Puirt à beul (, literally "tunes from a mouth") is a traditional form of song native to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

(known as ''portaireacht'' in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

) that sets Gaelic lyrics to instrumental tune melodies. Historically, they were used to accompany dancing in the absence of instruments and to transmit instrumental tunes orally.

Term

The

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...

term ''port à beul'' refers to "a tune from a mouth—specifically a ''cheerful'' tune—which in the

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

becomes ''puirt à beul''". In

, they are usually referred to as ''puirt à beul'' but a variety of other spellings and misspellings also exists, for example ''port-a-beul'', ''puirt a bheul'', ''puirt a' bhéil'', etc. These are mostly because a number of grammatical particles in Gaelic are very similar in nature, such as the

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...

''a'', the prepositions "of" and "to" which can both be ''a'' and the preposition ''á'' "from" which can appear without the acute accent. Modern

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

dictionaries give ''port (aireacht) béil'', translated as "mouth music" also referred to as

lilting Lilting is a form of traditional singing common in the Goidelic speaking areas of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Mann. It goes under many names, and is sometimes referred to as ''diddling'' (generally in England and Scotland), ''mouth music' ...

. Older dictionaries, such as Dinneen, only give ''portaiḋeaċt'', ''portaireaċt'', or ''portonaċt''. Puirt à beul are related to Irish

, Scottish diddling, New Brunswick chin music, and other "Celtic" forms of mouth music. However, whereas these latter forms of mouth music consist of improvised

vocables In the broadest sense of the word, a vocable is any meaningful sound uttered by people, such as a word or term, that is fixed by their language and culture. Use of the words in the broad sense is archaic and the term is instead used for utterances ...

, puirt à beul lyrics are fixed and almost always consist of "real" (i.e., lexical) words, although sometimes vocables are also present.

Origin

''Puirt à beul'' has sometimes been used for dancing when no instruments were available. Although some people believe that ''puirt à beul'' derives from a time when musical instruments, particularly bagpipes, were unavailable because they were banned, there is no evidence that musical instruments were banned by the Disarming Acts or the

Act of Proscription 1746 The Act of Proscription (19 Geo. 2, c. 39), also called the Act of Proscription 1746, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which came into effect in Scotland on 1 August 1746. It was part of a series of efforts to assimilate the Scott ...

. In his book ''Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping 1745-1945'', John Gibson reprints the entire Disarming Act of 1746, which is usually blamed for the proscription of bagpipes, and shows that bagpipes were not banned.

Characteristics

Usually, the genre involves a single performer singing lighthearted, sometimes bawdy lyrics, occasionally supplemented with meaningless

. In puirt à beul, the rhythm and sound of the song often have more importance than the rhythm of the lyrics. Normally, puirt are sung in a (reel or strathspey) or (

jig The jig ( ga, port, gd, port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It is most associated with Irish music and dance. It first gained popularity in 16th-century Ireland and parts of ...

) metre. Although puirt à beul are traditionally performed by a solo singer, there are many choral arrangements or puirt à beul today, and group performances are sometimes presented at mods. Some elements of puirt à beul may have originated as memory aids or as alternatives to instrumental forms such as bagpipe music. A well-known example of puirt à beul is "

Brochan Lom "Brochan Lom" is a Scottish Gaelic nonsense song about porridge. The tune is popular and appears frequently at Scottish country dances and ceilidhs. It falls into the category of " mouth music" (Puirt a beul), used to create music for dancing ...

", which is sung in the film ''Whisky Galore!'', and occurs as background music in the film ''The Bridal Path''. A third example, sung by Kitty MacLeod and her sister, occurs in

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

’s ''

Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue ''Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue'' is a 1953 adventure film produced by RKO-Walt Disney British Productions which is about Rob Roy MacGregor. It was the last Disney film released through RKO Radio Pictures. Plot The film begins in the early 18th ...

'', during the wedding celebration.

Quadriga Consort Quadriga Consort aka Quadriga Early Music Band is an early music ensemble from Austria. Founded in 2001 by harpsichordist Nikolaus Newerkla, the ensemble plays rearranged early British and Irish traditional music performed on period instruments. ...

has been the first ensemble to bring puirt à beul into

early music revival :''See Historically informed performance for a more detailed explanation of this topic.'' The general discussion of how to perform music from ancient or earlier times did not become an important subject of interest until the 19th century, when E ...

Mouth music in the Americas

Mouth music was probably once common in areas of North America where Gaelic-speaking Scottish Highlanders predominated, in particular the Cape Fear area of North Carolina and Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Nowadays it is largely restricted to the latter, as it was a more homogeneous society with less access to other cultural areas.

References

External links