An Comhra Donn hornpipe

Here’s another tune I’ve gotten off a record by The Chieftains. The title means “The Brown Chest” in Gaelic. It’s on The Chieftains (1), and I give it here as they played it on that recording, but on An Irish Evening they play it slightly differently under the name O’Murchu’s Hornpipe. I prefer to play it like the version on the latter album, and I give that transcription here, with headers and all in case you care to plug it into a converter to see which version you like better:

X: 1
T: An Comhra Donn
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: hornpipe
K: Dmaj
FG|ABAG FAde|fgfe dcdA|BcdB AFDE|FEED E2FG|
ABAG FAde|fgfe dcdA|BcdB AFEG|F2D2 D2:|
fg|agfd gfec|dcde fdAF|GA BG FADF|Efgf e2fg|
|agfd gfec|dcde fdAF|GABG FAEG|F2D2 D2|:

Anyway, I like the feel of this tune. It has a spring to it, so to speak, and seems like a rather light-hearted little ditty to me. It’s paired with Murhpy’s Hornpipe on The Chieftains’ afore-mentioned album,and the two go very well together, An Comhra Donn coming in before and after Murphy’s. Well, the notations for both versions have been fine-tuned to my personal satisfaction, and I hope it attains the same from you.

Lovely tune! I just picked up a book and CD of 50 solos by Sean Keane, and that one jumped out at me just this morning as I listened. Thanks for this version too.
Helen

An Comhra Don or The Brown Box was a euphemism in Ireland for a coffin.I just thought I’d mention that.David meredith

There is a hornpipe called a Donegal German which is very akin to this one.

The Durham Rangers: https://thesession.org/tunes/3376

This tune is on an album called Sandy Bell’s Ceilidh. It’s a compilation of tunes from various artists that used to play at Sandy Bell’s Pub in Edinburgh back in the 70s.

Does anyone know why this tune is called “The Brown Coffin”? That’s how Google Translate renders “An Comhra Donn” (Running it the other way gives the same thing, with a slightly different spelling, which I assume is the result of modern spelling standardization). Is there a story hiding there? Has the meaning of “comhra” shifted over the years? Maybe a regional difference? Or is it just Irish cheer at wakes and funerals?
It really seems strange to have such a cheerful, bright tune be titled this way. I’d like to know if there’s some reason.

According to this page (http://worldmusiccentral.org/2004/04/14/comhra-na-dtonn-a-book-and-cd-about-irish-traditional-music/), “Comhra Na Dtonn” means “Conversation of the Waves”. Seems like the original title may have been “An Comhradh Na Dtonn”, which was simplified over time to “An Comhra Na Dtonn” (alternative title listed above) and further to “An Comhra Donn”. Dinneen (1927 ed.) gives the definition of “comhradh” as “conversation, speech, dialogue, talk”, and “tonn” means “wave”. Note the other alternative title listed above “The Chorus of Waves”, which is in the same vein.

It’s my opinion that this tune is the ancestor of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. They are unmistakably similar.

This is the first tune played on Out The Gap by Sharon Shannon Track 6 titled Thunderhead. It is a setting of Comhra Donn but quite different to what is already posted above If anyone with better ears than me wishes to correct any of the notes please feel free to note any errors on my part.. The second tune is listed on Irish Tune info no 3449 as Gan ainm but I am trying to get a name . If anyone out there knows it I would appreciate it. The keys is different as I think she plays it in e flat.

Sorry meant Irish tune info 3349.

CORRECTION to X4.
second last bar of first line second part should be bafa not bada. Sorry for misprint.

The misprint in the tune has now been corrected . Thanks .

Lonnie the Harper has an interesting point about the tune’s resemblance to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I don’t know if there’s anything to that or not, but here’s another (possibly accidental) point of contact: The Battle Hymn of the Republic is also called John Brown’s Body. Compare that to The “Brown” Coffin.

One of my first and favorite tunes. Yes, it does have a spring to it as someone said, but I still tend to think of it as a funeral march. Beautiful piece IMO.

Better Irish is probably An Comhrá na dTonn…conversation/chorus of the waves.
The pronunciation is the same.

Setting from Breandan Breathnach “Ceol Rince Na hEireann Vol.1” - tune #210.
Source : accordion player Sonny Brogan.

This setting is the result of a discussion here : https://thesession.org/tunes/1636 , and it discussed a fingering difficulty in bar #12.

I’ve added an alternative fingering (Variation 1), plus another two variations that change a few notes, which then avoid having to make that jump of a ninth from low E to high B.

Other than that, the setting is the same as setting # 1.

Just to make it clear, this is not a Paddy O’Brien composition.

In this link you will see all the ABCs of all the tunes in the collection The Definitive Collection of the Music of Paddy O’Brien 1922-1991
(ed.Eileen O’Brien Minogue, 2009)

http://www.capeirish.com/webabc/working/source.folders/pobr/pobr_ABC.txt

For the compositions you will see:

C:© Paddy O’Brien

But for the tunes that are not compositions and are arrangements of Paddy O’Brien you won’t see that. You will see this instead:

H:arr. Paddy O’Brien

And this is what happens with this tune.

This is a nice dance tune. In the rural USA it got the name “Grasshopper Sittin on a Sweet Potato Vine”. And the lyrics given to it on the plantations are more fun than An Comhra Donn.