Annotation:Braes of Bushbie (2)

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BRAES OF BUSHBIE [2]. AKA – "Braes of Busbie." Scottish, Slow March (4/4 time) or Strathspey. A Dorian (Aird, O'Farrell): G Minor (Cole, Hardie): G Dorian (Cranford). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC (Cole, Hardy): AABBCC (O'Farrell): ABABCCD (Howe): AABBCCD (Cranford). In lowland Scots dialect, a brae is a hillside. Busby is a district in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The melody may have been composed by John Bowie, and first appears in his Collection (1789). A note in Nathaniel Gow's Sixth Collection (1822) says that it was favorite of Niel Gow's, and that it is "Old". Reworked as "Dowd's Favorite (1)," the tune is played as a reel and was famously recorded by Sligo/New York City fiddler Michael Coleman. Piper Willie Clancy had a reel time setting of the tune, called "Braes of Busby," in a major tonality.

Sources for notated versions: Cape Breton strathspey setting is from fiddler Bill Lamey via Jerry Holland (Inverness, Cape Breton) [Cranford]; McFadyen's Repository (1795) [Henderson].

Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 6), 1803; No. 91, p. 35. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 128. Cranford (Jerry Holland's Collection of Fiddle Tunes), 1995; No. 187, p. 53. Gow (Sixth Collection of Strathspeys, Reels and Slow Tunes), 1822; p. 27. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; p. 85. Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935; no. 21, p. 8. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 134. McFadyen (Repository of Scots and Irish Airs, vol. 1), c. 1795. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. 2), c. 1806; p. 140 (appears as "Braes of Busbie"). Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 167 (strathspey setting).

Recorded sources: Alia Vox AVSA 9878, Jordi Savall - "The Celtic Viol. II" (2010). Jerry O'Sullivan – "O'Sullivan meets O'Farrell" (2005).

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