Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 4199 (Caher Rua)

RhythmBarsMode
Reel40D Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Caher Rua
 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 JD 3 (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):
Caher Rua / Cathair Rua / The Carraroe / Ríl na Ceathrú Rua (with an unusual part and more elaborate structure on JD 3; also in G)
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd 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). Album details
and contents
197419#1[JD 3] John Doherty. The Celebrated Recordings. John Doherty (fiddle, vocals).View album details
~19947#2[SRn 2] Seán Ryan. Minstrel's Fancy. Cliaraí Ceoil. Seán Ryan (whistle).View album details
~200017#1[OMBFMO] Oisín Mac Diarmada, Brian Fitzgerald, Micheál Ó Ruanaigh. Traditional Music on Fiddle, Banjo and Harp. Oisín Mac Diarmada (fiddle), Brian Fitzgerald (banjo), Micheál Ó Ruanaigh (harp).View album details
~200412#3[Ovld] Randal Bays and Dáithí Sproule. Overland. Randal Bays (fiddle, guitar), Dáithí Sproule (guitar, 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 recordings listed above.

As tune #49 in volume 1 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
As tune #13 in volume 3 of [AW] Eithne Vallely. Learn to Play the Tin Whistle.

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