Annotation:Garthland
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GARTHLAND. AKA - "Garthland's Strathspey." Scottish, Strathspey; English, Reel. England, North-West. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Cole, Knowles, Skye): AAB (Athole, Campbell, Davie, Gow, Hunter): AABB' (Kerr). Composed by James MacDonald, a contemporary of Niel Gow who earned his living playing and composing. The present seat of the MacDowall clan is at Barr Castle, Garthland, Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland, and the caput baroniae is at Garthland Mains on the Rhinns of Galloway. Garthland Castle (1211) was located at Garthland Mains near Stranraer, Wigtownshire, Scotland, and was once the seat of the M'Doualls, Lords of Galloway. The remains of the 45 foot high tower were demolished in 1840.
The melody also appears in the 1840 music manuscript collection of Cumbrian musician John Rook.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 4), 1796; No. 21, p. 8. Joshua Campbell (A Collection of New Reels & Highland Strathspeys), Glasgow, 1789; p. 40. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 125. Davie (Davie's Caledonian Repository), Aberdeen, 1829-30; p. 35. Gow (The Second Collection of Niel Gow's Reels), 1788; p. 1. Hunter (The Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 77. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 2), c. 1880's; No. 110, p. 14. Knowles (Northern Frisk), 1988; No. 76 (appears as "Garthland"). MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 86. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 165. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 174.
Recorded sources:
See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]