Celtic Lion?
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/218/popup/index.php?cl=2097237
Didn’t he star in “The Secret of Roan Inish”?
I think Clyde and that little sea otter have just about had it with the Saint Patrick’s Day thing 
.
I like how every Irish tune is a “jig” to those who don’t play, dance, or (really) listen to the music… anyone know what it is about the jig that made it stand our to the masses more than the reel, hornpipe, etc? Is it an easier, and thus more common dance so that more folks have known it over the years?
Maybe cause the ‘jig’ is the oldest form of dance in Ireland? So therefore makes it so “common” in these movies, recordings and such? That’s my guess.. But I don’t know.
There’s a book called 1599 which goes into the contemporary scene in which a few of Shakespeares plays were written. It also mentions Henry Kemp, who acted with Shakespeare, and did the famous “Kemp’s Jig” from London to Norwich.
The author repeated the fact that the church at the time found jigs to be lewd, lascivious and utterly immoral. I’m not sure if the church was just in puritan mode for this, or whether jigs were a bit more boisterous than the ones I’ve danced.
Anybody shed any light on this?
That could be a reasonable explanation. I just know that when most folks see me with a whistle in my hand and they ask, “Play us a jig, Johnny”, that they wouldn’t know the difference if I played a jig, reel, polka, or the Tarantella.
They’d have had a heart attack then if they witnessed a slip jig!
I’ve noticed that too. Somehow the word “jig” is part of common vocabulary, but “reel” or “hornpipe” would probably evoke images of fishing or smoking and are not part of the vernacular.
Anybody in other places notice this phenomenon? In France, are all Irish tunes called “gigues” by the uninitiated?
Jennie