I would like to learn more moving emotional tunes, any Ideas?
A couple of examples I love playing are Spancil hill, and Inisheer.
What haunting tunes do you get a clump in your throat from?
I guess Valentia harbour is my number one. Heard it first played by Liam O’Flynn, but this version by boys of the lough is fantastic as well!
http://grooveshark.com/s/Valentia+Harbour+The+Jug+Of+Punch+MacArthur+Road/3pCDGk?src=5
I was intrigued so I clicked to listen. I love Grooveshark and the other sites, it’s so nice to be able to hear a song once without having to buy anything.
The tune sounded very familiar.. I know it as Amhran Na Leabhar which is a very said story about a guy who moved and put all his possessions including a very impressive collection of books on a boat. He took the land route and the boat sank and he lost everything, most importantly his books. So it’s called something like “Lamant of the books”.
Knowing the history behind it makes it that much more moving when I play it.
I would vote for “Niel Gow’s Lament For His Second Wife”:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1892
(I had to transpose it but I can’t seem to attach it here).
I found it quite by accident by following a link to hear a Bleazey whistle. What a nice surprise. Played by someone on this site. Sounds great and I love playing it on the Low D.
Yeah Cathal McConnell told me the story behind Valentia harbour /Amhrán na Leabhar, composed by schoolteacher Tomás Ruadh Suilleabhain on the occasion of losing his priceless library in a shipwreck in Kerry. He said there’s words to it as well, mentioning, if not all, the most lamented books he lost.
Finore (among many)
Amhrán Mhuínse
My current faves are Amhrán na Leabhar (above), Cape Clear, and Bruach na Carraige Baine (Edge of the White Rock)
Well you’ve got two of my favorites though I’ve never Amhrán na Leabhar called Valentia harbor so thanks for the education!
Indeed Niel Gow’s Lament for the Death of His Second Wife was the first slow tune I learned and I still use it for practice.
I’d add three more: Mná na hÉireann (Women of Ireland, Ashokan Farewell (you’ve got to execute those high notes though), and my personal favorite Roisin Dubh (Black Rose).
ecohawk
I don’t play a lot of slow airs on the whistle, but one slow piece I often play is the opening Air from Bach’s Goldberg Variations. It fits perfectly on a D whistle, with some half holing. I can’t find a whistle recording, but here’s Glenn Gould playing (and singing) it on piano:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv94m_S3QDo
Sheet music here:
http://www.8notes.com/scores/7321.asp
If you substitute traditional Irish ornaments for some of the Baroque ones, it serves nicely as a slow air.
Eleanor Plunkett.
An Raibh Tu Ar An GCarraig, ‘Were you at the Rock’
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/9695
edit… Mr Gumby posted a beautiful version here some time back
but I don’t know if it’s still there.
The Wild Geese/Lament for Limerick
Ian
I love it when people put sound samples with their preferences (though I can’t)! Now I get to browse through those slow songs and pick the first one to start learning! Please don’t stop!!
I don’t know how i could forget Sliabh na mBan?! From the first time i heard Johnny Doran play it, until this very day i get a baseball-size lump in my throat.
It was in a RTE documentary about Johnny Doran that i have recorded, sister Mary Dominic told the story of how Johnny was admitted to S:t Vincents hospital in Athy and how he died there, and she believed ‘he was dear to God’ accompanied by Johnnys playing of Sliabh na mBan in the background. Very moving indeed!
Good catch with the Goldberg air, Paul. I’m sure the Icking archive has the full score.
My own favourites include Women of Ireland, An Buchallain Ban (sp), Do it the hard way, Somewhere over the rainbow, Because he was a bonny lad, The cliffs of Doneen… it’s not all about jigs and reels, for me at least.
I just found myself playing As time goes by… just by accident.
A couple of us couldn’t decide on one and put together a collection of them that has been mentioned out here before.
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/cp-a-collection-of-slow-tunes/77817/1
You can get a copy if you wish, but I mention this mostly because I listed all the tunes in the post. Lots of nice things there.
She moved through the Fair
While I’m generally non-committal about listing favourites (never comfortable with artistic league tables!), I’d have to include some of those already mentioned and/or in cboody’s book. As well others such as Mairi Bhan Og, Gleann Baile Chaoil (local tune!), a few modern classics (eg When Summer Ends, The Pearl and Quendale Bay by Phil Cunningham) and (dare I say it when my favourites are personal things?) one or two of my own…
The Mist-covered Mountains of Home is another lovely chune.