Annotation:Shaalds o' Foula (2) (Da)
X:1 T:Shaalds o' Foula [2] M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig N:AEae tuning (fiddle) B:Anderson - Ringing Strings (1983, p. 38) K:A (EFA) A2A|f(ec) (B2A)|e(cA) (B2c)|F2A A(FE)| (EFA) A2A|f(ec) B2A|A(Bc/A/) B(cd)|e3 E3:| |:e2c B(cd)|a(ec) B2A|a(ec) B2c|E2A A(FE)| a2c B(ce)|f(ec) B2A|A(Bc/A/) B(cd)|e3 E3:|]
SHAALDS O' FOULA [2], DA. AKA "Foula Shaalds (The)," "Foula Reel (Da)," "Boanie Tammie Scollay," "Aald Reel (The)," "Auld Reel (The)." Shetland, Jig (6/8 time). Shetland, Yell. A Major (Anderson, Martin): G Major (Anderson & Georgeson). AEae or Standard tunings (fiddle). AABB. See note for "annotation:Shaalds o' Foula (1) (Da)." "It is still popular today and is occasionally still danced, but as a country dance in jig time, not as a Shetland reel. An earlier version of this tune appears in Hibbert (1822), but in the key of G and in 6/8 time throughout. Hibbert also gives words associated with the tune. Today it is Hibbert's version which is most commonly played and it is this version which appears in the folk Society's collection, Da Mirrie Dancers (Anderson & Georgeson). However, in the district known as the Herra in Yell it is still played by members of the Robertson family in the key of A and with the AEae tuning..." (Peter Cooke, 1986). The collector Patrick Shuldham Shaw found elsewhere in Shetland "Da Foula Reel" both reel time and jig time variants. The melody, slightly altered, also appears married to words in a well known Shetland song called "Boanie Tammie Scollay," printed by Hibbert, which is occasionally played by fiddlers under that name as a reel. Cooke also says that the dance to the tune is the best known of the 'Shetland jigs' (a country dance), and Flett & Flett record it was danced in the Wester Skeld district at least since 1870. Flett, in The Shetland Folk Book, vol. 6 (1976), concluded that it was possibly brought to Shetland from Sweden via England, as it was similar to the Swedish folk dance 'Vava Vadmal,' which was introduced to Britain under the name 'Norwegian Country Dance.' Tom Anderson says "Fields of Foulla" is published in Holburn's Airs from the Far North.
A somewhat garbled version of "Shaalds o' Foula [2]" in scordatura tuning is contained in the music pages of Yell, Shetland, musician James Hoseason's c. 1862 manuscript, however, it is cognate with other printed versions.
