Caitríona Ní Cheannabháin, singing 2 songs collected by Séamus Ennis in Conamara from Seáinín Choilmín Mac Donncha and Vail Bheairtle Ó Donncha

Seáinín Choilmín Mac Donncha

Fínis, Carna (1869–1954). His father was married to Bairbre Ní Iarnáin. Seáinín said his forefathers had been in Iorras Aithneach for 400 years and had come from Gleann in western Connacht. He loved songs, stories, dancing and good company. He used to go to Roisín na Mainiach, Maínis and Glinsce for music. Pipers and fiddle players very often visited these places. The custom seems to have come to an end around 1890. He acquired the songs from his father and from a man called ‘Tone an Aircín’, about whom a song was composed. Seáinín was 25 years of age when he married. He was a sailor and had a púcán (small craft) for fishing with dredges, pots and nets. When he met Séamus Ennis, he had started using a curach. He said to Ennis he had given up using the púcán. (See NFC 1280:297-299). He married Máire Ní Chonaola and they had nine children. Máire died in 1945. 

In his diary, Ennis mentioned frequent visits to the island of Fínis and to Seáinín Choilmín and his family. Seáinín Choilmín also visited Séamus Ennis at the collector’s lodging house on the mainland. As he wrote in his diary on 29 July 1944: ‘Seáinín [Choilmín Mac Donncha] came this morning from Fínis on his way to the bog. I wrote down an account of ‘Eileanóir, na Ruan’ [‘Eleanor, my Darling’] from him and a short account of his life. I introduced him to the Ediphone and to the pipes and he greatly enjoyed the morning’. 

Vail Bheairtle Ó Donncha

Cora na gCapall, Cill Chiaráin (1898–1981). A brother of Maidhcil, Bheairtle  and Winnie.  His mother was Bríd Thomáis Phádraig (née Ní Cheannabháin). He got the songs from his mother, father and older neighbours. He worked for a while on the bog in Kildare as part of a scheme run by the Turf Development Board. He won a gold medal in the Oireachtas singing competition in 1951. He composed ‘Seoighigh Inis Bearachain’. A daughter of his sister, Bríd, took care of Vail when his health failed. Vail is buried in Cill Chiaráin graveyard. 

Ennis frequently visited Cora na gCapall between 1942 and 1946 and was very fond of Vail and Maidhcil. Following his final visit to them on 17 July 1946, he wrote: ‘Afterwards I went down to Cora na gCapall to Beairtlí Dhonncha’s house and spent the evening there. Vail and Maidhcil both have a great sense of fun, and you would not feel the night passing in their company. I wrote two songs from them in the course of my visit.’