Annotation:Banish Misfortune (1)

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BANISH MISFORTUNE [1] ("Dibir an Mio-ad" or "Ruaig an Mí-ádh). AKA and see "Bag of Meal (The)," "George Whelan's Jig," "Humors of Mullinafauna (1) (The)," "Little Bag of Meal (The)," "Máire Ní Eidhinn," "Nancy Hines," "Nancy Hynes," "Parish Girl (2)," "Round the Carthouse," "Shady Groves (The)," "Shady Groves of Piedmont (The)," Irish, Double Jig. D Mixolydian/Major (most versions): D Major (O'Neill/1850 & 1001). Standard tuning. ABC (Moylan, Mitchell): AABBCC (Breathnach, Brody, Harker/Rafferty, Mallinson, O'Neill/Krassen): AABB'CC (O'Neill/1850 & 1001): ABBCCDEEFF (Mitchell). Mixolydian versions are most familiar to modern ears, stemming from the influential recording by The Chieftains in the late 1960's. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland, 1907) prints the tune under the titles "Banish Misfortune," "Humors of Mullinafauna (1) (The)" and "Nancy Hines," while Roche has it as "Humors of Mullinafauna (1) (The)" and "Little Bag of Meal (The)." P.W. Joyce gives the jig as "Bag of Meal (The)" and was the first to print it (in his Ancient Irish Music, 1873), according to Brendan Breathnach, a setting reproduced in Howe and William Bradbury Ryan's publications. "Máire Ní Eidhinn" (Nancy Hynes) is the title in Stanford/Petrie's 1905 Complete Collection of Irish Music, although O'Neill thought the 3-part version he collected in Chicago from County Tipperary fiddler Edward Cronin to be "much superior." Petrie takes his title from the poem "Máire Ni Éidhin" by Raftery, the blind poet of Connacht, which he wrote in honour of one thought the loveliest girl in Ireland, and which is still sung to this tune. Piper Willie Clancy gives an alternate title as "Shady Groves of Peamount (The)" (Piedmont). Paul de Grae ^[1] believes the three versions of the jig ("Banish Misfourtune," "Humors of Mullinafauna (1) (The)" and "Nancy Hynes") printed by O'Neill are dissimilar enough from either Joyce's or Petrie's settings that they can be discounted as O'Neill's source. De Grae remarks:

O'Neill's settings are sometimes open to criticism that they do not seem like accurate renderings of how a traditional musician would actually play the tunes. "Banish Misfortune" is a rare example of a tune where we can compare the book setting with a recording of it played by the source musician: O'Neill's cylinder recording of Cronin shows that the printed setting is quite accurate in this instance, although it does omit Cronin's variation on the repeat of the first part. It is quite likely, however, that it was Cronin himself, not the usual "scribe" James O'Neill, who supplied the transcription.

The earliest sound recording extent is by O'Neill's source, County Tipperary fiddler Edward Cronin, whose playing O'Neill recorded on a wax cylinder in the very first years of the 20th century.

De Grae finds Petrie's song air entitled "Banish Misfortune" and the related jig Bacah na Cleithe" are unrelated to "Banish Misfortune (1)," but rather are variants of O'Neill's "Connie the Soldier."

Additional notes

Sources for notated versions: - elderly fiddler Edward Cronin, originally from Limerick Junction, County Tipperary [O'Neill]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border), who first heard it from fiddler Denis Murphy-- "Himself and (piper) Willie Clancy often played it together" [Moylan]; piper Willie Clancy (1918-1973, Miltown Malbay, west Clare) [Mitchell]; piper Seán Potts (Ireland) [Breathnach]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].

Printed sources : - Breathnach (CRÉ I), 1963; No. 38, p. 16. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 33. Cotter (Traditional Irish Tin Whistle Tutor), 1989; 45. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 184, p. 57. Mallinson (Essential), 1995; No. 99, p. 43. Mitchell (Dance Music of Willie Clancy), 1993; No. 137, p. 108 & No. 148, pp. 116-117. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 286, p. 165. O'Neill (Krassen), 1903/1976; pg. 22. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 776, p. 145. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 53, p. 25. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 106.

Recorded sources: -Bellbridge Records, Bobby Casey - "Casey in the Cowhouse" (1992. Originally recorded 1959). Claddagh TA4, "Chieftains #2." Claddagh 4CC 39, "The Pipering of Willie Clancy Vol. 2" (1983). Front Hall 009, How To Change a Flat Tire- "A Point of Departure." GR705, Paul Brady, Peter Browne, Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Matt Molloy & Tommy Potts - "The Gathering" (1981). GTD Heritage Trad. HCD 008, Tommy Peoples - "Traditional Irish Music Played on the Fiddle." Island ILPS 9501, "The Chieftains Live" (1977). Kells Music KM9505, Tommy Keane & Jacqueline McCarthy - "The Wind Among The Reeds." Rounder 0113, Trapezoid- "Three Forks of Cheat" (1979). Festy Conlan - "Breeze from Erin" (1969). Shanachie 79022, Chieftains - "Chieftains 2" (1969). Shanachie 78030, Danú - "Think Before You Think" (2000).

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]

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↑ Paul de Grae, "Sources of tunes in O'Neill's Music of Ireland and Dance Music of Ireland", 2017 [3])

[1] Paul de Grae, "Sources of tunes in O'Neill's Music of Ireland and Dance Music of Ireland", 2017 [3])

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