Lilting

Lilting is a form of traditional singing common in the Gaelic speaking areas of Ireland and Scotland. It goes under many names, and is sometimes referred to as mouth music, diddling, jigging, chin music or cheek music, puirt a beul in Scottish Gaelic, Canterach, or portaireacht bhéil (port a'bhéil, "mouth-singing") in Irish Gaelic. It in some ways resembles scat singing.

Features

Lilting often accompanied dancing. Features such as rhythm and tone dominate in lilting. The lyrics thus are often meaningless or nonsensical. Because of this, translations from Gaelic often do not exist.

History

The origins of lilting are unclear. It might have resulted in part from the unavailability of instruments, whether because they were seen as too expensive or were banned. However peasant music in other Indo-European cultures was subject to similar constraints, and lilting did not develop.

Notable lilters

Bobby Gardiner

Bobby Gardiner (born 1939) is an Irish accordionist and lilter.

Biography

Bobby Gardiner was born in Aughdarra, Lisdoonvarna, the Burren area of County Clare. He began playing at the age of eight, on his mother Delia's old melodeon with the likes of Micho Russell and Micleen Conlon. At the age of 15, he was asked to join the Kilfenora Céilí Band. In 1957 he joined Malachy Sweeney's Céilí Band from Armagh and traveled throughout Ireland as a professional musician.

In 1960, Bobby followed his brother Mike and sister Mary to New Haven, Connecticut. During the day he worked as a mechanic on the New York Railway while playing for dances with the likes of Paddy Killoran, Joe Cooley, Ed Reavey and Joe Derrane as well as doing some session work for Colonial Records. His solo recording career began when Justus O'Byrne De Witt heard him on the Jack Wade Ceili Band record and contacted him to record his first LP, "Memories of Clare" which was one of the first solo LPs by an Irish button accordion player. He also recorded with Paddy Killoran. The LP sold so well that he was asked back to do more recordings.

Ben Whishaw

Benjamin John "Ben" Whishaw (born 14 October 1980) is an English actor. He is known for his stage role as Hamlet; his roles in the television series Nathan Barley, Criminal Justice, The Hour and London Spy; and film roles including Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), I'm Not There (2007), Bright Star (2009), Brideshead Revisited (2008), Cloud Atlas (2012), The Lobster (2015), Suffragette (2015) and The Danish Girl (2015). He played the role of Q in the James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), and was the voice of Paddington Bear in the 2014 film, Paddington.

Early life

Whishaw was born in Clifton, Bedfordshire, and was brought up there and in Langford, the son of Linda (née Hope), who works in cosmetics, and Jose Whishaw, who works in information technology. His father is of French, German and Russian descent, and his mother is of English background. He has a fraternal twin, James. "Whishaw" is not the family's original surname.

He was a member of the Bancroft Players Youth Theatre at Hitchin's Queen Mother Theatre. He attended Henlow Middle School and then Samuel Whitbread Community College in Shefford where he first rose to prominence during collaborations with their offshoot theatre company, Big Spirit. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2003.

Hong Khaou

Hong Khaou (born 22 October 1975) is a Cambodian born, British film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his debut feature film Lilting and the short films Summer and Spring.

Early life

Hong Khaou was born in Cambodia, but his family moved to the United Kingdom in the 1980s as political refugees. He arrived in the UK at the age of eight, having first moved from Cambodia, to Vietnam.

Education

Hong studied BA (Hons) Film Production at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in Farnham, formerly the Surrey Institute of Art & Design, graduating in 1997.

Film

His debut feature film Lilting was produced under the Film London micro-budget scheme Microwave, and was released on 8 August in the United Kingdom by distributors Artificial Eye. His short film Spring played at both the Sundance Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival in 2011, with his previous short Summer also having premiered at Berlin in 2006. He is the recipient of the 2014 Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award for his upcoming feature film Monsoon.