The Salamanca

reel

Key signature: Dmajor

Submitted on May 25th 2001 by Jeremy.

This tune has been added to 356 tunebooks.

Also known as Salamanca, Salamango.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

• 1975 The First by The Bothy Band
• A Tribute To John McKenna by Mick Woods
• Across The Waters - Irish Traditional Music From England by Various Artists
• Aislinn (A Vision) by The Celtic Jazz Collective
• An Exciting Session With One Of Ireland's Leading Traditional Fiddlers by Tommy Peoples
• An Fhidil by Various Artists
• Barr Na Cuille by Neil Mulligan
• Between Words by Cé
• Bosca Bideach by Micheal Darby O Fatharta
• Brian Kelly by Brian Kelly
• Champions Of Ireland: Flute by Grainne Kelly And Ciaran Madsen
• Clare Accordion by Seamus Walshe
• Coleman's Cross: Tradtional Irish Music From County Sligo by Philip Duffy
• Cora Smyth And Breda Smyth by Cora Smyth And Breda Smyth
• Could Be Worse by Celtic Brew
• Doublin' by Paddy Glackin And Paddy Keenan
• Early Recordings Of Irish Traditional Dance Music by John Kimmel
• Fiddler's Fancy by Tommy Peoples
• Foinn Seisiun 1 by Ceoltóirí Cultúrlainne
• Folktrax-075: Johnny Doherty, The Star Of Donegal by John Doherty
• Forty Years Of Irish Piping by Seamus Ennis
• From The Archives by Sean McGuire And Josephine Keegan
• In The Moment by Alasdair Fraser With Natalie Haas
• Instrumental by The Dubliners
• Ireland's Best Session Tunes CD 1 by Waltons Recording
• Irish Accordion by Joe Derrane
• Irish Dance Music by Various Artists
• Irish Dances by Various Artists
• Jack In The Box Irish Session by Tionol
• Lifescapes Celtic Fiddle by Various Artists
• Micheal O Suilleabhain by Micheal O Suilleabhain
• Milltown Lass by Rose Murphy
• Molly's Revenge Four by Molly's Revenge
• My Love Is In America by Various Artists
• My Love Is In America by David Power
• Past Masters Of Irish Dance Music by Various Artists
• Patrick Kelly From Cree : Fiddle Music by Patrick Kelly
• Plays The Irish Tenor Banjo by Kieran Hanrahan
• Rags, Reels And Airs by Dave Swarbrick
• Remember Des Donnelly by Des Donnelly
• Reprise by Paddy Glackin And Micheal O Domhnaill
• Sheridan's Guesthouse by Dave Sheridan
• Spinndrift by Mooncoin
• Temple House 2 by Temple House Ceili Band
• The Best Of by The Bothy Band
• The Celebrated Recordings by John Doherty
• The Drones And The Chanters by Various Artists
• The High Part Of The Road by Tommy Peoples And Paul Brady
• The Home I Left Behind by CCE Tour 1974
• The Irish Concertina by Noel Hill
• The Pipers Club by The Pipers Club Ceili Bnad
• The Rare Stuff by The Rare Stuff
• The Return From Fingal by Séamus Ennis
• The Session by Na Connerys
• The Spirit Of West Clare by Bobby Casey
• The Wounded Hussar by Pete Cooper
• Traditional Dance Music Of Ireland by Various Artists
• Traditional Irish Music by William Sullivan
• Traditional Irish Music Played On The Uilleann Pipes by Robbie Hannan
• Twos And Threes by Murphy Roche Irish Music Club

X: 1
T: Salamanca, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|:dB|ADFD ADFD|Adcd fdcd|BEGE BEGE|Bded cdeg|
fBAB fBAB|fafc deag|fdec dBAG|FGEF D2:|
|:fg|afdg bgeg|fdec dcBc|ABcd defg|a2^gb a2f=g|
afff geee|fdec dfag|fdec dBAG|FGEF D2:|

I find this tune to be quite tricky and when it came time to transcribe it, I really had to stop and think about what I actually play. I'm still not sure if this quite how I do it.

It's definitely a good idea to play this one nice and slowly and tell you're absolutely certain you can hit every note. Otherwise you're going to get tripped up in that second part.

