Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Trad Tuesday - MoGhile Mear sung by Mary Black

This song, performed by Mary Black, is an Irish tribute to the "Great Pretender", Bonnie Prince Charlie, the descendant of Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots who had sought to sit on the throne of Britian. To put an end to religious persecution in Scotland, occupied Ireland, Wales, and England his loyal followers of the Jacobite movement fought for him to take possession of the crown. The Jacobite rebellion (1745) was put down and hundreds of thousands died in battle under unsurmountable odds. Under secrecy, the prince fled to the continent and died in exile. "Mo Ghile Mear" was written by Seán Clárach Mac Dhomhnaill (c. 1691-1757). This Spadecaller video dramatizes the Gaelic lyrics with the paintings of D'Arcy Bacon, Caravaggio, Mary Cassatt, Gustave Courbet, Julien Dupre, Winslow Homer, and J.M.W. Turner.

Mary Black is a well-known Irish singer For a number of years, What Hi-Fi? magazine considered Black's voice to be so pure, that it was used as an audiophile benchmark for comparing the sound quality of different high fidelity systems. Music critic and lyricist Michael Leahy once said: "Over the years, Mary Black has come to define what many people see as the essence of Irish woman singers: profound, slightly ethereal and beyond the reaches of trends." Today, Black is held in high esteem in her native Ireland and beyond and is regarded as one of the most important Irish vocalists of her generation.

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