Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 974 (Scartaglen Polka)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Polka32AABBD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Scartaglen Polka
 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 JOL 2 (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):
Scartaglen Polka, The / The Scartaglen / Scairteach an Ghlinne / John Egan's / Egan's / John Clifford's / Danny Green's / Darby's Cross / Fleadh Cheoil Polka No. 2 (1st in set Scartaglen Polkas on ESL 1) (also in G; also with different 2nd part, included here) (compare 2nd part with #1417)
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
~19897#2[JOL 2] Johnny O'Leary. An Calmfhear. The Trooper. Johnny O'Leary (accordion).View album details
19929#3[ScE] Gerry Harrington and Eoghan O'Sullivan. Scéal Eile. Gerry Harrington (fiddle), Eoghan O'Sullivan (accordion).View album details
~19981.1#1[ESL 1] various. An Evening in Sliabh Luachra. Volume One. A Collection of Traditional Music and Song from the Sliabh Luachra Area. View album details
~20045(6:48)#4[Boh 4] Bohola. 4. Jimmy Keane (piano accordion, vocals, foot), Sean Cleland (fiddle), Pat Broaders (dordan, vocals), Kat Eggleston (vocals).View album details
~20044#1[JK 4] James Kelly. Melodic Journeys. James Kelly (fiddle).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 #300 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
As tune #109 in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.
As tune #74 in volume 4 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
On page 129 of [RM] Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. [available]
As tune #110 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As tune #41 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
On page 71 of [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]
As other #12 in [Ng] Alan Ng. Alan Ng's Transcriptions. [available]
As polka #34 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [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): 1927
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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