Annotation:Lasses of Stewarton

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X:1 T:Lasses of Stewarttown, The M:C L:1/8 R:Reel B:Campbell – 9th Book of New and Favorite Country Dances & Strathspey B:Reels (1795, p. 19) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D g|fdec d/c/B/c/ d2|F D2F A2 Ag|fde=c TB>A/B/4 c2|E=CCE G3:| |:c|(B/c/d) DF AFDc|B/c/d DF A3=c|B/c/d DF AB=cA|GE=CE G3:| |:=c|BGAF BGAG|FDDF A3=c|BGAF BGAF|E=CCE G3:| |:Odefg afdf|afdf a2{g}f2|defg afdf|ge=ce g2 feO:||:g||

LASSES/LASSIES OF STEWARTON, THE. AKA - "Lasses of Stewartown/Stewington/Stuarton." AKA and see "Cross Reel (Da)" (Shetland). Scottish (originally), Canadian; Reel. Canada, Cape Breton. D Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCD (Athole, Gow): AABBCCDD' (Kerr, Skye). Another tune commemorating an area's local girls. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the tune in print in Edinburgh publisher Neil Stewart's Collection of Newest and Best Reels or Country Dances (1761, p. 46). It was published again by Stewart in an edition of 1775, then subsequently appears in several later publications--but is not to be confused with a country dance of the same name, published c. 1794. A version was entered into the large 1840 music manuscript collection of John Rook (Waverton, Cumbria). See also the related Shetland tune "Cross Reel (Da)," a somewhat "crooked" (asymmetrical) version of the "Lasses of Stewarton." The first sound recording of the tune was probably that by the Cameron Men, on 78RPM for Edison Bell in London. It is a very popular old reel among Cape Breton fiddlers, and frequently recorded. "Null thar nan eileanan" is a similar, perhaps cognate, reel that also has found favor with Cape Breton musicians.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - Campbell (9th Book of New and Favorite Country Dances & Strathspey Reels), 1795; p. 19. Gow (Complete Repository, Part 1), 1799; p. 35. John Gow (A Favorite Collection of Slow Airs, Strathspeys and Reels), London, c. 1804; p. 16. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 3), c. 1880's; No. 24, p. 5. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 37. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 94.

Recorded sources: -Canadian Broadcasting Corp. NMAS 1972, Natalie MacMaster - "Fit as a Fiddle" (1993). Celestial Entertainment CECS001, Brenda Stubbert (Cape Breton) - "In Jig Time!" (1995). Rounder 7059, Alex Francis MacKay with Gordon MacLean - "Gaelic in the Bow" (2005). Wildcat Records WILDCD 101, Ronan Martin - "Ronan Martin" (2008. Learned from Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster).

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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