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.
| 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