Annotation:Kenmure's Up and Awa'

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KENMURE'S/KENMUIR'S ON/UP AND AWA' (WILLIE). AKA and see "Boys of the West," "Clogher Cross," "Graham's Brook," "Hexham Races," "I Will if I Can (1)," "Jude's Farewell," "Kenmore Lads." Scottish (orig.), Canadian, Irish, American; Jig. Canada, Prince Edward Island. USA, New England. G Major (Cole, Hamilton, Kerr): A Major (Miller & Perron, Sweet): E Flat Major (Gow). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Hamilton): AABB (most versions). The melody appears under a variety of titles throughout England, Scotland and Ireland. John Glen (pg. 174) cannot find this once-popular tune published earlier than 1792, although it is supposed to have been taken from the Jacobite song "The Fairhaired Lad." The Scots national poet Robert Burns wrote the lyrics to the air from which the song takes its name here ("Kenmure's up and awa', Willie") while on a visit to Kenmure Castle, New Galloway (Dumfries and Galloway). His song was published in John Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (vol. 4, no. 359). The 1st Battalion of the Cameronians (the Scottish Rifles), even after the British army reorganization of 1881, continued to play this tune for their parades-in-review. Some see resemblances to the Irish air and jig usually known under the title "Kinnegad Slashers (The)," but O'Neill's "I Will if I Can (1)" is a close version of the "Kenmure" tune. Northumbrian musicians generally know it as "Hexham Races." The tune appears in the music manuscript copybook of fiddler John Burks, dated 1821. Nothing is known of Burks, but he may have been from the north of England.

Source for notated version: Peter Chaisson, Sr. (b. 1929, Bear River, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman].

Printed sources: Anonymous (A Companion to the Reticule), 1833; p. 9. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 73. Edinburgh Repository of Music, vol. 2, 1825; p. 2. Gow (Vocal Melodies of Scotland), 1822, 2nd ed.; p. 25. Gow (Complete Repository, vol. 4), 1817; p. 4. JEFDSS, vol. 1; p 103 (collected in Vermont). Johnson (Scots Musical Museum, vol. 4), 1792; No. 359. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880's; No. 22, p. 32. Manson (Hamilton's Universal Tune Book, vol. 2), 1846; p. 76. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 39. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 128. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 105. Smith (Scottish Minstrel, vol. 3), c. 1821; p. 81. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 23. White's Excelsior Collection, 1907; p. 9.

Recorded sources: Topic Records 12TS266 (and Greentrax CDTRAX 9051), "The Caledonian Companion" (1975 and 1998).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]

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