The first part can be tricky enough as well. You can ornament it nicely with some triplets. In the opening bar, try a FED triplet instead of FD in the ADFD phrases. If you can do similar triplets for the other phrases like this (e.g. GFE instead of GE at the end of the BEGE phrase) then the tune gets a nice lift to it.

Watch out for that G sharp in the second bit - it's come back to haunt you from St. Anne's Reel.

# Posted on June 2nd 2001 by Jeremy

VERY nice tune.

# Posted on March 16th 2002 by Josh Kane

I think Jeremy has it alittle wrong. The second part actually goes:

|:fg|afde gbeg|fdcd AGFG|Addc etc.

(I think)

# Posted on April 8th 2004 by llig leahcim

Salamanca

Michael, a distinctive rendering! Harmonically it fits in with the tune as first posted, so I suppose it's not really a "version".
TRevor

# Posted on April 22nd 2004 by lazyhound

I have it as fg|afdg bgeg|fd (3dcd BAFG|Addc defg|(3aba ^gb a2
Am I wrong too?

# Posted on April 22nd 2004 by Dow

yes

# Posted on April 23rd 2004 by llig leahcim

# Posted on April 23rd 2004 by Dow

Name of tune

I have this as the Wild Salamanca. I remember eading somewhere that the tune title refers to a wild Spanish horse. We had a go-round in the the pub the other night about tune titles.
Anybody else know about the title for The Salamanca? If so could you email me direct to:david@dlevine.net. Thanks.

# Posted on August 28th 2005 by cocus

The Salamanca reel

I heard somewhere that the name of this reel was a reference to the Irish seminary in Salamanca, Spain.
In the penal times when it was illegal to study for the priesthood in Ireland or Britain, seminaries were set up specially for them in catholic countries on the continent.
There was one for the English in Valladolid (near Salamanca).
Presumably, some of the students studying there were musicians.
I met a priest in Lancashire a few years ago who told me he learnt Spanish while studying there, so it may still be there.

Of course, all this may have nothing to do with the name of the reel, but it´s something I heard or read, I can´t remember where.
I´ll send the gist of this post to David´s e-mail address in case he doesn´t get to read this.

# Posted on August 28th 2005 by murfbox

The Salamanca

As for the "Wild" bit, that could refer to the way the tune is played.
You have The Bucks of Oranmore, but you have the Mighty Bucks of Oranmore on a recording by Noel Hill and Tony Macmahon. The same tune but played in a more exciting way than usual.

# Posted on August 28th 2005 by murfbox

"An Asal Cam" ~ "Salamanca into a jig in D Major

Submitted & Created on July 26th 2002 by milesnagopaleen.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/860

# Posted on November 27th 2005 by ceolachan

Salamanca reel

The Dubliners have a great banjo recording of a tune under this name, but it seems several tunes have adopted this name, does anyone know of the recording and if a midi file is on this website?

# Posted on January 23rd 2006 by TyroneMick

Re: Salamanca reel

Somewhat weirdly, there's only one tune I know of with the name Salamanca, and it's this one: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/99 . Never heard the Dubliners recording, but can't imagine that a tune called The Salamanca would be a significantly different one from the one everyone else calls The Salamanca, unless they just got the name wrong when they recorded it. There's about as many different settings of the thing as there are players, though, Mick.

# Posted on January 23rd 2006 by Zina Lee

Re: Salamanca reel

Perhaps I'm still getting used to this whole 'internet' thing, and this website in particular!

# Posted on January 23rd 2006 by TyroneMick

Re: Salamanca reel

Takes some getting used to, Mick. Believe me. I've been here since the beginning and still can't quite get used to some of the goings-on.

# Posted on January 23rd 2006 by Zina Lee

Re: Salamanca reel

Hey that's spooky because I was trying this tune today and I haven't played it for ages, then I open The Session and...

# Posted on January 23rd 2006 by RichardB

Re: Salamanca reel

Follow this tune with McMahon's (The Banshee) and the Sailor's Bonnet and you'll have a set popularised by the great Bothy Band which most players will be familiar with.

# Posted on January 23rd 2006 by Bannerman