Young Tom Ennis (jig) on The Session

Also known as The Banshee That Wailed Over The Mangle Pit, The Banshee Wailing Over The Mangle Pit, The Banshee’s Wail Over The Mangle Pit, The Banshee’s Wail Over The Mango Pit, The Banshee’s Wail, Martin Hayes’, Scully Casey’s, The Young Tom Ennis.

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Here is a version in G dor known and played in Bristol (UK) as Martin Hayes’ Jig. I don’t know at present whether he wrote it or whether the tune is otherwise associated with him.
I’m posting this version to celebrate Martin Hayes’ and Denis Cahill’s welcome return to the St George’s Hall in Bristol on January 28 2003 where they gave their all for 2 and a half hours to a packed and entranced audience. Martin remarked during the concert that G minor (or dorian - I’m not splitting hairs) is his favourite key, so this version is doubly appropriate.

K:Gdor
BAG ABA|GFD FGA|BAG Adc|AGG G2A|
BAG ABA|GFD FGA|Bcd cdc|1 AGG G2A:|2 AGG G2e|
|:fed gfd|cAF FAc|fed gfe|def g2e|
fed gfd|cAF FGA|Bcd cdc|1 AGG G2e:|2 AGG G3||

The G dorian version no doubt comes off of Martin Hayes, as recorded by him on Under the Moon.

Young Tom Ennis in A Dorian

A slightly different Ador version

cBA BcB|AGE GAB|cBA Bed|BAA A2B|
cBA B/c/dB|AGE GAB|cde ded|1 BAA A2B:|2 BAA A2f||
|:gfe age|dBG GBd|gfe agf|efg a2f|
[1 gfe age|dBG GAB|cBA Bed|BAA A2f:|
[2 gab age|dBG GAB|cBA Bed|BAA A2B||

Young Tom Ennis

Played here by Liam O’Flynn and Paddy Glackin, not the best sound quality but a lovely feel to it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3hm7tFbTNI&feature=rec-HM-fresh+div

play video

Young Tom Ennis

In A dorian there of course

Explanation?

This is a very specific title: there must be a story or legend attached to it: does anybody out there know it?

Origin of the title

Quote from http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/BAN_BARM.htm :

The story goes that Martin Hayes searched for a while for a name for this tune, and finally asked Paddy O’Brien (Tipperary), a storehouse of such information, if he knew a title for it. Paddy did not, and when Hayes then asked if he would make one up, O’Brien responed with the delightfully odd “Banshee’s Wail Over the Mangle Pit.” (…) The ‘mangle pit’ part of O’Brien’s title probably refers to bitter brassicas—rutabagas or vegatables akin to a turnip—that are used to feed cattle as winter fodder; thus a ‘mangle pit’ is a vegetable dump in the ground.

This is a greatly haunting tune. I played it out in my field where the mangles grow, (mangles are a root vegetable related to beets, good stock fodder) and noticed an improved growth rate over the next few days. Coincidence? Probably not. Irish music has a way with crops.

A “mangle pit” is akin to a potato clamp. It’s not a “dump”, but a storage system using straw and earth to keep the frost out.

The word for the vegetable is more commonly spelled “mangel” to distinguish it from a device for wringing clothes. Other names for the mangel include mangelwurzel, wurzel and mangold.

http://www.mangoldhurling.co.uk/