I’ve heard the term “lively” used.
My favourite latest pair of air/dance tune, is the air Anach Cuin which was originally a song, of which there is also a jig, sometimes called the Sheep in the Boat. I think it’s on WFO no.1 also. Tragic story to go with it and all. The people from Anach Cuin (or maybe it was called Annadown) who went to the fair on the other side of Lough Corrib by boat, all drowned. I think the story is on the Fiddler’s Companion.
I also know the jig as “Hole in the Boat”. The lore I have on it was that a sheep kicked a hole in the side of the boat (currach, maybe? Can a currach hold 30 people plus some sheep?), and the drowning ensued. The jig’s melody has a rather chillingly desperate aspect to it, I think. Appropriate indeed.
Checked Fiddler’s Companion, and (oddly, I thought) I found nothing on the jig for either tune name, nor “hole” nor “sheep”, and the entry for Anach Cuain/Cuan (as listed there) was cursory to say the least. Not even an ABC for it.
Its on the folk tune finder:
http://www.folktunefinder.com/tune.php?id=11718
That’s one heck of a hill if you can see the Pacific from Scotland!
Actually, Fiddler’s Companion does give ABCs for Anach Cuain the air, and the jig is supposedly a reworking by Junior Crehan. Kevin Crehan plays them back to back on his album An Bhábóg sa Bhádóg (Track 8). Anach Cuain matches the FC transcription, played as a true slow air. And Sheep in the Boat matches the setting cited by Dr. Phill above. The liner notes give no information about these settings.
To me, Anach Cuain here bears a strong resemblance - by art or by chance - to the melody of Is Trua Nach Bhfuil Mé in Éirinn performed by Micheál Ó Domhnaill on Bothy Band 1975 (Track 6).
Looks like I found the info in a book but assumed it was Andy Kuntz’s work!! So - this is what I have - I copied it out of the book, not from FC!
X:3
T:Anac Cuan (Annaghdown)
T:Eanach Cuain, Anach Cuain, Anach Cuin
T:The Sheep in the Boat
H:This song was composed by Raftery the poet to commemorate the terrible
H:disaster which befell the people of `Annaghdown’ (Anac Cuain) when on their
H:way to a fair in Galway. [~1828] About thirty villagers with ten sheep and other
H:goods set off in an old boat from the shores of Lough Corrib to go the
H:eight miles into Galway. In those days there was no direct road, and the
H:lake was the nearest way. The boat was rotten, and when within two miles of
H:Galway a leak was sprung. One of the men endeavouring to plug it with his
H:coat, and pressing with his heel to drive it more firmly in, drove the
H:whole plank out of the boat. In a few seconds all of these poor people
H:were struggling in the water, and although they were close to land,
H:nineteen of them drowned, eleven men and eight women.
B:Amrain Muighe Seola, Traditional Folksongs from Galway and Mayo (Eibhlin Bean Mhic Choisdealbha) p.98-101
K:Ddor
DDE|F2ED E/E/ D|c2d d/e/ dc|
A2G EDD|C2z CDE|F2E DED|
c2(d e)dc|A2G E/E/ D D|D2z AAd|
d2e dAB|c2 d>e dc|A2G EDD|
C2z CDE|F2E DED|
c2d edc|AAG EDD|D2z||
And the jig of it was played by Tara Diamond on flute, on the wfo cd. (I myself learned the jig from fiddler Veronica McNamara who got it from Liz Kane - we play it in Edor rather than D.)
Oh, dear. So it does. Dunno how I missed that. My bad.
Thanks for the details, Lesl.
…I don’t feel so bad for asking this question anymore 
Thank you for the insight!
[Thread revival - Mod]
I recently learned a lesser-known (or so I heard) air related to Anach Cuin called “One Starry Night.” I don’t remember the irish name, sadly. Does anyone know it off the top of their head?
Any chance you’re looking for “Don Oiche Ud I Mbeithil” (One Night in Bethlehem)? On one of the Chieftains albums, with Burgess Meredith narrating.
Oh, ha, I didn’t realize this was such an old thread. Must have had the search function up by mistake. And no, I play Don Oiche Ud I Mbeithil as well and they’re quite different. Thanks though!
An odd thing about Airs and the Highland pipes has long been the duality of 1) one of the pipes’ main uses being in the Army and 2) the fact that a large number of the Army pipers have been Gaelic speakers.
So Airs which in Ireland would be thought of as Sean Nos airs are listed in Scottish Highland pipe books as “Slow Marches”; at the same time a large number of these are authentic song-airs from the Gaelic oral tradition.
The notation may seem a bit odd as these so-called “Slow Marches” are usually notated in 6/8 time but they have a waltzlike feel and would be better notated in 3/4 time in my opinion.
Then there are the “grounds” of the Highland pipe’s classical music, Ceol Mor or Piobaireachd, which have very much the feel of Sean Nos airs, but are purely instrumental pieces. Many think that these “grounds” started in the vocal tradition.