Sarah’s Song waltz

Kenneth has not taken the opportunity to comment on this, so it should be mentioned that it was composed by Phil Cunningham.

This is beautiful, I really enjoy playing it, thank you.

We played this tune along with Tam Baim’s Lum, believe it or not, as a regular offering in our gigs. Our accordion player, Derek Macdonald, who died back in January of this year, loved to play the slow air and get the audience really enjoying the tune then the reaction when we went into Tam Bain was always a lot of fun to see! The long last D note led straight in to the opening phrase of Tam Bain.

Heard Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain play this extraordinary tune at Langholme in September 2016. Phil tells the story of receiving a phone call, asking him to write an "Irsih" tune that tells of Ireland’s "beauty", the two words he writes down on the scrap of paper, on which he then writes the tune. The page is then taken away for publication, and given the title "Irish Beauty", meaning, of course, the beauty of the land - not the title he had in mind. "Not a bad title, though" he says!

It should be mentioned that this has nothing like the feel of a waltz, and is only loosely in 3/4 time. Crotchet is about 60 to the minute, with lots of hung notes and pauses. A recording of Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain playing it can be found at http://streamzing.com/?artist=Phil-Cunningham&track=Irish-Beauty

Your comment re the tune not being at all like a waltz is absolutely true, Rob. It’s just that there is no category on the site for it other than the waltz section. A great tune anyway!