SHEPHERDESS [2], THE (Nighean nan caorach). Scottish, Jig (12/ 8 time). F Sharp Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. This tune "commemorates a curious fact, that, little more than 50 years ago, there was no shepherd in the Highlands of Scotland, while, antecedent to that period, the whole care of the flocks devolved on a shepherdess, generally a firl in her teens, a period when love flutters round the heart, and may account in part for the number of love songs which are to be found of a pastoral turn in all ages, --while the occupation of people more advanced in life afford less scope for them" (Fraser).
Additional notes
Source for notated version: -
Printed sources : - Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1816; No. 224, p. 91. Laybourn (Köhlers' Violin Repository Book 2), 1881-1885; p. 168.
