Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#133 (Beare Island Reel)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | E Dorian |
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 KB Pt (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Beare Island Reel, The / The Bear Island Reel / Ríl Bhéarra / Ríl Bheara / Béara Reel / The Bearhaven Lasses / Fahy's Reel (composed by Finbar Dwyer (although M2 claims:) Paddy Fahy)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1982 | 9#2 | [KB Pt] Kevin Burke and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill. Portland. Kevin Burke (fiddle), Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (vocals, guitar, harmonium). |
| 1998 | 4#3 | [KB IC] Kevin Burke. In Concert. Kevin Burke (fiddle). |
| 1999 | 12#2 | [MCnnly] Mick Conneely. Selkie. Mick Conneely (fiddle, bouzouki). |
| 2000 | 9#3 | [MOR] Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh. The Nervous Man. Traditional Irish Music on Concertina. Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh (concertina). |
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 #43 in volume 1 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols. |
| As reel #184 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| On page 3 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition. |
| As reel #11 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
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