Edward Bunting made what looks like it might be a live transcription of a performance of the traditional Irish song air, Bruach na Carraige Báine, onto the fifth page of his “Damn your Body” transcription pamphlet, some time in the 1790s.
Continue reading Bruach na Carraige BáineTag: higgins
Caitlín Ní Uallacháin
Caitlín Ní Uallacháin was one of the personifications of Ireland in poetry and song. There is a whole nest of variant and different tunes titled Caitlín Ní Uallacháin (Anglicised as Cathleen or Kitty Nowlan), but we don’t have enough time or space to go into them all here. All we can do is look at four versions of the tune in Bunting’s manuscripts.
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An gearrán buidhe
The Yellow Horse is a curious little song air. We have three independent transcription notations of variants or versions of this tune, under two different titles, in Edward Bunting’s transcription notebooks from the 1790s. They are all three a bit tricky to understand.
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Mhuirnin Dilis
The third and last tune on this interesting two-page spread (Queen’s University Belfast, Special Collections, MS4.29 p.225) appears to be a very straightforward and clear notation. Let’s take a look:
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Grádh gan fhios
Edward Bunting made a live transcription of the tune of Grádh gan fhios, from the playing of an old Irish harper in the 1790s. You can see the transcription online at Queen’s University Belfast, MS4.29 page 221/219/228/f109r.
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Sín síos agus suas liom
I made a demonstration video of a version of the tune of Sín síos agus suas liom. Bunting transcribed this version from the playing of an old Irish harper in the 1790s.
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Cúileann fín
I made a demonstration video of the song air, Cúileann fín (fine, fair-haired one), from Edward Bunting’s transcription apparently made in in the summer of 1792 from the harper Hugh Higgins.