Ah... I'm feeling more Irish recently because I've been going to Irish language classes. Normally I just sort of ignore the Irish heritage because we're over 150 years removed from Ireland (mother's side) and only 25 years removed from Scotland (father's side).
I've got to say, though... the language is tough. I can't spell it for beans and they keep telling me my pronunciation's off. ("You sound northern! Say 'aw'! Ay-fada: 'aw'!") Not to mention the verbs conjugate! What sort of Gaelic conjugates its verbs? And all those "bh" and "mh" that are pronounced "w". Huh? What happened to "v"? Ah, well... I suppose I'll get it eventually. I've got something to say to TG4, though, because I can actually understand stuff on their shows... and yet I can't understand my teacher. Like, at all. Or the other students. But I suppose Cork is about a far removed from Scotland in terms of the dialect continuum as you can possibly get.
So I joined the Irish music Monday group, which happens right after the class. So that's fun. Naturally I've played in bush dances as ceilidhs before (you can't be a fiddler and a member of the Scottish community in SA and not play in bush dances and ceilidhs) so the style's familiar. It's fun. And it's also interesting to hear the accents. You can guarantee that the people at the bar listening to the music will have Irish accent. The actual musicians are a pretty mixed bunch. You know, the Irish accent fades? Scottish doesn't. You either have it, or you're Australian. Irish has degrees. And I had no idea there were so many bódhrans in Adelaide...
'S breá liom ceól. (Did I spell that right? 'S breagha leam ceòl.)