersen
• Finbar
• Furey

[eyeries1]

Go raibh mile maith agat a Phadraig! Mise le meas, Seoirse MacDomhnaill (Eyeries1)

[eyeries1]

True for you Ramgen951...tunes of this nature suffer from over ornamentation. They were composed to be simple, yet exquiste pieces, meant to be played by a solo piper, haper or whatever. A little accompaniment, like Eddie does here, is OK, but by no means necessary. Beyond that, and as you say the orginal poignancy of the tune is lost.

[sosome57]

Sliabh na mBan? Slievenamon? Same beautiful, beautiful music, but the spelling is giving me a headache! Would someone please explain the difference and spell out the pronunciation in English so I can at least try to say the name? Thanks.

[eyeries1]

Sliabh na mBan is the Irish. Slievenamon is a sort of phonetic rendering in English, pretty close to the proper pronunciation of the Irish. But here is a better phonetic rendering:

SHLEEVE NAH MON. Gotta get that wee "SH" sorta lisp in there. There ye go!

Glad you like the music. Grand isn't it? Karen Andersen (RIP) who this video is dedicated to was a grand singer, as well.

Check out a few of her songs on my Youtube Channel. Slan go foill- Eyeries1

[castlebar67]

so sad yet sweet go ar dheis de a bhi a hanam dhilis a cha`ran padraic de burca Patrick burke manchester, means may on gods right be her gentle soul sad is mex

[sinnfeinmurderers]

Good Another Rebil supporter Gone and shall be Forgotten (Rotting/burning in hell) as we speak..

[janeos01]

Thanks o much for this, i loved it and i love Tipperary so much

[ramqen951]

This is it the way it should be played, the great Liam o flynn so lost the plot by apparently playing it to please on his cd. When you dress up these tunes, the point,and , almost by the same token, the beauty, is quickly gone.

[prunch72]

The second reason i was told was one based in mythology. The great annual national games were being held by the Munster Kings for all young warriors to show their skills and stamina, part of the test was a race passing through Slieve na mBan. The warriors of the north (Fianna or Red Branch Knights) also took part. So the young women of Tipperary hid out all over the mountain in the hopes of meeting Fionn McCoole or another prominent warrior (or someone they had their eye on) and seducing him.

[prunch72]

I worked many months on the land near Slieve na mBan for a local farmer and summer or winter she slept there in the valley beautiful and still, snow capped or purple with rain. One reason for its name i was told was that ancient pre-Christian clans of the area regarded the shape of the mountain as a sleeping woman, the goddess of the earth giving life and fresh clean water. (Archaeologists agree it was a significant place to these early people for what exact reasons we aren't sure)

[prunch72]

Sliabh is the Irish for mountain (like sleeve of a shirt with a 'h' so pronounced shleeve) na is Irish for the, pronounced na as in taking a (na)p. Ban is Irish for woman, as in (ban)ned, but said after 'na' you put an 'm' before so it is 'mBan' this changes pronounciation slightly to sound like (Mon)teray.

So Sliabh na mBan sounds like S(h)leeve... na(p).... Mon(teray). Hope this is some help. There are two reasons i know of as to why that prominent mountain in south Tipperary is called this

[SullivanNiall]

@sosome57 The first spelling is the proper Gaelic version; the second an Anglicised approximation. Phonetically (for an English speaker) the pronunciation is Shlave-na-mawn.