Shut up... it’s Stormzy as Gaeilge!

SPENDING Irish class learning to rap and going viral online in the process sounds like the school memories everyone wishes they had, but probably never will.

Except for the transition year students in St Brendan’s College Killarney, who have done just that. Collaborating with the music department in the school, the group of students have managed to rack up nearly 350,000 views on their self-produced music video of them performing English rapper Stormzy’s 2015 hit ‘Shut Up’, or ‘Dún Suas’ as Gaeilge.

The video was posted on the school’s Facebook page on October 26, but the reaction has only escalated from there.

Not only did the students learn and perform the rap, but they also produced the video themselves and with the help of Irish teacher Jamie Mac Giollabhríde and music teacher Niamh O’Connell, they have themselves a winner of a result, whether they place in Ghaelfíseáin do Bhliain na Gaeilge 2018 or not.

“The reaction is fairly overwhelming! It’s great to see so many people enjoying the video – especially as it’s promoting Irish to young people in a way that interests them,” Mr Mac Giollabhríde said.

The students spent the last two months preparing the video – they chose the song and Mr Mac Giollabhríde helped with translation.

“It was hard at the start to get them out of their comfort zone to rap in front of the camera – but since they chose the song themselves and it was learning Irish with a difference – they did really get into it. It’s taken the last two months to perfect, adding twists and all that.”

And they budgeted their time tight – uploading and entering the video into the competition on the deadline date.

“Good things take all the time there is, I suppose! The students are just delighted with themselves and despite the competition outcome, they have definitely done very well!”

Music teacher Niamh O’Connell said the students are still in a state of shock from their online success.

“They never in a million years expected such a reaction! All the young people are listening to grime music now so to collaborate something they enjoy along with the Irish language and music, that was great,” Ms O’Connell said. “Whether they were in front of the camera or involved in the production, all the students were involved in some way.

“They recorded the audio in the school chapel and shot it on the pitch. They never in a million years expected such a reaction from it. They fully deserve all the credit they have gotten for it.”

And we can hope that this is just the beginning of an Irish language rap revolution.

Students from St Brendan’s college in Killarney pictured during their music video which has been viewed thousands of times.