Choral Performance Of Mo Ghille Mear

In this first set of interrogations, I observed a choral performance of “Mo Ghille Mear,” which translates to “My Gallant Hero,” by the University College Dublin’s Choral Scholars, and “Tozvireva Tingaputike Neshungu” by Mbira DzeNharira, a “mbira orchestra.” Each performance had their own distinct traits, as coming from two contrasting cultures in different hemispheres. “Mo Ghille Mear,” an Irish composition, was performed almost completely without any instruments except for the bodhrán, which is a percussion instrument. The Mbira DzeNharia piece on the other hand, included a variety of instruments such as the mbira, the hosho, and as well as another idiophone. Through the L-V Guide (Learning and Viewing) and MasCOT (Music as Culture, Object,
and Tool) I will scrutinize these performances individually and compare them to each other. “Mo Ghille Mear” was originally written by a poet by the name of Seán Clárach Mac Dómhnaill, in lamentation of the loss of Ireland’s Prince Charles Edward Stuart and in mourning of the land’s steady decline in his absence. The song is sung in the beautiful dying traditional Gaelic language that I have personally not heard until stumbling upon this video, due to this language’s floundering popularity. The language is both mesmerizing and soothing. This piece is considerably different in comparison to what is seen as traditional Irish music, which is known in its majority for its dance music, such as the jigs and reels, and also its multiple instruments. This choir only uses one of those instruments, the bodhrán, which is a type of membranophone that is struck with a stick, and their voices. The basis of Irish music includes a fiddle, whistles, and uillean bagpipes, along with other instruments, which this choir decided not to use. In addition, this choir comprises of at least 20 singers, where in most traditional settings, there is no singing included, the main focus is only on the instruments. With the main focus being the instruments, in most traditional Irish music performed in pubs, that is the area for musicians to come together and play for their own enjoyment. That calls for a big use of improvisation. Again, that is where this choral performance differs. This video has clearly been prepared for; the singers are professionally dressed, harmonies are impeccable, and the bodhrán’s patterns are planned with the singers. The bodhrán is placed on the left of the choir, and the choir itself is arranged into a triangular form similar to bowling pins, with the lead singer at the head of that triangle. This could be mainly due to the conductor placing them in this structure to either increase the amount of sound the singers project forward in this “window” formation, or to ensure the visual responses of these singers throughout the composition. Due to my personal experience in multiple orchestras and choirs, I believe that the spatial arrangement of these singers and bodhrán was optimal for increasing their performance, and sound quality that they produced for whomever recorded this video. Each performer, regardless if singer or bodhrán player, was ecstatic about this music and this beautiful language which takes you on an emotional roller coaster. The lead singer, at the very pinpoint of this triangle, begins the song with a slow and melodic tone, and is then backed up by the other singers with resonating ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s at 0:36.
The bodhrán player serves as the pace keeper for song, and comes in at 1:08 playing triplets very powerfully and accenting on the beginning of each measure. The singing is completely dependent on the lead singer, there were no instances where the rest of the choir took over. This song itself is very “Western” in the sense that its structure is straight-forward and linear, meaning it goes straight through from a beginning to an end, given that there are choruses that repeat. At 2:32 there is an indication that the bridge is approaching as there is a huge change in the way the choir joins back in quietly. The bodhrán and lead singer work to further amplify this change at 3:05 by jumping back in with a big crescendo, which means an increase in volume, and the bodhrán changes his rhythm from 4 triplets to 4 straight quarter notes to emphasize each beat. Though there are 19 singers versus the 1 lead singer, they all do a fantastic job of balancing out their sound and their respective parts, creating this angelic sound that has people mesmerized regardless that the words are in an ancient
language. The Mbira DeNharira is a famous mbira group from Zimbabwe that comprises of approximately 7 mbrias. The mbira is Shona tradition that is used by healers, aka ritual specialists to get in contact with ancestors, bridge the mundane world into the spiritual. Mbira music is vastly acknowledged for its ability to put its audiences into a trance, which people of various cultures see as a blessing and a connection with the higher powers of being. “Tozvireva Tingaputike Neshungu” aligns to the majority of traditional Shona music, and the arrangement of the mbira playing. Through the video there was a great amount of movement, making it difficult to tell exactly how many people this “mbira orchestra” consisted of, but it was greater than the normal ratio of 2 mbiras and 1 hosho. Instead of 1 hosho being a pair of hoshos, there was only 1 being used, due to the man only having 1 arm. Most Shona music is accompanied with a great deal of dancing, and there were multiple clips in this video of the men dancing around in a circle, almost as if inviting their higher power or ancestors to the middle. It is obvious that these men are not in a bira, which is a healing ritual where this music is traditionally used at, but rather in the middle of nature where they are one with their creator and ancestors. The outfit that they were wearing varied from nothing but animal skins, ponchos, and sometimes vests. I presume that these animal skins were worn as a sign of dominance, to show the animals that they had to scalp to get that material. The song itself, “Tozvireva Tingaputike Neshungu,” is an 8 minute political, yet expansive song on the day to day problems that occur across the world that hinder us from the formation of world peace. Another Zimbabwean, Thomas Mapfumo, also created music to target politics, and used his musical influence to make a change. Starting at 1:10 you begin to hear the main higher-pitched yodeling sounding type of singing, with the call and response technique as well. It is not clear who the singer of the main high-pitched part is, but presumably, it’s the man in the poncho, for he is the one dressed most different and there are many scenes of him dancing around solo. At around 5 minutes, the men start to hum and whistle the tune itself, and completely stop singing. The Mbira DzeNharira group say that that whistling and humming gives listeners the opportunity to express their affairs in the world, since there are so many that it’s impossible to list it all in the song. This correlates with the trait of Shona music to have little discrepancies between the audience and performers during a mbira performance. The biggest differences between the two pieces were the choreography of “Tozvireva” compared to the lack of movement in “Mo Ghille Mear,” the number of traditional instruments that each country used, and their attire. Both pieces were “traditional” in their own sense, but “Tozvierva” would have to take the crown. “Mo Ghille Mear” had a more Western choral aspect in comparison to Ireland’s traditional dance music. “Tozvierva,” on the other hand, though their playing techniques, and their number of performers were off, these men had the same intention with their music as their traditional Shona music had. In my opinion, “Mo Ghille Mear” is the better of the two because of the way the words of the Gaelic language flows, and it tugs on my choral background, giving me a sense of familiarity. “Tozvierva” is not far behind, it kept me fascinated and prompted me to discover more Zimbabwean music.