Well Alasdair we learn a new thing every day, I did not know that Seabhac na hÉirne / the Hawk of Ballyshannon / Katherine O'Moore / Port Atholl by Rory Dall...
Dear Simon, I certainly do find Arthur O'Neill's version is a lot more suited to the kind of fingering I'm used to doing on the harp than the Thumoth version;...
... Really, I am dividing them into 2 separate camps, one is Oswald - Dow - Bunting and the other is Balcarres - Bowie. Am I missing some deep structural...
Dear Simon, Very little information about that wedding survives. Mr Creagh isn't mentioned in connection with the wedding in the song lyric or anywhere else...
... Yes... it's in 2 flats, 'b mode', g final. 2 bars in the B section followed by 16 in the A section. Thanks for this analysis Alasdair. I will have to do...
... I'll call A since that is the version I play on my CD (straight from Bowie). Also that's the version in Balcarres which would be the earliest by over 50...
Dear Simon, What a lovely chart. Thanks for that. I notice a couple of things. Concerning the Ballyhaunis attribution:- a folder of my material mysteriously...
A chàirdean, I've uploaded a piece I transcribed from the Torloisk photocopy in the National Library of Scotland, box (a), ff10-11 (pp9-10). I transcribed it...
A chàirdean, In tandem with 'buail teud', I just thought I'd mention that MacPherson uses the word 'triobualadh' in his Gaelic in relation to 'touching' the...
Simon, Does the entry in the M-C column ' Ancient Harp Air (3) Cannot Locate' refer to you having mislaid your files or that you have not been able to find it...
Dear Simon, Just noticed: don't forget to add that Port Gordon is also identified as Ruaidhrí Dall by Arthur O'Neill. Beannachdan, Alasdair ... title, in a...
Dear Simon, Another thing! 'Bacach buí na léimní' uses the tune most noted in Scotland for the 'Òran Cumhaidh' of Uilleam Ros (which recites the story of...
Dear Paul, You could start by looking at Carolan's John Hart / John Jones / Robert Jordan complex which is pentatonic. Miss Crofton (25) is also an almost...
Dear Paul, I've just had a quick look for other pentatonic harp items for you. Port 8th in the Torloisk MS Airs by Fingal, I & III, in Bowie Gràdh Dhùghaill...
Dear Paul, Sorry, wrong pairing - Airs by Fingal I and III are in common time. The first one only is pentatonic. Airs by Fingal II & III are hexatonic. ...
Dear Alasdair Your comments on Feill nan Crann are certainly on the right lines, but I don't think the blame can be solely laid at Willie Mathesons door as in...
Dear Keith, I don't feel I have the information to assess why Willie Mathieson went with this idea: in publication, he only credits Francis Collinson with...
Dear Alasdair Rolling back the tide of conventional wisdom can be a never ending exercise, for example a recently published academic tome continued to peddle...
Dear Keith, I'm not quite sure of your argument here. As far as I'm aware, Angus Fraser didn't claim to have done anything with the title and basic tune as...
Dear Alasdair I don't think I was trying to construct an argument, but simply to clarify Angus Fraser's part in it, or not as the case really seems to be, and...
I just found this at Library Ireland, from the Dublin Penny Journal, April 13, 1833: I shall now conclude with a brief memoir of one ancient and truly ...
