Irish Dialect Sound Recordings 1928-31

An interesting new project has gone online providing access to records of native Irish Gaelic speakers from the early part of the 20th century. Called The Doegen Records Web Project: Irish Dialect Sound Recordings 1928-31, the site is accessible at www.doegen.ie.

From the site:

This archive of Irish dialect sound recordings made during 1928-31 contains folktales, songs and other material recited by native Irish speakers from 17 counties. Crucially, it includes examples of dialects that are now extinct. The collection also includes a speech in English by W. T. Cosgrave, who was head of the Irish government that funded the recording scheme.

This multi-media archive is a project of the Royal Irish Academy Library in collaboration with the Digital Humanities Observatory.

You can browse by county, speaker or title via an interactive map. There are many dialects of Irish, with those in the north closer in structure to Scottish Gaelic, so you will notice widespread differences in intonation etc across the island. I've had a lot of fun listening to this so far, but for those with no Gaelic at all, there are handy translations also available.

(With thanks to @IrishRootsMag)

Chris

My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, starts Nov 13th - see http://pharostutors.com.