This is another video that I heard the song for many years ago and spent a long time looking for the right source to use.
Back in early 2007, I saw a video on Twitter of the pregame ceremonies at a New Zealand-Ireland rugby match from mid-2006, specifically highlighting the New Zealand haka. I didn’t recognize the song used as Ireland’s anthem, so I looked it up on Wikipedia afterwards, finding that it was an alternate anthem used by some of Ireland’s national sports teams that represent the island as a whole, rather than just the Republic of Ireland. At the bottom of the page was a link to an uncredited MP3 that became the definitive version in my head, despite the huge number of covers, especially after Celtic Thunder covered it with slightly different lyrics. I wasn’t able to find the artist of the version I wanted until 2022, which turned out to be one of the first recorded versions released, and included the Irish National Rugby Team as the background singers.
I didn’t have a good idea for what source to use until Wolfwalkers came out and the trio of Cartoon Salon films started being referred to as the “Irish Folklore Trilogy.” I’d only seen Secret of Kells at that point, but picked up the box set when it was released and watched the other two immediately. I found Song of the Sea the hardest to work with of the three, mostly because the setting was so far different from the other two, but I think they all worked well together in the end.
The title is simply “Three Stories” in Irish Gaelic.
Editing-wise, I was really working more by feel than going for anything with a distinct narrative structure. It works pretty well, and got nominated as a finalist in the Best Vibes category.
Video – Cartoon Saloon Irish Folklore Trilogy (The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers)
Audio – Andrew Strong – Ireland’s Call
Completed September 2023