You’ve never heard ‘Oíche Chiúin’ like this before...
From the Conamara Gaeltacht, to the Gaeltacht Quarter in Belfast, to Dublin City Centre artists celebrating the end of Bliain na Gaeilge 2018 sing a magical version of ‘Silent Night’
Sibéal, Aoife Scott, Máirtín Tom Sheáinín, JJ Ó Dochartaigh agus cór Bhunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh are all involved.
Dr. Niall Comer, President of Conradh na Gaeilge said:
“This version of ‘Oíche Chiúin’ brings artists from Conamara Gaeltacht, to the Gaeltacht Quarter in Belfast, to Dublin City Centre together to give us a fantastic rendition the song. The video reflects the many people who use Irish on a daily basis north and south on the island of Ireland. The Irish language is for all and we hope that Bliain na Gaeilge gave people the opportunity to use or to learn the language more. It also gave us an important opportunity to discuss some of the challenges facing the language, especially the development of the Gaeltacht in to the future.”
Síomha Ní Ruairc, Co-ordinator of Bliain na Gaeilge, said:
“We have a wonderful year with a huge participation not only in Ireland but throughout the world also. Some of the highlights of the year included:
• Over 200 community events were organised and supported by Bliain na Gaeilge around the world
• 7,000 people were reported to have taken part in the BEO – Bródúil agus Gaelach, a march and street festival in Dublin City Centre, on the 14th of April to celebrate the language
• Over 350,000 copies of CEOL 2018 le hEoghan McDermott were sent to school students throughout the country. Some of the artists that took part in the album included Picture This, Kodaline, Wheatus, Sibéal, Macklemore, Saoirse Ronan and many more
• A huge social media presence with the official hashtag #Gaeilge2018 having over 90 million impressions and a reach of 10 million on twitter alone
• The project was honoured to have the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins as Patron of the year and also have Eoghan McDermott, RTÉ and TG4, Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh, RTÉ, and Lynette Fay, BBC, as ambassadors of the year
Bliain na Gaeilge will finish up with the launch of a new campaign called ‘An Chaint to encourage people to have a chat with friends, colleagues and family about using Irish more in 2019. Keep an eye out for the social media videos over the new year.
Bliain na Gaeilge was funded by Foras na Gaeilge and the Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
