Annotation:Munster Cloak (The)
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MUNSTER CLOAK, THE (An Fhalaingín Mhuimhneach). AKA and see "Mantle on Mantle," "Spanish Cloak (The)." Irish, Air (3/4 time). D Major (most versions): G Major (Cranford/Holland). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Sometimes called "Spanish Cloak (The)." P.W. Joyce (1909) prints the tune as "Mantle on Mantle," referring to the garment that is a form of a cloak. There is a (rather unlikely) story (attributed to either Sean O'Riada or Paddy Moloney) that the tune was introduced into Ireland by a shipwrecked survivor of the Spanish Armada in the 16th century. Stuart Eydmann notes that a Spanish composer, Enrique Granados (1867–1916) composed a set of ten Danzas españolas for piano (later orchestrated for guitar and orchestra), of which No. 6 is similar to "The Munster/Spanish Cloak." The dance is characterized as a "rondalla Aragonesa which describes the scene of guitars being strummed in the streets and is in the rhythm of the jota, a dance from Aragon and Valencia." The composer met his end in World War I when his ship was torpedoed in the English Channel, on his return voyage from an American tour. The melody has been characterized (and played) as an air, waltz and mazurka, and even as a march—although it fits none of these categories unequivocally. The melody appears as the second half of a tune called "Bonny Black Irish Maid (The)" in Cooke's Selection of Twenty-one Original Irish Airs arranged for Pianoforte, Violin or Flute (Dublin, 1793). Similarities also to "Bannocks of Barley Meal" and Burk Thumoth's (Twelve English and Twelve Irish Airs, 1750) "Tho' for Seven Long Years." New York writer and Irish trad. musician Don Meade notes the melodic similarity (albeit different rhythm) with the "Kiss the Maid Behind the Barrel"/"Trim the Velvet" family of tunes. It was popularized in modern times by the Chieftains' eponymous 1964 recording.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources:
Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland, vol. 1), 1974; No. 80.
Cranford (Jerry Holland: The Second Collection), 2000; No. 312.
Cranitch (The Irish Fiddle Book), 1996; p. 38.
Johnson (Kitchen Musician No. 5: Mostly Irish Airs), 1985 (revised 2000); p. 11 (includes harmony part).
Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 25, p. 28.
Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; p. 3.
Recorded sources:
Claddagh CC02, The Chieftains – "Chieftains" (1964).
Flying Fish 217, Barde – "Images" (1978).
Nonesuch H-72052, The Fureys – "Irish Pipe Music."
See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]