Annotation:Kerrigan's Jig

Back to Kerrigan's Jig

---

KERRIGAN'S JIG. AKA and see "Castle Jig (1) (The)," "Kesh Jig (1) (The)," "Kincora Jig," "Mountaineers' March (The)," "Tear the Callies." Irish, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The title of this tune, now known almost universally as the "Kesh Jig," references piper and New York City publican Tom Kerrigan (originally from County Longford), who had been host to the Taylor brothers, famous uilleann pipe makers from Ireland, when they first emigrated (they later moved to Philadelphia). The Taylors built a set of pipes for Kerrigan in his basement, a set which later became the property of piper Tom Busby. A picture of Kerrigan with a pipe set, presumably the Tayors', is on page 262 of Francis O'Neill's Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1913), with a sketch of the piper on the preceding page.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 39.

Recorded sources: Brunswick 68002 (78 RPM), Michael Coleman & Paddy Finlay (1927. 2nd tune, following "Old Man Dillon". Coleman's playing partner for this recording, Paddy Finlay, was a piccolo player).

See also listing at:
Hear Michael Coleman's 1927 recording at the Internet Archive [1]

---