“I prefer broken Irish to fluent English” — Ailsha comments on language education in Ireland in “Go Tobann”

Ailsha is one of the six acts to compete in Eurosong 2024 — Ireland’s selection show for Eurovision 2024 in Malmö. Her song “Go Tobann” is a social commentary on Irish language education in her native country.Scroll to read the “Go Tobann” lyrics down below!

Ailsha at Eurosong 2024

With two musicians as parents, music is in Ailsha’s DNA. Despite that the Wicklow singer whose name is pronounced “El-sha” started out her career as a make-up artist and cruelty-free beauty blogger as a way to have a steady income.

She then graduated from a course in video games music composition at Griffith College in Dublin. Among her video game music credits is the soundtrack to the Big Brother video game.  

But most of all, Ailsha is now active as a solo singer, performing a mix of rock, metal and traditional Celtic sounds. Keeping her career going for several years already, she has recently been able to make her music heard on BBC Radio 1 and on stage during one of Ireland’s biggest festivals — Electric Picnic.

What do the “Go Tobann” lyrics mean? 

“Go Tobann” can best be described as a commentary on the Irish education system. Most people on the island only speak English and Ireland is regarded as one of the most monolingual countries in the European Union. 

Although Irish was the most spoken language in Ireland until the eighteenth century, only around 80,000 people were using Irish in their daily lives by 2022. Most of these Irish speakers live far away from the city in protected Irish-speaking communities called Gaeltacht — most of them on the West Coast of Ireland. 

Despite this, Ireland is a billingual state. All public services are provided in both Irish and English, stretching from billingual street signs to train announcements. Irish is taught in schools, starting from kindergarten up to the end of secondary school. In Dublin, a good number of schools teach through the medium of Irish. 

However, as soon young people graduate school, Irish becomes obsolete. Both working and student life are in English. On top of that, much can be said about Irish education language in general. Although many students spent over a decade in Irish language classes, most will not be able to hold a conversation. The final exam sees eighteen-year-olds still working with picture books to describe scenes in simple language. In that, they are often using the words “go tobann” to describe a change in the storyline.

“Go Tobann” describes this situation, which is especially relevant to young people who in many cases would love to speak good Irish. In the first verse, she sings: “Mirror, mirror on the wall / Tell me the truth, have I lost it all? / There’s a couple of things that I wanted to say/ But I’ve lost my vocabulary”. 

She continues in her chorus with phrases that all Irish students would remember from their Irish classes. Starting from counting from one to ten to the famous sentence: “An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas”, which means “Can I go to the toilet, please?”. 

Ailsha told the Irish public broadcaster RTÉ about the song: 

“As a child my family did some occasional work in Dingle, where I learned conversational Irish by visiting a neighbour for tea every day after school while we were there. I learned to love the language and was awarded a Fáinne in secondary school.”

“However, as I grew older I gradually felt my Irish fade away only to remember a few phrases. In Ireland I feel we don’t use our native language enough and it’s a shame because it’s awesome.”

Ailsha – “Go Tobann” (lyrics + translation)

Written by: Ailsha and Peadar Connolly Davey

Translation and additional reporting by Deven O’Kearney

What do you think about Ailsha’s song? Do you think she will win Eurosong 2024? Are you streaming “Go Tobann”? Let us know in the comments down below!