Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1187 (Maid of Ardagh)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Polka32AABBD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Maid of Ardagh
 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).

Where do you get the tune titles?
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 (1st in set Ballydesmond Polka on ESL 1; 4th in set Polkas on NCrg 1)
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
197711#2[JOL 1] Johnny O'Leary. Music for the Set. Traditional Irish Music from Sliabh Luachra. Johnny O'Leary (accordion).View album details
~19865#1[TC] various. Turas Cheoil. A Musical Odyssey: A compilation of music from the traditional musicians of Toronto. View album details
19986#1[CBnds] various. The County Bounds. View album details
199814#1[CBnds] various. The County Bounds. View album details
~19987#3[FFH] Far From Home. Tri. Turner Collins (accordion, whistle, vocals), Bob Newton (octave mandolin, mandocello, bodhrán, vocals), Daithi Wolfe (fiddle).View album details
~19982.8#1[ESL 1] various. An Evening in Sliabh Luachra. Volume One. A Collection of Traditional Music and Song from the Sliabh Luachra Area. View album details
~19992#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).View album details
200120#1[PHCB] Public House Ceili Band. Go Figure. Dan Cobb (banjo), Dave Delgado (whistle), Alan Ng (fiddle), Bob Newton (octave mandolin).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 #73 in volume 4 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
As tune #88 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
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. [available]
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. [available]
As other #24 in [Ng] Alan Ng. Alan Ng's Transcriptions. [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): 1974
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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