I’d be interested to know what slow tunes people have found particularly enjoyable to perform. I said “slow tunes” because I want to distinguish them from sean nos style songs. There will doubtless be some overlap, but perhaps that title will keep us off the discussion of sean nos style and all the attendant issues with that sort of performance. I’m interested in pieces that might work with groups of players or solo players but are not necessarily songs and are certainly not dependent upon sean nos treatment. Indeed they wouldn’t even have to be Irish or Scottish.
Here are a few I particularly like as examples of the kind of thing I’m thinking of:
Molly St. George
Innisheer
Neil Gow’s Laments on “whoever”
Boulavogue
There are lots of slow waltz meter tunes that might fit my category, but let’s avoid the obvious like
Southwind
Blind Mary
Give Me Your Hand
etc.
I’[ll be interested to see what tunes you suggest. And yes, I started this topic on thesession some time back. This is, at least partially, a different population of folks.
I’ll second Tommy Bhetty’s. As long as the guitar bod is playing good chords! It’s got to be one of the easiest tunes to wreck. What could be better than Altan’s version? Lord Inchiquin works beautifully if you slow it down. Sticking with Carolan there’s Eleanor Plunkett. A couple of very nice Tom Anderson tunes are Da Slockit Light and The Auld Resting Chair. A couple of Scott-Skinner ones are Hector the Hero and The Music o’ Spey.
Neil Gow’s Lament for the Death of His Second Wife is a great tune. I can only imagine he must have written it prior to her death. To me it’s probably the last tune I’d pick out as being a lament, if you played 5 tunes I didn’t know.
Another great slow tune on fiddle is Jerry Holland’s Boo Baby’s Lullaby – it’s a Waltz. EJ Jones has a great, but largely unknown tune called The Willow, also a waltz that I really like.
I’d say that my favourite slow tune is Matt Molloy’s slow rendition of Maids of Mitchelstown. A friend of mine does a very nice slow rendition of Sweet Flowers of Milltown as well.
My all time favorite is Ned of the Hill. It is the tune that made me realize how important the gaelic language phrasing is to the rhythm of an air. I also like the air to The Parting Glass, which does not get separated from the words as often as it should. And there is a Scottish one that I like, Mrs. Something’s Favorite, but for the life of me, I can’t remember the name. At times like this, I comfort myself with the thought that knowing more tunes than names of tunes is a sign of progress in playing The Music.
Know them all Al. Mrs. Jamison’s Air (spelling seems to vary with the source) is really wonderful, particularly so since it plays quite well in 3 or in 4 or in some sort of wonderful mix of the two. Great stuff. I was glad to see you mention The Parting Glass as a tune. Another I’d certainly add to the list (well already have) is the tune Burns preferred for Auld Lang Syne. Really wonderful and so much better than the one everybody knows.
I like a lot of those Donegal mazurkas. Also The Jewel of the Ocean and The Dark-Eyed Sailor (waltzes). The Princess Royal is a brilliant O’Carolan tune, really nice with The King of the Fairies, etc. The Rocks of Bawn is another great song. And then there’s Alan Kelly’s setting of The Duke of Leinster (which he plays after The Parting Glass) – a heartbreaking example of how beautiful a reel can be slowed down, so I’ve made a practice of slowing down reels like that (Pigeon on the Gate, the Virginia, various Fahey tunes), etc. down. And sure, a jig or hornpipe, too, what the heck? Adam and Eve’s (aka John Carlos’s) is beautiful slow.
Lately I’m quite enamored with Inion go Bhaillaigh (Bailey’s Daughter, I think?) but that’s more sean nos – I also classify Pretty Maid Milking a Cow and Sliabh nBhan (also called Slieve naMon) there, but I’ve heard both played as waltzes to beautiful effect.
I love the Princess Royal, in all its incarnations. It’s by no means certain it’s an O’Carolan tune though. My personal belief, based on such evidence as is available, is that it’s a pre-existing English tune which became associated with O’Carolan. There’s much evidence on either side, so, in the end, it’s a matter of which you give more weight to … As long as you discpount anything that Gratton Flood might have said!
