Annotation:Liberton Pipe Band

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X:1 T:Liberton Pipe Band D:Tom Hughes, Border Fiddler Z:Nigel Gatherer L:1/8 M:2/4 K:D AB/A/ FA | dA f2 | fe/f/ ge | d/c/d/e/ fa | AB/A/ FA | dA f2 | fe/f/ g/e/c/d/ | ed d2 :| ef/e/ ce | ac e2 | ef/e/ dB | fe c2 | ef/e/ ce | ac e2 | ef/e/ dB | BA A2 :|

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LIBERTON PIPE BAND. Scottish, English; Reel or (Highland) Polka. The tune is similar to (but distinct from) "(I Have a) Bonnet Trimmed in Blue (1)" and, in the Sussex Manuacripts, as "Polish Polka" from Michael Turner's manuscript books written down between 1842 and 1852. In fact, it is a member of a very large and varied British Isles tune family, with variants in North America as well. Members of the family (compiled on Bob Dunsire Pipe Forum [1]) include "The Liberton Boys" ( also an arrangement by Peter McLeod Jnr. 5 parts. John Wallace acknowledged as composer), "The Liberton Polka," "Liberton Boys Pipe Band" (formed 1883 at Dr Guthrie's Ragged School, Liberton, Edinburgh), "Liberton Pipe Band," "The Liberty Boys," "The Pipers Polka," "Polish Polka (The)" (Michael Turner's MS,Sussex c1841-51), "Old Country Polka" (appears in an early fiddle MS), "Sligo Polka" (1st part), "Tuar Mor Polka No.2," "Toormore Polka (2)," "Toormore," "Miss Mense's Polka," "Mrs. Carter Menzies Polka," "Captain Menzies," "Kilberry Ball Polka (The)" ( parts 3 and 4, composed PM Robert Meldrum), "Sliabh Mhachaire," "Johnny Leary's," "Ballyscadden," "Back of the Haggard (2)," "Ta Boinead Agam," "Green Hills of Dublin (The)" (feel version), "Let's Have a Ceilidh" (Alexander Brothers song)(name of a dance) (played in Cape Breton), "Maids of Ardagh (The)," "I Have a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue," "Caubeen Trimmed with Blue" (or Caubeen), "Swing o' the Kilt" (composed by D.K. Finlay), "London Irish Rifles (The)," "Miss Campbell's Polka" (parts 1 and 2)," "Come to Fiona's Wedding" (comp Finlay Hayes), "McKay's Polka" (parts 1 and 2), "Toberua Marriage Walk" (Played by Fiji Piper (member of these Forums) and Stuart Cheyne at the wedding of Billy Connelly, on Toberua, Fiji)." A version of the tune appears as an untitled 'Country Dance Polka' in the c. 1890 music manuscript of musician and brickmaker George H. Watson (1859-1944), Swanton Abbott, Norfolk.

Regarding the Sliabh Luachra polka derivative, the second of the "Toormore Polkas", Paul de Grae speculates that it may have been adapted from the marchby Dáithín Davy Lenihan of Mountcollins. "Dáithín Davy (1889-1973) was an influential figure," writes Paul, "a contemporary of Pádraig O'Keeffe, who often stayed in his house; he played fiddle and accordion, and was also a founder member of the Mountcollins Pipe Band: pipe bands are an obvious source of Scottish march tunes, ripe for 'Sliabh Luachrising'." Paul also forwards that Tony Buffery has suggested that "the original tune, or part of it, might well have travelled to Scotland from continental Europe as a polka and been adapted as a quickstep pipe march, only to reach Sliabh Luachra and get itself converted back."

The tune was popularized by the late Scottish band leader and accordion player Jimmy Shand, although he sometimes called it "Fiona's Wedding" and often played a third part.

"Liberton Pipe Band" is the tune played in modern times for the Scottish solo dance The Village Maid in dance competitions.

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