Annotation:Carraroe Jig (The)

Back to Carraroe Jig (The)

X:1 T:Carraroe M:6/8 L:1/8 R:jig K:D DED F2 A | dfe d2 B | AFA def | afd e2 f | DED F2 A | dfe d2 c | d2 B AFA | dAF E2 D :| |:dfa afa | bge edB | dfa afa | bge e2 f | dfa afa | bge edB | d2 B AFA | dAF E2 D :||

CARRAROE (JIG), THE. AKA and see "Portrowe (2)." Irish, Jig (6/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. See also related tunes "Blue Bonnets Jig," "Scotsman over the Border," "Mist on the Meadow (3)," "Mist in the Glen." Reg Hall (1995) provides (in liner notes to the reissue Irish Dance Music): "In 1926, Father Tom Larkin created the Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players for local public ceilidh dances, bringing together fiddle and flute players, all men, small-farmers and ear players, from the tradition of country-house dancing." Members included Jerry Moloney and Tommy Whyte on fiddles, and Stephen Moloney and Tommy Whelan on flute. The piano player with the Ballinakill Ceili Band (who recorded in the 1930's) was named Anna Rafferty. Her home, where the band often gathered, was Carraroe House, in Ballinakill, east Co. Galway. However, that is not the origin of this particular tune's name. It is one of the first two tunes (along with "What will we do if the kettle boils over") learned by concertina player Gerdie Comman (b. 1917) of Ballyknock, Kilnamona, County Clare. He was 8 or 9 years old at the time and learned from a Mrs. Barry who lived in Rushane. Hall (1995) calls the tune a relative of the pipe march "Blue Bonnets Over the Border (1)" but it is much closer to "Blue Bonnets Jig." Bronx fiddler Martin Mulvihill (1919-1987) mistakenly entered the tune as "Portrowe (2)" in his 1st Collection (1986).

Additional notes

Sources for notated versions: - set dance music recorded live at Na Píobairí Uilleann, in the 1980's [Taylor]; Donegal fiddler Tommy Peoples [Bulmer & Sharpley]; Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players (County Galway) [Miller & Perron]; ]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].

Printed sources : - Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland, vol. 3), 1976; No. 50. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; p. 149, No. 261. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 180, p. 56. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music, vol. 2), 1977; No. 36. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music, 2nd Edition), 2006; p. 18. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995; p. 18. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; p. 34.

Recorded sources: - Folkways Records FW 8821, Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players - "Irish Dance Music" (1973. Reissue recordings, re-released on Topic in 1995). Old Hat Music OH!02, "The Old Hat Dance Band" (1992). Topic TSCD 602, Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players - "Irish Dance Music" (1995. A reissue of the 1931 original).

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

Back to Carraroe Jig (The)