Annotation:Is Fearr Paidir ná Port

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IS FEARR PAIDIR NÁ PORT (A Prayer is Better than a Tune). AKA and see "Minion (The)," "Steamboat Quickstep," "Uncle Jim," "Washington March." Irish, Jig. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Breathnach obtained Pádraig O'Keeffe's tablature manuscript from Jack Connell, nicknamed 'Jack the Lighthouse'. It is played in County Clare in the key of 'D', he remarks, as a stand-alone jig or as two added parts to the "Kilfenora Jig (1)," the signature tune of the great ceili band of the same name. It is related to O'Neill's "Chorus Jig (5)." However, tune may not have an Irish provenance, and is widely traveled. It appears as "Minion (The)" in the 1798 music manuscript collection of English musician Joshua Jackson, and it has been suggested there is a Scottish source for the tune. See also Canadian variant(s) "Uncle Jim" and others (see Annotation:Uncle Jim).

Source for notated version: the tune is from the fiddle tablature manuscripts of itinerant Kerry fiddler Pádraig O'Keeffe. The title is from whistle player Micho Russell (Doolin, County Clare) [Breathnach].

Printed sources: Breathnach (CRÉ V), 1999; No. 2, p. 3.

Recorded sources:

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