Annotation:Bantry Bay Hornpipe (1)
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BANTRY BAY HORNPIPE (Cuain Beantraige). AKA and see "James McKenney's Hornpipe," "Union Hornpipe (2)." Irish, Hornpipe. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB (Miller & Perron, Moylan): AABB (Allan's, Miller & Perron/2006, O'Neill {4 versions}, Tubridy). Collector and compiler Captain Francis O'Neill was quite taken by the tune, calling it "one of the most delightful traditional hornpipes in existence." The name Bantry is derived from the Gaelic ben, meaning 'horn' and refers to mountains; thus, Bantry is 'the peaks by the sea shore.' Bantry Bay is off the west coast of Ireland, at County Galway. The tune closely shares melodic material with "tSeanbhean Bhocht (An)" and "Tomeen O'Dea's Reel," with which it is paired in the Tubridy book. Perhaps the earliest appearances of the melody are in the music manuscript collections of Lake District (Cumbria) musician William Irwin (c. 1838) as "James McKenney's Hornpipe", and County Cork Church of Ireland cleric James Goodman's mid-19th century manuscripts, under the title "Union Hornpipe."
Source for notated version: fiddler Máirtín Byrnes (b. 1927, Ahascragh, Co. Galway) [Miller & Perron]; learned off an old 78 RPM recording of Michael Hanafin by accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border) [Moylan]; O'Neill learned the tune from an accomplished West Clare flute player (and Chicago police patrolman) named Patrick "Big Pat" O'Mahony, a man of prodigious physique of whom he said: "the 'swing' of his execution was perfect, but instead of 'beating time' with his foot on the floor like most musicians he was never so much at ease as when seated in a chair tilted back against a wall, while both feet swung rhythmically like a double pendulum" [O'Neill, Irish Folk Music].
Printed sources: McDermott (Allan's Irish Fiddler), c. 1920's; No. 108, p. 27. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 1977; vol. 1, No. 66. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 2nd Edition, 2006; p. 112. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra), 1994; No. 290, p. 168. O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 309, p. 153 {an altered version to that which appears in O'Neill/Krassen}. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 168. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1573, p. 292. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 823, p. 142. Phillips (Fiddle Case Tunebook: British Isles), 1989; p. 10. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; p. 25.
Recorded sources:
Columbia 33523F (78 RPM), Michael Coleman & P.J. Dolan (1927).
Cottey Light Industries CLI-903, Dexter et al – "Over the Water" (1993).
Flying Fish FF70572, Frank Ferrel – "Yankee Dreams: Wicked Good Fiddling from New England" (1991).
Leader LEACD 2004, "Martin Byrnes" (1969).
Revonah Records RS-932, the West Orrtanna String Band (Pa.) – "An Orrtanna Home Companion" (1978. Learned from Martin Byrnes and Kevin Burke).
Topic TSCD606, Michael Coleman & P.J. Dolan et al – "Round the House and Mind the Dresser: Irish Country-House Dance Music."
See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]