Slugger O'Toole

Ag iompar na hamhráin…

Léirmheas le Anton McCabe den bailiúchán fhilíochta Moya Cannon ó Dún Fionnchaidh i nDún na nGall ó dhúchas, (agus an Ómaigh, Thír Eoghan níos déanaí) arna fhoilsiú i bhfeidhmiú (agus le fail ó) Carcanet Books. Scríobh sé é don Tyrone Herald sa seachtain seo thuaidh thart. Le Anton McCabe

Tá leabhar nua filíochta (poetry) i ndiaidh teacht amach a chuireann le saibhreas (richness) liteartha an chontae seo. Is é sin ‘Carrying the Songs’ le Moya Cannon, file de bhunadh (background) Thír Eoghan, gurb as an Tearmann dá máthair.

Rugadh Moya Cannon i nDún Fionnchaidh i nDún na nGall. Ba Maureen Cannon, nó Campbell faoina hainm féin, a máthair. Tá aithne ar fad ar an teaghlach fán dTearmann.

Is file mór, chomh maith le file Éireannach ar bith atá beo. Tháinig sí chun cinn (forward) go ciúin. Tá trí leabhar scríofa aici thar scór bliain. Muna bhfuil cuid mhór scríofa aici, tá a bhfuil fiúntach (worthwhile). Tá doimhneacht (depth) ina cuid filíochta.

Tá réimse (range) ábhair (material) ann. Téann sí ón bhfealsúnacht (philosophy) teibí (abstract) go cat a bhí ag an teaghlach. Tá suim aici i dteanga (language), agus tuiscint (understanding) aici air. B’fhéidir gur sin mar gur tógadh (reared) le Gaeilge í, agus scríobhann sí i mBéarla.

Tá dán amháin den scoth sa leabhar a labhraíonn leis an Ómaigh, agus an baile ag caoineadh an cheoltóra mór gormachaí (blues) Arty G. Ba roimh bás s’aige a scríobhadh ‘Carrying the Songs.’ Ceanglaíonn (ties) an dán ceoltóirí goirmeacha Dheiscirt na Stát Aontaithe, gurb ón Afraic a fuadaíodh (were abducted) a sinsir (ancestors), le lucht na bpréataí (tatty-hokers) as Dún na nGall a chuaigh go Alban. Thug an dá dhream a gcuid ceoil leo. Deir Moya:

“It was always those with little else to carry

who carried the songs to Babylon,

to the Mississippi –

some of these last possessed less than nothing

did not own their own bodies

yet, three centuries later,

deep rhythms from Africa

stowed in their hearts, their bones,

carry the world’s songs.”

Na daoine bochta as a contae dúchas féin ‘girls from Downings and the Rosses/ … or boys from Ranafast,’, rinne siad an rud céanna.

Tá daoine ann a chreideann go gcaithfidh (must) dán bheith fada, casta (complicated), deacair a léamh agus a thuiscint. Ní hé in aon chor. Is dán beag gearr é ‘Banny,’ mar a bhfuil idir dúchas (heritage) Thír Eoghan, agus suim i gcúlbhealaigh (by-ways) teangan. Cuireann sé síos ar mháthair Moya agus í sean:

?As a child in Tyrone you’d be told

to banny the cat, to stroke it gently,

I suppose it comes from beannaigh’ she says.

She uses the word for the first time in 80 years, maybe,

As she rhythmically blesses her own old cat

In its own tactile, enduring vernacular.”

Tá cúrsaí measctha teangan sna dánta. I dtuaisceart Dhún na nGall, mar a tharla anseo, tháinig Ghaeilge, Béarla agus Albainís (Lowland Scots) le céile. Rinne pobal (people) na hÉireann i gcoitinne (in general) mar a rinne Moya, ach go raibh sise níos fearr ina bhun. Cuireann ‘Our Words’ síos ar an dóigh gur ghlacamar le teanga na hImpireachta, gur saincheapeamar (customized) é:

“and, as the language of conquest

grows cold in statute books,

elsewhere, it’s words are subsumed

into the grammars of the conquered.

I be, you be, he bees.”

Baineann ‘Murdering the Language leis an dóigh gur mheascamar teangacha:

“When we whispered in our desks

we spoke our book of invasions -

an unruly wash of Victorian pedantry,

Cromwellian English, Scots,

the jetsam and the beached bones of Irish –

a grammarian’s nightmare.

”

Tá an–dúil sa cheoil aici. Is eol sin ón dteideal-dán, agus ó dhánta eile. Críochnaíonn an leabhar le ‘Between the Jigs and the Reels:’

“The rhythm of Cooley’s accordion

which could open the heart of a stone,

John Doherty’s dark reels

and the tune that the sea taught him,

the high parts of the road and the underworlds

which only music and time can brave.’

Ba cheart do sin duine ar spreagadh (encourage) leis an leabhar uilig a léamh.

‘Carrying the Songs’ le Moya Cannon, Carcanet Press £8.95