Midland Folk Festival 2013 Irish Tunes Workshops

Traditional Irish Slides Workshop
Sheet Music: PDF ABC

The Lonesome Road To Dingle: I got this rousing version of “The Brosna Slide” from Niamh Ní Charra’s terrific album Cuz: A Tribute to Terry “Cuz” Teahan. She actually starts the track with a recording of Cuz Teahan singing the tune (to the second part) but I’m not able to make out what he is saying. If you follow the album’s link back there and click on the sample for the first track you’ll hear the tune through once. You can also hear Cuz himself play it at Old Time Irish Music in America, though ironically his version is slightly different.

The Hair Fell Off My Coconut: Another slide from Niamh Ní Charra’s Cuz, this seems to be a slide version of the Scottish jig “The Hundred Pipers”. This tune has lyrics I can make out (to the first part):

The hair fell off of my coconut
The hair fell off of my coconut
The hair fell off of my coconut
And how’d you like it baldy?

Rathawuan & Hare in the Corn: These next two slides came to my attention at a session last October, when I realized I could play them without knowing what they were. There are great recordings by Mick O’Brien and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford, and here’s a great video of the legendary Paddy Cronin playing the set.

Traditional Irish Tunes Workshop
Sheet Music: PDF ABC

The Galway Belles: Jen got this tune from Niamh Ní Charra last summer, and I learned it from Jen about ninety minutes later. I further tweaked my version based on what Niamh recorded on Cuz: A Tribute to Terry “Cuz” Teahan. Here’s more info at The Session.

The Idle Road: I got this from Peter Horan & Gerry Harrington’s great The Merry Love to Play. It’s an old jig, appearing in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland.

The Killavil Bucks: This too is from The Merry Love to Play. As far as I am aware the only other time it has been recorded was a much older archival recording in Sligo also featuring Peter Horan — pre-1968 for sure, as Dick Brennan, the other player on the recording, died then. To my ear it sounds like an older version of the well-known reel Bucks of Oranmore. Killavil is a tiny community in south Sligo, birthplace of both Michael Coleman and Fred Finn.

Lucy Farr’s Barndance: I think I probably first heard this tune from Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin and Patrick Ourceau’s Tracin’, but I’d completely forgotten about it until Emily Peterson brought it up on New Year’s Day this year. It seemed super familiar, so I dug up the version on Tracin’ and learned it. Lucy Farr was from Galway, learning to fiddle with her family at a young age. I don’t know the exact history of this tune, but the many names for it on The Session suggest that it got around quite a bit! Here’s Emily’s solo version or a more recent version with her band Corvus, both of which are a bit different than I’ve given it in the notation.