Annotation:Burke's Jig (1)
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BURKE'S [1] AKA and see "Baby Gavin," "Charlie Mulvihill's Jig (1)," "Connie O'Connell's Jig (2)," "Coughlan's," "Gallagher's (2)," "Lad O'Beirne's Jig," "Matt Molloy's Jig," "Mulvihill's Jig," "Short Road (The)," "Silver Vale (The)." Irish, Jig. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Musicologist and fiddler Philippe Varlet suspects the tune was called by this title in the 1970's Bulmer and Sharpley collection due to its appearance on the Joe Burke/Andy McGann/Felix Dolan c. 1965 record "Funny Reel" (Shanachie CD 34016). A hand-written note in my copy Mulvihill's collection reads: "a Donegal tune from Lad O'Beirne's crowd." New York fiddler Paddy Reynolds, according to New York musician and researcher Don Meade, maintained that Philadelphia fiddler Ed Reavy brought it to New York, and Reynolds believed it was Reavy's composition. However, Don finds that the jig was recorded as "Neil Doherty's" by Donegal fiddler John Gallagher on O'Riada's "Our Musical Heritage" LP's in the 1960's. Neil Doherty was also a fiddler from County Donegal (which ties in with Mulvihill's note in the margins of his book), who is known to have visited New York to play with Lad O'Beirne, Reavy, and others, so it seems likely the jig has a Donegal provenance. According to Bill Black [Irtrad], fiddler Pete Kelly, originally from County Galway, has laid claim to composing the tune which he called "Shannonaires Jig (The)," named for the Shannonaires Ceili Band, a children's group organized in NYC in the 1960's for a tour. Kelly lately plays with the Premier Ceili Band, with button accordion player Martin Mulhaire. However, the Donegal provenance appears to have more traction.
Sources for notated versions: Brendan Mulvihill (Baltimore, Md.) [Mulvihill]; Joe Burke [Bulmer & Sharpley].
Printed sources: Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland), 1974, vol. 2, No. 42. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 79, p. 81.
Recorded sources: Green Linnet SIF 1058, Matt Molloy (with Artie McGlynn and Sean Keane) - "Contentment is Wealth."
See also listings at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]