Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 2934 (Boys of Portaferry)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Boys of Portaferry
 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 Plx 6 (2nd time through) (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):
Boys of Portaferry, The / The Sporting Boys / Sporting Boys / The Pullet
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd Discography

Here is the sole recording of this tune considering only the indexed recordings.

Year
Recorded		 Track
#Tune		 [Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). Album details
and contents
~19807#2[Plx 6] Planxty. The Woman I Loved so Well. Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitar, synthesizer), Andy Irvine (bouzouki, mandolin, harmonica, vocals), Liam O'Flynn (pipes, whistle), Christy Moore (guitar, bodhrán, vocals).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 recording listed above.

As tune #1249 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #1350 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #521 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
On page 105 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
On page 123 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As tune #106 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. [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): 1903
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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