A bhean úd thíos ar bhruach an tsrutháin (Seoithín Seó)

Where does this lullaby come from?

Ireland

Where did you learn this lullaby?

I learned this from a famous singer from the Cúil Aodha Gaeltacht in County Cork

How did you learn/what inspired you to compose this lullaby?

I learned this from a famous singer from the Cúil Aodha Gaeltacht in County I learned this from the singing of Eilís Ní Shúilleabháin, a celebrated sean-nós singer from the Muskerry Gaeltacht in Cork. I was inspired to learn this because of the otherworldly imagery in the song and how the woman in the song speaks to us directly about her experiences.

Please include any further information here

The lullaby contains traditional vocables of ‘seoithín seó úil leó leó’, and according to the work of Professor Breandán Ó Madagáin (1992), these vocables may have been a charm to protect the baby. The lullaby tells the story of a woman who has been abducted by the fairies and is trapped in the fairy realm. She speaks to a woman by a nearby stream, while singing this lullaby to a fairy infant, and covertly sends for help through the lullaby. She gives specific instructions for her husband to be told to come with a black-handled knife to cut a herb at the entrance to the fairy fort, and thereby set her free. We are told that unless she is saved soon, that she will become Queen of the fairies and stay in the fairy realm forever.

Keywords

• Spirituality
• Mental Health
• Feminism
• Vocables
• Illness
• Other