I’m new to playing ITM. And while reading around I’ve found that there are some strong feelings about the Kesh Jig. I guess people are tired of it or something.
Listening to Bothy Band’s version, I really dig this tune.
So what is the deal? If I play this at a session am I going to get smiles or snarles?
Depends on folks at the session. YMMV.
Here, the tune gets played once in a while, and no one’s complained about it (at least to me…)
There’s even a local Irish band named Kesh, after the tune.
Personally, I’ve gotten rather sick of Harvest Home. It gets played at every session. Oy.
Within certain acceptable limits, I’d think it would matter more how you play it than what you play; I think it’s a lovely tune, when played well.
Philo
It’s a must in the three seisuins that I play in.
I still haven’t devoted the time to get it so that I’m up to speed though. One of these days.
Mike
You should learn as many of the ‘too common’ and ‘overplayed’ tunes as you like, because despite the complaints, they are the ones that everyone knows and will play. Just try to learn other things as well. The Kesh is a standard in my session as well.
It’s also generally true that the ‘overplayed’ tunes are all really good tunes… that’s why they’re played so much!
Here is the trick: learn the Kesh (and the Boys of Blue Hill, Cooley’s Reel, Off to California, the Butterfly, and the Kid on the Mountain, the Swallowtail Jig …) but never start them. That way you get to play them (fun!) but you don’t get dirty looks for starting them (eek!) from the experienced players. You see: playing along is always ok, but starting same-ol same-ol tunes (week after week after week) may get you that snarl.
But ultimately: If you are going to sit in a session with only 5 tunes you can play, and they ask you to start one, don’t hesitate to play the Kesh. It’s a good tune (and not an easy one at that).
You could always start Kerrigan’s jig instead… 
I just play the Kesh between Swallowtail and Irish Washerwoman and get them all out of the way in the same set.
But then, I don’t go to sessions, and I never play with anyone, and the only time anyone hears is if I’m out in the park or hanging around downtown, so there’s never anyone around to care.
Bloomfield’s right about the Kesh not being an easy tune. I would not recommend it as a first tune. There are breath control issues and upper octave issues and it’s hard to get it to bounce just right. I’ve been fiddling around with it for two years, and I’m just now getting it to where I’m kind of satisfied with it.
Learn to play it and play it well, Darth. Then go learn several hundred other jigs (not all at once!). There’s no harm in knowing common session tunes.
Most of the old tunes are old for a reason - they’re very good! They have something catchy or satisfying about them that makes musicians of all stripes want to keep playing them.
IMO, if your goal is to become a regular session player, you should haunt your local session, figure out what they play regularly, and start learning those tunes. In the long run you’ll get to play on many more tunes and progress more quickly if you learn the local repetoire. There are skills to playing in a session that you’ll never learn in the woodshed, so you ought to aim to get as much “session time” as possible. Of course, some sessions seem to never play the same tune two weeks in a row, and there’s little you can do in that case.
If you’re aimed more at sitting on your porch and playing for your own enjoyment, then clearly you ought to learn whatever strikes your fancy.
– Scott
The Kesh Jig was the opening tune, both in performance and LP, for the Bothy Band. They came through Chicago in October, 1976.
EVERYONE in the US on the whistle and other instruments would play the Kesh. The party piece for ‘beginning’ whistle players would be The Harvest Home Hornpipe.
You know, this seems kinda funny to me…me and my band play together often, but there are no sessions in our area…however, these same tunes are the one’s that we’re getting tired of as well…ah well
Ah, I though I’d run a list of our other standbys by you folks to see if they’re overused, cuz we’re going to try to start hitting a weekly session…
White Cockade, Gary Owen, John Ryan’s, Dennis Murphy’s, Bill Sullivan’s, Morrison’s Jig, Haste to the Wedding, aaaand the Drunken Landlady 
To Kesh or not to Kesh: That is the Keshtion.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The Rakes of Mallow or Banish Misfortune…
Or to take arms against a sea of commonly played jigs,
And by opposing end them?
snort
To die, to sleep–
To sleep–rather than playing the butterfl-aye, there’s the rub 
Hmmm…I didn’t know Shakespeare was an Irish music fan