Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1070 (Lads of Laois)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBE Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Lads of Laois
 about these two bars

These two bars are the start of my transcription of how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording TMC (details in the Discography below).

Where do you get the tune titles?
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Lads of Laois, The / The Lads of Laoise / Lads of Laoise / The Lads of Leith / Lads of Leix / Gearrbhodaí Laoise / Gearrbhodai Laoise
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd Discography

Here are all recordings of this tune considering only the indexed recordings. I have discovered by careful listening that these sources are in fact musically the same tune, regardless of the tune titles they use, key changes, retuning, etc. They are listed in order of when they were recorded.

Year
Recorded		 Track
#Tune		 [Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). Album details
and contents
~19662#1[TMC] Joe Burke, Andy McGann, and Felix Dolan. A Tribute to Michael Coleman. Joe Burke (accordion), Andy McGann (fiddle), Felix Dolan (piano).View album details
199011#2[MLIIA] various. The Boston College Irish Fiddle Festival - My Love Is in America. View album details
19958#2[JDr 2] Joe Derrane. Return to Inis Mór. Joe Derrane (accordion).View album details
~19961#1[JK 3] James Kelly. Traditional Irish Music. James Kelly (fiddle).View album details
19999#1[GCJR] Gerard Commane and Joe Ryan with Eoin O'Neill. Two Gentlemen of Clare Music. Gerard Commane (concertina), Joe Ryan (fiddle).View album details

Bibliography

Here are all transcriptions of this tune under any title whatsoever – considering only the indexed books – listed in chronological order. I have discovered by careful comparison that these are very similar to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.

As tune #192 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1.
On page 81 of [RM] Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. [available]
On page 31 of [T] Fintan Vallely. Timber. The Flute Tutor. 2nd Edition. [available]
As tune #19 in [DM 3] Dave Mallinson. 100 Evergreen Irish Session Tunes. [available]

If you are considering using the above transcriptions to help you learn this tune, I invite you to check these practical Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music. See also: So why do you bother indexing books and abc?

Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1963
Please cite your source when you use information from this document.
© 2000–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
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