Annotation:Connemara Stockings

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CONNEMARA STOCKINGS. AKA and see "Boston Rattlers'," "Hobb's Favorite," "Galway Reel (1) (The)," "Winter Apples (2)." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The name Connemara derives from the name of the ancient tribe who lived in that area of Ireland, the people of Con mac na Mara. Connemara's coastline was for ages the scene of much smuggling, with deep and winding inlets leading directly to the feet of highland tracks, and perfect for concealment. The famous smuggler Captain George O'Malley, himself the son of a smuggler, was born in 1786 near Ballynakill in the remote north-western corner of Connemara. So lucrative was the smuggling trade that when roads were finally built into the region from Galway, opening it up to commerce but also to the forces of the law, they were blamed for the economic decline of the area (Ciaran Carson, Last Night's Fun). See also P.W. Joyce's "Typrid Lasses," a close variant. The first strain of "Colonel McBain's" is cognate with the second strain of "Connemara Stockings." The reel is not musically related to the similarly-titled "Old Connemara Stockings."

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland), 1974, vol. 2, No. 4. Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 1, 1912; p. 60, No. 151. Taylor (The Crossroads Dance), 1992; No. 31, p. 23.

Recorded sources: Green Linnet SIF1035, Brian Conway & Tony De Marco - "The Apple in Winter" (1981. Learned from a Hames Morrison recording). Rounder CD7018, Frank Ferrel - "Boston Fiddle: The Dudley Street Tradition." Castle Ceili Band - "A Way for Ireland."