View source for Annotation:Stáca an Mhargaidh

{{TuneAnnotation
|f_annotation='''STÁCA AN MHARGAIDH''' (The Market Lounger/The Market-Place Idler). AKA and see "[[Ag taisdiol na bláirne]]," "[[Slainte Righ Pilib (4)]]," "[[Stalk en vauraga]]," "[[Stack in Virgo]]."  Irish, Air (3/4 time, “Moderately slow”). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB.  According to Father Dinneen the Gaelic song “Ag taisteal na Blárnan” (Traveling through Blarney) was composed by the renowned by 18th century Munster poet Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin (1748-1784), called called Eoghan an Bhéil Bhinn (Owen of the Sweet Mouth). He set to an existing air, "Stáca an Mhargaidh," which is related to the air “An Ciarraigheacht Malluighthe”. The story goes that Ó Súilleabháin was traveling incognito, and sought refuge for the night in a farmer's house. In the company there he gave his opinion on some poem, at which he received laughter for his audacity.  To prove on the spot his capacity to act as literary critic, he sat down and composed this piece, no small achievement, as the song runs to seven verses. In addition, the air to which the song is set has an irregular, 11-line structure.  It is one of the few songs that Ó Súilleabháin set his name to. 
<br  />
<br  />
Dublin dentist, scholar, musician, composer and editor [[wikipedia:Henry_Philerin_Hudson]] (1798-1889) entered a version of "Stáca an Mhargaidh" under the title "[[Slainte Righ Pilib (4)]]" into his large 1840's music manuscript collection (book 1, No. 73). He references piper O'Farrell's early 19th century collection ("No. 143"), but the "[[Sláinte Righ Philib (2)]]" tune printed by O'Farrell is musically unrelated, although the titles are the same. It is, however, a version of O'Farrell's "[[Stalk en vauraga]]," which presumably is a phonetic attempt at rendering the Gaelic "Stáca an Mhargaidh" (similarly, the tune also appears as "[[Stack in Virgo]]" in Manson's '''Hamilton's Universal Tune Book, vol. 2''', 1846).  James Goodman included the melody under Ó Súilleabháin's song title "[[Ag taisdiol na bláirne]]" in his mid-19th century manuscript collection.
<br  />
<br  />
The air has been recorded several times by pipers: by The Chieftains in 1980 on "Boil the Breakfast Early" (1979), by Liam O’Flynn in on "The Given Note" (1996), by Darragh Murphy on "The Humours of Piping" and Brian McNamara on "Reed Only".  The title appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997).
|f_source_for_notated_version=s
|f_printed_sources=O'Farrell ('''Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes, vol. II'''), c. 1806; p. 126.
|f_recorded_sources=Drumlin Records BTCD01, Brian McNamara & Tim Collins - "Reed Only" (2007). Gráinne Hambly – “The Thorn Tree” (as “Ag taisteal na Blárnan”).
|f_see_also_listing=Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [https://www.irishtune.info/tune/48/]
}}