Sinead O’Connor’s life has been marked by controversy over her staunch rejection of the status quo: she shaved her head in protest at the way her beauty had been used as a marketing tool, Saturday Night Live Protesting child abuse in the Catholic Church, from black liberation IrelandA history of repression.
‘Kneecap’ brings Irish language revolution to the big screen
Now, TikTok The trend proves once again that the Irish singer-songwriter, who died last year, was on the right side of history.
“I wanna talk about Ireland, specifically, the famine and how there really wasn’t a famine,” O’Connor raps over a rhythmic beat in his 1994 song “Famine.” On social media platforms, the song has become the backdrop for Irish people sharing their experiences dealing with British colonialism, from being mocked for their Irish name to misinformation about Irish independence.
1 video caption read“I thought it was okay for me to laugh when I told my English brother-in-law that my uncle was a black-and-tan beagle.” say“Me when asked why the Irish language is not widely spoken in Ireland and why we should care about it.”
Dubai-based Irish creator Ciara Ellen decided to join the trend after her name was once again mispronounced: “I was having a conversation with someone and they pronounced my name wrong so I politely corrected them and they were shocked and like, ‘Wow, why do you spell it like that?'” she told Mashable.
So video“This is me when someone tells me my name should be pronounced differently than it’s spelled,” Ellen wrote in the video, which has been viewed more than 2.4 million times and has more than 250,000 likes.
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The TikTok trend is part of a wider cultural interest in Ireland and its history. The Internet is Crazy With actors such as Paul Mescal and Cillian Murphy Irish rap group Kneecap The semi-autobiographical film that was recently released Critically acclaimed.
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Prior to the release of Mother of the Universe, O’Connor said of the album on which “Hunger” appears. The New York Times“I am Ireland. Whatever happened to Ireland happened to me.” The Famine was a defining moment in Irish history, killing over one million people and sending nearly two million abroad. The song conveys O’Connor’s belief that the individual and the nation are connected, and weaves together her experiences of child abuse and Irish oppression. “If there is to be healing, there must be remembering and mourning. Then there can be forgiveness. There must be knowledge and understanding.” Irish creators embody this spirit in submitting videos to the song.
“Hunger” received mixed reviews when it was released. The Irish Republican Army was in its first ceasefire and politically tense times. Teaching the “non-partisan” history of the Irish potato famine The Great Irish Famine (more accurately known as the Great Irish Famine) was a period of transition, and until the second half of the 20th century there was little academic research into the political background of the famine.
a Los Angeles Times An article published a year after the song’s release noted that it “provoked fierce controversy in the Irish press… Many said it irresponsibly revitalized anti-British sentiment that had long since disappeared.” The article also noted that an Irish government minister said peace in the North would “ensure that all Irish people will be freer to seek the truth about the Famine.”
Though the song was released a few years before she was born, Ellen remembers her uncles rehashing the debate over Christmas songs like “Hunger,” and later, in her senior year (the Irish equivalent of sophomore year in high school), the song was used as a teaching tool in her history class.
But like other TikTok trends, the sound has moved beyond Irish creators like Ellen and into Americans, changing its meaning as it makes its way to the U.S., as have Native American creators. translation:” fits the mood of the song. Their video says, “The Choctaw Nation, 16 years after the Trail of Tears, knows what it’s like to be hungry and wanted to help, so they sent money to feed people.” Other videos, posted mostly by Irish-Americans, missed the point.
“Some sounds and trends have a clear message and should be used in a different way. And there were a ton of videos about Irish toes,” Ellen said, referring to TikToks in which Irish-Americans talk about inheriting “Irish toes” or “Irish knees,” something the 24-year-old has never heard of, even among her friends and family in Ireland.
She was inundated with comments and DMs demanding an explanation for O’Connor’s provocative remarks. 7 minute video She talks about Irish history that she thinks all Irish-Americans need to know, and her audience is 90% American.
“I’m happy that, being Irish, I can be someone that people can learn from, rather than someone spreading misinformation,” Ellen said. “On TikTok, it can be hard to find the truth sometimes, and there’s a lot of misinformation out there about the famine because a lot of history was erased. Not everyone had the privilege of learning and hearing the stories from their families because[Irish Americans]had to lie to fit in.”
One thing is clear: O’Connor’s message lives on and remains more relevant than ever.