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FRAS’s debut 9 track album. Featuring Angus Binnie on pipes and whistles; Murdo Cameron on guitar; Tam Kinsella on banjo, Kirsten MacLeod on accordion and Colin Masterton on flute and whistles.

frasband.bandcamp.com

..surely some mistake!… First track, first tune is actually “Chanters Song” not O‘Donnell’s even though the track title is O’Donnell’s. No idea why. O’Donnell’s is aka the Haughs of Cromdale to pipers and sounds nothing like the Chanters Song!

They haven’t made any mistake at all. I’ve just listened to the first track. The opening tune is not “Chanter’s Song”. Here’s Sean O’Rourke playing “Chanter’s Song” - a different tune altogether :

https://youtu.be/9pJgDnoQvUU

play video

I choose to differ - that is said same tune - chanters song ! Have you listened to the track? The first tune is certainly not the dots of O’donnell’s (Haughs of Cromdale / Tralee Gaol etc) and is exactly the dots of Chanters song (given slight artistic variations - both of which are listed here and both of which i play regularly ! See Birlibirdie’s A mix transcription. That is what Angus Binnie is playing on his border pipes although throws in a few Gs in bar 2 instead of As - Mikethebook Ador version is even closer.

You can differ all you want, but the first tune on that track is not “Chanter’s Song” or any variant of it. It’s not the tunes I know as “Haughs Of Cromdale / Tralee Gaol” either. It’s only providing a link to that because somebody - without providing any justification for it - has added the title “O’Donnell’s Return” to “Tralee Gaol”.

There are 7 “settings” of “Chantersong” posted here :

https://thesession.org/tunes/2082

- plus I’ve provided you with a “Youtube ”clip of it being played.
If you can’t hear the difference between that and “O’Donnell’s Return” as played by “Fras”, then there’s little I can do to help you.

I have put up the dots of chanters song as played by Angus Binnie under “chanters song”. Go compare.
It emphatically is not O‘donnell’s. At least, not any of the “O’Donnells return” listed on this site !

OK. Final word. I asked Angus Binnie himself - There is a tune called O’Donnell’s Return in Allan MacDonald’s Book “The second hundred” (arranged by him as Trad.) and it is almost identical to the Chanters Song bar a few notes. I have no doubt the origin is the same.

Managed to get “O’Donnells Return” removed (as a synonym) from Tralee Gaol and re-instated as a new tune in it’s own right so the link above now works to the correct tune.