Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#1187 (Maid of Ardagh)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polka | 32 | AABB | D Major |
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 JOL 1 (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Maid of Ardagh / The Maids of Ardagh / Toormore No. 2 (2nd in set The Tourmore Polkas on JOL 1; 2nd in set The Tuar Mór Polkas in JOL; 1st in track 6 The Toormore Polkas and 1st in track 14 Toormore Polkas on CBnds) / The Back of the Haggard / Johnny O'Leary's / O'Keefe's (for 4th figure of The West Kerry Set on JRSLCB 2; 1st in set Ballydesmond Polka on ESL 1; 4th in set Polkas on NCrg 1)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 11#2 | [JOL 1] Johnny O'Leary. Music for the Set. Traditional Irish Music from Sliabh Luachra. Johnny O'Leary (accordion). |
| ~1986 | 5#1 | [TC] various. Turas Cheoil. A Musical Odyssey: A compilation of music from the traditional musicians of Toronto. |
| 1998 | 6#1 | [CBnds] various. The County Bounds. |
| 1998 | 14#1 | [CBnds] various. The County Bounds. |
| ~1998 | 7#3 | [FFH] Far From Home. Tri. Turner Collins (accordion, whistle, vocals), Bob Newton (octave mandolin, mandocello, bodhrán, vocals), Daithi Wolfe (fiddle). |
| ~1998 | 2.8#1 | [ESL 1] various. An Evening in Sliabh Luachra. Volume One. A Collection of Traditional Music and Song from the Sliabh Luachra Area. |
| ~1998 | 16#3 | [JRSLCB 2] Johnny Reidy and the Sliabh Luachra Ceili Band. Music for Set Dancing Vol. II. Johnny Reidy (accordion). |
| ~1999 | 2#4 | [NCrg 1] North Cregg. . . . And They Danced All Night. Christy Leahy (accordion), Caoimhin Vallely (fiddle, keyboards), Ciarán Coughlan (piano, keyboards), John Neville (vocals, guitar), Martin Leahy (snare drum, percussion). |
| 2001 | 20#1 | [PHCB] Public House Ceili Band. Go Figure. Dan Cobb (banjo), Dave Delgado (whistle), Alan Ng (fiddle), Bob Newton (octave mandolin). |
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 #73 in volume 4 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols. |
| As tune #91 in [SIMB] Tony Sullivan. Sully's Irish Music Book. |
| As tune #88 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. |
| On page 66 of [F] S. C. Hamilton. The Irish Flute Player's Handbook. |
| In [L] Alan's private loose music. |
| In [L] Alan's private loose music. |
| As tune #52 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. |
| On page 231 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition. |
| As polka #21 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| As other #24 in [Ng] Alan Ng. Alan Ng's Transcriptions. |
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): 1974