Annotation:Du's Bön Lang Awa and A'm Tocht Land ta See Dee
X:1 T:Du's Bön Loan Awa an A'm Tocht Lang ta See Dee M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air, Wedding tune O:Shetland S:Peter Fraser K:Dmix D|:(D/E/F/G/) (A/B/A/G/) A>B|cc G<cG E/D/C|D/E/F/G/ A/B/A/G/ [D2A2]|d2 {B/c/}BA/G/ F/E/ D:| |:f>d df/d/ D>f|ec ct/c/ ef/g/|afa {f/g/}fef de/f/|d2 {A}BA/G/ FE/D/:||
DU'S BÖN LANG AWA AND A'M TOCHT LAND TO SEE DEE. AKA and see "Jack's Gone a-Shearing," "Nine Nights Awa," "Welcome Home My Dearie (1)." Shetland, Wedding Tune (3/4 time). Shetland, West side. D Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. One of the five tunes required in the old wedding rituals of the island of Papa Stour, Shetland, according to local fiddler Peter Fraser. This tune was played by the fiddler as the groom's party walked to the bride's house, upon arrival. "The alternations between C and D tonality in the tune could belong equally to Scandinavian or Scottish musical styles, though the large skips involving rapid string crossing is somewhat suggestive of the Aald Reel structures. The tune is known nowhere else in Shetland" (Cooke, 1986). Purser (1992) notes "The melodic outline could as easily be from the mainland as from Shetland, but the rhythm and phrase lengths are much less regular in effect than the bar lines suggest and it could as well be notated with two as opposed to three beats in the bar. The effect is one of an odd jauntiness."
There are melodic and harmonic similarities between this tune and a triple-hornpipe called "Jack's Gone a-Shearing," a version of which can be found in the Scottish Margaret Sinkler ms. (1710).
