Belfast Jig (1)
BELFAST JIG [1]. Canadian, Jig. Canada, PEI. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. The name Belfast means 'crossing place by a sandbank'. The tune was one of the first sides recorded by 'Down-East' style Canadian fiddler Don Messer with his group the Islanders, for Apex Records in 1942. Ken Perlman believes the tune may have been named for Belfast, a district of Prince Edward Island, not far from where his source (Elliot Wright) was born and raised.
Source for notated version: Elliot Wright (b. 1935, Flat River, Queens County, Prince Edward Island; now resident of North River) [Perlman].
Printed sources: Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 134. Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS). Songer (Portland Collection, vol. 2), 2005; p. 18.