Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Today’s beautiful thing has a distinct Irish theme.
The musical group known as Absolute Lilt is an Irish lilting duo. The singers, Lisa Canny and Niamh Hinchy, make the most gorgeous, lush harmonies, they’re giving me chills! They’re incredibly coordinated, and when they’re singing the same notes, they’re perfectly matching each other, which is every bit as hard as perfect harmony. And their mastery of the kooky time signatures in these musical snippets is truly impressive.
Irish lilting, A.K.A. gob music, is kind of like a formal version of jazz scatting, but the syllables and tunes aren’t improvised. It’s defined as a traditional singing style where performers use nonsensical, percussive sounds to mimic the sounds of traditional Irish instruments.
You can follow Absolute Lilt on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
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My OBT 
March 17, 2025 at 1:10 pm
Absolute Love! In my youth my friends and I would hang out singing folk songs – English, American, Aussie, Irish. I listened to a lot of Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, and other Irish folk groups. I’m very familiar with lilting though I did not know it was called that, and to this day can sing an Irish drinking song that’s chorus is pure lilting.
These two are pure magic. I listened to all of them with a smile on my face.
Alison
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March 17, 2025 at 2:24 pm
I sang some of that stuff too, along with madrigals, Broadway, and swing. (It was an eclectic musical upbringing for me)
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March 17, 2025 at 2:32 pm
Oh yes, Broadway – old stuff – Porgy and Bess, South Pacific, My Fair Lady, West Side Story. Fun! And a lot of classical.
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March 17, 2025 at 3:47 pm
That’s the era! Oklahoma, The Music Man, Flower Drum Song, and yes, lots of classical.
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March 17, 2025 at 2:46 pm
The prescision of their harmonies and syncopation is really impressive. I was just listening and remembering being taught to do some of this when I was really wee (my primary school music teacher was an ethnomusicologist). We learned this kind of lilting using nonsense words but also songs with actual lyrics and things like Waulking songs which mixed the two. Anyway, I was just thinking about Mairi’s Wedding / The Lewis Bridal Song when I clicked play on the next video and that was the tune they were doing. Funny coincidence.
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March 17, 2025 at 3:49 pm
How cool! I had to look up Waulking songs. I love that they were sung while beating cloth. What a practical use for musical rhythm.
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