The relations and keeners were arranged in two divisions, one at the head, the other at the foot of the corpse.The body, "ornamented with flowers, was placed on a bier, or some elevated spot.".The bards prepared the keen in advance.Īround 1791, the antiquarian William Beauford (1735–1819) described in detail the practice of keening at a traditional Irish funeral ceremony and transcribed the keening melodies that were sung. "The Aran Fisherman's Drowned Child" (1851) by the Irish painter Frederic William Burton, which appears to show paid keening women in the doorway. The practice of keening was "generally adhered to" throughout Ireland irrespective of social class until around the middle of the 18th century. The Irish tradition of keening over the body during the funeral procession and at the burial site is distinct from the wake, the practice of watching over the corpse, which takes place the night before the burial, and may last for more than one night. The mourners accompanied the keening woman ( bean chaointe), with physical movements involving rocking and kneeling. More recently, keeners would be hired female mourners. In ancient times, a chief's own bard (assisted by the chief's household) would perform the funeral song. Written sources that describe the singing style appear from the sixteenth century on.
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In the 12th century, Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) described vocal laments taking place in which the mourners were divided in two, each alternately singing their part and sometimes joining in full chorus. History and mythology Historical record and performance practice The keen can be formed of three motifs: The salutation (introduction), the dirge (verse), and the gol (cry). Words of lament were interspersed with non-lexical Vocables, that is sounds that are without meaning. The words are thought to have been constituted of stock poetic elements (the listing of the genealogy of the deceased, praise for the deceased, emphasis on the woeful condition of those left behind etc.) set to vocal lament. Keening was rhythmically free, without a metre. Despite the keen varying between performances, keeners worked within the same body of motifs and diction. It seems that there was never an established keening ‘text’ the singer is expected to improvise as feeling dictates.
The tune and lyrics rely on the repetition of a couple of basic motifs which can be variably extended or shortened. Probably at the origin of "couiner" in French. "Keen" as a noun or verb comes from the Irish and Scottish Gaelic term caoineadh ("to cry, to weep"), as well as caoine ("gentleness, pleasantness, beauty"), and references to it from the 7th, 8th, and 12th centuries are extensive. 3.1 Historical record and performance practice.
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