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Mrs.
Costello / Eibhlín Bean Mhic Choisdealbha was, on any scale, a remarkable woman. Born in
London and christened Edith Drury, she
was raised as a member of the Church of England.
She first visited Tuam through her involvement in the Gaelic League.
In 1903 she left London to take up a teaching post in the
Presentation Convent, Tuam. There she met another, equally remarkable woman, Sr. Fursa, a
Presentation sister who had a deep love and encyclopaedic knowledge of
Irish music who also helped her to collect the songs.
She converted to Catholicism and changed her name to Eibhlín.
In 1903 she married a fellow Gaelic Revivalist, local doctor,
Thomas Bodkin Costello. She remained active in the Revival movement and while
accompanying her husband on his rounds began to collect the songs which
were published as an issue of the Irish
Folksong Journal in 1919 and as Amhráin
Mhuighe Seóla in 1923.
An active campaigner on social issues, her life was a long and enormously
productive one and by the time of her death in 1962, she had become
something of a legend.
Mrs.
Costello's Collection: Amhráin Mhuighe Seóla
| The Songs in Amhráin Mhuighe
Seóla were collected by Mrs. Costello from around the hinterland of
Tuam and Mayo, between 1908 and 1913.
There were many contributors to the book, but the most prominent
of these was Ms. Maggie Hession from Bailedóite, Belclare.
This area was known for its singing
and was a fairly strong Irish speaking area at the time.
Every type of folk song of the time is included, from the love song
to the caoineadh to the fun and working songs.
Some are versions of songs that are already well known in other
parts of the country. Many
have their roots in this area, being written and sung down through the
years by local people.
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It is a very special collection to the area and many people around
the county may well have family connections to the book.
The collection is a remarkable testament to a remarkable woman who
as she put it herself …. “discovered a rich field of song, practically
untouched but in imminent danger of being lost through indifference and
neglect.” |
