Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#2379 (Maids of Castlebar)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 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 BtB (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Maids of Castlebar, The / Maids of Castlebar / The Maid of Castlebar / Gearrchailiú Chaisleán an Bharraigh / The Fall of Ballisodare (1st in set Reels from the 1920's on FG 3) (compare 1st part with 1st part of McFarley's Reel #1192)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| 1936 | 11#2 | [BtB] Paddy Killoran, James Morrison. From Ballymote to Brooklyn. Paddy Killoran (fiddle), James Morrison (fiddle). |
| ~1989 | 9#1 | [FG 3] Frankie Gavin. Frankie Goes to Town. Frankie Gavin (fiddle, flute). |
| ~1992 | 6#2 | [CR 1] Craobh Rua. The More That's Said the Less the Better. Mark Donnelly (pipes, whistle), Michael Cassidy (fiddle), Brian Connolly (banjo, mandolin, bodhrán), Jim Byrne (guitar, mandola, vocals). |
| 1993 | 1#1 | [MoD] Tony Mac Mahon, Noel Hill, Iarla Ó Lionáird. Music of Dreams. Tony Mac Mahon (accordion), Noel Hill (concertina), Iarla Ó Lionáird (vocals). |
| ~1995 | 4#1 | [RT] Reeltime. Reeltime. Máirin Fahy (fiddle, vocals), Éilís Egan (accordion), Chris Kelly (guitar), Benny Hayes (piano, keyboards, ukelele, vocals). |
| ~1998 | 2#1 | [KH] Kieran Hanrahan. Kieran Hanrahan Plays the Irish Tenor Banjo. Kieran Hanrahan (banjo). |
| ~2002 | 12#1 | [BRny 2] Brian Rooney. Leitrim to London. Brian Rooney (fiddle, accordion). |
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 #134 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1. |
| As tune #1 in [DM 3] Dave Mallinson. 100 Evergreen Irish Session Tunes. |
| As reel #190 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| On page 16 of [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. |
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): 1936