Annotation:Kiss Her and Clap Her

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KISS HER AND CLAP HER. Shetland, Wedding Tune (noted both in 6/8 and duple time versions). A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The title means 'kiss her and pet her'. This was the second tune usually played for the wedding party in a traditional Shetland wedding of the last century; it "was a cue for the groom's party to kiss the bridesmaids ceremonially" (Cooke, 1986). Cooke (1986) prints the following text for this tune:

Here awa, there awa, wandering Willie
Here awa, there awa, wandering Willie
Lang have I sought thee,
Dear have I bought thee
Now I have gotten my Willie again.

Tom Anderson & Tom Georgeson, in their 1970 Da Mirrie Dancers note:

The traditional role of the fiddler at weddings in Shetland has already been mentioned. In addition to dance music, including that for the ritually important Bride's Reels, the fiddler was required to provide music at several other points in the rite. Peter Fraser, in his dialect account of an 'Old Time Shetland Wedding', a description of the last old style wedding in his parish over 50 (70) years ago (Shetland Folk Book, vol. 2, 1957), mentioned five tunes that were required for the ritual in his district. As a fiddler himself, he knew all the tunes and communicated them to the Swedish researcher, Otto Andersson, in the 1930s. As a member of the Shetland Folk Society, Peter Fraser also introduced them to members of the Shetland fiddle band and recorded them for their principal collector, Tom Anderson.

Source for notated version: Peter Fraser (Finnigirth, Walls, Shetland) [Anderson & Georgeson, Cooke].

Printed sources: Anderson & Georgeson (Da Mirrie Dancers), 1970; p. 11. Cooke (The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles), 1986; Ex. 29, p. 83.

Recorded sources: Shetland Folk Book. Front Hall 018, How to Change a Flat Tire - "Traditional Music of Ireland and Shetland" (1978).

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