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T:Music in the Glen
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R:Reel
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D|GABG EGDC|B,DGB AGAB|c2 ec B2GB|cABG AGED|
G2 BG EGDC|B,DGB AGAB|cdef g2 ge|dcBA G3:|
|:A|BGdG eGdG|BGdB cAFA|BGdB e2 de|gdBG AGEG|
BGdG eBde|g2 fg afdf|g2 fg egdB|cABG AG E:|]
MUSIC IN THE GLEN (Ceol Annsa Gleanna). AKA and see "Swamp Angel Hornpipe." Irish, Reel. A Major (O'Neill/1850): G Major (Flaherty, Harker/Rafferty, Mulvihill, O'Neill/Krassen, Tubridy): A Major (O'Neill/1001, Songer). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Mulvihill, O'Neill/1850): AA'B (Flaherty): AABB (Miller, Songer, Tubridy): AA'BB (Harker/Rafferty): AA'BB' (O'Neill/Krassen). A popular and often recorded session reel. Irish versions are predated by a an almost identical and rather oddly-named tune of American provenance called "Swamp Angel Hornpipe" composed by blackface minstrel composer and performer George H. Coes and appearing in his Coes Album of Jigs and Reels (1876). The title sounds like an American one (and may or may not have connections with a Civil War cannon), but the melody could have originated anywhere. Francis O'Neill had the tune from a fellow member of the Chicago Irish Music Club at the turn of the 20th century, fiddler Edward Cronin, who was no stranger to the contents of Coes volume. Cronin passed along a few of the tunes from Coes to O'Neill, perhaps disguising his source.
The reel has currency among Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, fiddlers, sometimes set in G Major (as in O'Neill's) and at other time in A Major (Scottish sources). County Donegal fiddlers tend to play the tune in A Major, as would be in Scotland. One of the first sound recordings of the tune was made just after World War II by Irish piper Leo Rowsome.
Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Chicago Irish Music Club fiddler Edward Cronin, born in County Tippeary in the 1840's [O'Neill]; fiddler Fred Finn, 1919-1986 (Kiltycreen, Kilavil, County Sligo) [Flaherty]; a recording by Canny & Hayes [Mulvihill].
Printed sources : - Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; p. 82. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 3, p. 1. Miller (Fiddler's Throne), 2004; No. 220, p. 135. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 235, p. 64. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 92. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1183, p. 223. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 462, p. 90. Prior (Fionn Seisiún 2), 2003; p. 17. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 145. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; p. 24.
Recorded sources : - Direction 0100, Barde - "Barde." Esperance ESPDC011, Dan Duggan, Tom Hodgson, Henry Jankiewicz - "Shenandoah Falls" (2002). Green Linnet SIF 3005, Bothy Band - "Old Hag You Have Killed Me" (1981. A reissue of 1976 Mulligan LP). Rounder CD 1087, Leo Rowsome (et al) - "From Galway to Dublin"(1993). Danny O'Donnell - "Ón tSean-Am Anall."
See also listing at :
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [3]
Hear the reel played by Paddy Cronin at the Internet Archive [4] (1st in medley, followed by "Green Groves of Erin (1)")
Hear the reel played by Eamonn Coyne at the Comhaltas Archive [5] (1st in medley, followed by "Reidy Johnson").
Hear the reel played c. 1958 by Paddy Canny and Martin Mulhaire at the Comhaltas Archive [6] (1st in medley, followed by "Sean sa Cheo").
Hear Leo Rowsome's 1947 recording at the Comhaltas Archive [7] (2nd tune in medley).
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