Relishing Mná na hÉireann by Kate Bush ahead of St. Brigid's Day

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As we prepare to celebrate St. Brigid's Day and the ancient pagan festival of Imbolc and fire we take a look at this beautiful Irish air Mná na hÉireann (Women of Ireland).

In 1996, the English singer Kate Bush recorded the Irish rebel song, based on an 18th-century poem to the beautiful air composted by Seán Ó Riada. Her cover of Mná na hÉireann, which means Women of Ireland in Irish, is just enchanting and poignant in the run-up to St. Brigid's Day, Ireland's matron saint. 

The poem, Mná na hÉireann, imagines Ireland as a generous, beautiful woman suffering the depredations of an English master on her land, her cattle, or her self, and which demands Irishmen to defend her, or ponders why they fail to.

Read more:  Celebrating strong Irish women for St. Brigid’s Day

According to Donal Lunny, who contacted her for this contribution "She was very excited with the idea of singing the Irish in a way that Irish speakers would understand, and of conveying the meaning of the song through the sounds of the words.

"I helped as much as I could. She had Seán Ó Sé’s recording of Mná na hÉireann as reference. She was as faithful to the pronunciations as she could possibly be. It was with characteristic care and attention that she approached it. She did not stint one bit.

"Of course, you’ll get people saying, `Oh, you’d know she doesn’t talk Irish straight off’. You wouldn’t know it straight off. I would defend her efforts as being totally sincere. No matter how perfect she gets it, she’s not an Irish speaker. This may rankle with some people."

Listen to the song here: