Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#3069 (Liffey Banks)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 24 | AAB | G 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 KCB 3 (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Liffey Banks, The / Liffy Banks / Bruacha na Life / The Colleen Bawn (1st in set Dinny O'Brien's Reels on KCB 3) (also 2nd part doubled)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 1#1 | [TPtts] Tommy Potts. The Liffey Banks. Tommy Potts (fiddle). |
| ~1974 | 7#2 | [KCB 3] [The Kilfenora Ceili Band]. [The Kilfenora Céilí Band]. |
| ~1999 | 13#1 | [MtRd] various. The Mountain Road. A Compilation of Tunes Popular in South Sligo. |
| 2000 | 17#2 | [MMR 3] Mike and Mary Rafferty. The Road from Ballinakill. Mike Rafferty (flute, whistle, lilting), Mary Rafferty (accordion, flute, whistle, concertina). |
| ~2002 | 7#1 | [Tda 1] Téada. Téada. Oisín Mac Diarmada (fiddle, vocals, whistle, piano), John Blake (flute, whistle, guitar, piano), Seán McElwain (banjo, bouzouki, vocals), Tristan Rosenstock (bodhrán, vocals). |
| ~2002 | 1#1 | [BCw 1] Brian Conway. First through the Gate. Brian Conway (fiddle). |
| ~2007 | 4#1 | [PHGH 2] Peter Horan and Gerry Harrington. The Merry Love to Play. Peter Horan (flute), Gerry Harrington (fiddle). |
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 #23 in volume 2 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols. |
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): 1971