Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#641 (Flax in Bloom)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording IFM (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | D Major |
Flax in Bloom, The / An Líon faoi Bhláth / The Flaxen Bloom / Flax in Bloom / The Lilly White (2nd part used as intro on KB UC) (also with a 3rd part, also as a fling)
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.
Click 
to hear the first 12 seconds.
to hear the first 12 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| 1926 | 16#1 | [IFM] Past Masters of Irish Fiddle Music. Jim Morrison (fiddle). |
| 1928 | 2.16#1 | [PJConlon] Peter J. Conlon. The Genius of Peter Conlon. 78 RPM Recordings from 1917-1929. Peter J. Conlon (melodeon). |
| 1928 | 8#1 | [IDM 2] Past Masters of Irish Dance Music. Peter Conlon (accordion). |
| 1940 | 6#3 | [SE 6] Séamus Ennis. The Return from Fingal. Séamus Ennis (pipes, vocals). |
| ~1973 | 1#2 | [SE 2] Seamus Ennis. The Pure Drop. Seamus Ennis (pipes). For this tune: (C# pipes). |
| ~1974 | 7#1 | [KCB 3] [The Kilfenora Ceili Band]. [The Kilfenora Céilí Band]. |
| ~1979 | 1#1 | [BMu 1] Brendan Mulvihill, accompanied by Mick Moloney. The Flax in Bloom. Traditional Irish Music. Brendan Mulvihill (fiddle), Mick Moloney (guitar, bouzouki, mandolin). |
| ~1984 | 10#2 | [KB UC] Kevin Burke. Up Close. Kevin Burke (fiddle). For this tune: with Joe Burke (accordion). |
| ~1986 | 2.2#1 | [RtH] Round the House. Music for the Sets - Vol. 1. Neillidh Mulligan (C# pipes), Paul O'Shaughnessy (fiddle). |
| 1987 | 21#1 | [WmSullvn] William Sullivan. Traditional Irish Music. William Sullivan (accordion). |
| ~1995 | 16#2 | [MMR 1] Mike and Mary Rafferty. The Dangerous Reel. Mike Rafferty (flute, whistle, pipes), Mary Rafferty (accordion, flute, whistle). |
| ~1997 | 9#3 | [NMllgn 2] Neil Mulligan. The Leitrim Thrush. Neil Mulligan (C# pipes). |
| ~2002 | 12#1 | [TMIYD] Ronan Browne and Peter O'Loughlin. Touch Me If You Dare. Ronan Browne (pipes, flute), Peter O'Loughlin (fiddle, flute). For this tune: (pipes), (fiddle). |
| ~2008 | 1#2 | [UaC] Oisín and Conal Hernon. Up and Coming. Oisín Hernon (accordion, whistle), Conal Hernon (banjo, guitar). |
| 2009 | 6#2 | [Hmmrs] The Hammers. From Distant Shores. Paul Hammer (mandolin, banjo), Susan Hammer (whistle, concertina). For this tune: (low A whistle). |
Bibliography
Here are all transcriptions of this tune 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 #1389 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #633 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. |
| As tune #284 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. |
| As tune #20 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. |
| On page 130 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. |
| As reel #34 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| As tune #18 in [DM 3] Dave Mallinson. 100 Evergreen Irish Session Tunes. |
| As reel #101 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| As reel #77 in [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): 1903