Annotation:Reel with the Beryle (The)

Back to Reel with the Beryle (The)

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REEL WITH THE BERYLE, THE. AKA - “Reel with the Burl/Birl.” AKA and see "Ladies Bonnet," "Lady's Bonnet (The)," “Tom Clair's Maggie.” Irish, Reel. Ireland, County Clare. E Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). The title was the one used by the source, concertina player Mrs. Crotty of Kilrush, Clare (Michael Tubridy’s aunt), a favorite tune of hers and recorded by her around 1960. The Crotty family had a pub in the south Clare town, where great sessions were to be heard. The word ‘burl’ or ‘birl’ is a pipers term to describe a musical ornament (a hard triplet on the low ‘A’ note of the Highland pipes, and a feature of the instrument), but it also can mean to play rousingly as in “give it some birl” or “give it some life!” The tune is related to “Drowsy Maggie” (the first parts are very similar), the Scots “Sleepy Maggie” and probably to “Toss the Feathers.” O’Neill published it as “Tom Clair's Maggie,” thought to be a shorthand title for his source and a reference to its similarity to “Drowsy Maggie.”

Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources: Columbia 35726, The Chieftains - "Chieftains 8" (1979). Columbia Legacy CK 48693, "The Best of the Chieftains" (1992). Green Linnett GLCD 1181, Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill - “The Lonesome Touch” (1997). RTE 225CD, Elizabeth Crotty – “Concertine Music from West Clare” (1999). Mary MacNamara - “Traditional Music from East Clare.” John Williams, 1st Album (the last of three tunes in a set played with Micho Russell).

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]

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