Annotation:A Mhisg a Chur an Nolig Oirn

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A MHISG A CHUR AN NOLIG OIRN (Christmas Carousing). Scottish, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The Gaelic title is translated as ‘Christmas Carousing’. The word carousing derives from the Danes. A rouse was a large glass that was filled with an alcoholic beverage for drinking a health; the drinking of the health by the assembled company formed a carouse. There could be no carouse unless the glasses were emptied (Hackwood, 1909). A version of the melody appears as an untitled pipe reel in George Farquhar Gramham's Celtic Melodies, Being a Collection of Original Slow Highland Airs, Pipe-Reels, and Cainntearachd, vol. 1) (Edinburgh, c. 1830, No. 37, p. 21).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: William Gunn (The Caledonian Repository of Music Adapted for the Bagpipes), Glasgow, 1848; p. 1. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 14.

Recorded sources: Seaforth Collection. Flying Fish FF 299, Battlefield Band ‑ "There's a Buzz" (1982. Appears as "Christmas Carousal"). Green Linnet GLCD1182, The Tannahill Weavers - “Choice Cuts 1987-1996.” Wildcat Records WILDCD 101, Ronan Martin – “Ronan Martin” (2008).

See also listings at:
Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]

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