Islay Rant reel

Good one, slainte. A composition of fiddler Charlie McKerron of “Capercaillie”. I have heard it played in sessions in Ireland, and it was recorded by flute player Emer Mayock.

While I got to know this tune through a brilliant album “Opus Blue” by Shetland fiddler Catriona MacDonald, I later found it sometimes comes up in the sessions in Edinburgh.

It’s another composition by Charlie MacKerron, the fiddler with the band Capercaillie. The dramatic and lyrical melody of the tune definitely comes from the northern tradition.

Originally a fiddle piece but sounds nice on my whistle, too! We can freely choose the speed.

Inspired by Dow’s post.

Does anybody play it on the banjo?

Great tune. This gets played fast and is often paired with the Glasgow (Tam Lin) reel initially at the D minor pitch at the session I go to. However, I think its better at a steady pace.

This is a great tune of Charlie’s. I learned a slightly different version from Karen Steven.

Soooooo, what makes a rant a rant?

Zina, for information on rants, at least in the Northumbrian context, refer to:
https://thesession.org/discussions/1126
However, the name seems to be used occasionally in Scotland and Ireland for tunes which seem to me to be indistinguishable form reels. I suspect McKerron’s use of the word is more in a figurative (I do not refer here to dance figures) sense than in reference to any sort of dance form or rhythm. I could be mistaken.

Anyway, back to the tune. The version posted above is that which I have heard played in sessions. The version recorded by Capercaillie, on the album, ‘Delirium’, however, featuring the composer himself on fiddle, instead of repeating the B-part, reverts to the 2nd strain of the A-part for the last 8 bars (I’m experiencing deja vu. See )

Why doesn’t anyone else play it like that?

Slainte, I would play it on banjo if I had one. I play it on mandolin and whistle (not at the same time), and it sound good on both.

We used to play this a lot preceded by Floating To Skerry (A waltz) and followed by Brenda Stubbert’s …
Just so as you know.

I do. Usually followed by farewell to chernobyl, which is a bit tricky to play on banjo, but I like the set.

This would appear to be the same tune as the reel recorded by Kevin Burke on the “Portland” album and on “Up Close as ”The Beare Island Reel".
He attributes it to some fiddle family from the Beare Island Peninsula, Southern Ireland. Whatever, it’s still a great tune and one of my all time favourites.

Riverunner, you’ve got this confused with Beare Island, which is a far different tune (see https://thesession.org/tunes/696) composed by Finbar Dwyer.

A bit similar to Andy Renwick’s Ferret by Gordon Duncan https://thesession.org/tunes/439

here’s the version i know, it’s a bit simpler/more repetitive, but i like the changing C note.



M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amix
|:cA (3AAA cAdA|eA (3AAA eAfA|(g2 g)f gedB|GABG =cGBG|
cA (3AAA cAdA|eA (3AAA eAfA|(g2 g)f gedB|1 GABG A4:||2 \ GABG A2 e2|
|:(a2 a)b aged|eA (3AAA eAfA|(g2 g)f gedB|GABG =cGBG|
cA (3AAA cAdA|eA (3AAA eAfA|(g2 g)f gedB|1 GABG A2 e2:||2 \ GABG A4||

Do most people play this tune the way it’s written on this web page??

“Islay Rant”
Key signature: A Dorian
Submitted on May 22nd 2003 by slainte.
https://thesession.org/tunes/1688

“The Islay Rant” / “Islay Ranters” / “Charlie McKerron’s” ~ reel
Key signature: A Dorian
Submitted on October 18th 2003 by Peter Piper.
https://thesession.org/tunes/2076

Key signature: A Dorian
Submitted on October 18th 2003 by Peter Piper.
https://thesession.org/tunes/2076

Do you know it differently? If so, consider doing a transcription and offering it in the comments to one of the two given, your own take on it or a transcription from a source you’re fond of? 😏

If anyone ever plays any of the tunes how they are written, they are idiots

Written conventions are interesting.

Do you say “izlay” ranters?
Or “I’ll eh” ranters? (as in “eh” what “way” are you going)
Or “I’ll a”? (as in with the “I’ll” as the shortening of “I will” and the “a” as in the “a” in the middle of “cat”?)

It’s important to remember that comparing the conventions of written language with how you actually speak is the same as comparing written conventions of music with how you play it.

So to ask the question “Do most people play this tune the way it’s written?” is simply ludicrous

Clearly, it’s “eyes-lee”, as in the brothers.

or “ees-lah,” as in the the Madonna song “La Isley Bonita”

Now who went and opened Pandora’s fiddle case?

llig, you are one of the reasons I keep coming back. You crack me up! 🙂

Pronounced eye-la. Written by Charlie MacKerron of Capercaillie.

Well, why isn’t it spelt “eye-la”, then? Was I subjected to 17 years of education for nothing?

Ceolachan - I thought Pandora played th box.

My Barfly program plays all the tunes exactly how they are written. 😛

Granama, unless you were educated in English versions of Gaelic place names then your 17 years would be irrelevant in this instance. sorry 🙂

Does anyone know the tune that Capercaillie play before this? On their album ‘Delirium’, Islay Ranters Reels is a 2 tune set.

Thanks.

It is here:

https://thesession.org/tunes/9712

This is how the tune was originally played by Charlie and Capercaillie on Delirium. The most significant difference from some versions of the tune is that, in the 2nd part it only goes into the A major section the first time round.

X:1
T:Islay Ranter’s Reel
M:4/4
C: Charlie McKerron
D: Capercaillie - Delirium
R:Reel
K:Ador
|: EAAB cgcd | e2 ed eAAf | g2 gf gBBA | GA (3BAG cABA |
EAAB cgcd | e2 ed eAAf | g2 gf gBBA |1 GA (3BAG A3 G :|2 GA (3BAG A3 g |
| a2 ab aged | eA (3AAA eAfA | g2 gf gBBA | GA (3BAG cABA |
| ^cA (3AAA cAdA | eA (3AAA eAfA | g2 gf gBBA | GA (3BAG A3 |
a2 ab aged | eA (3AAA eAfA | g2 gf gBBA | GA (3BAG cABA |
EAAB cgcd | e2 ed eAAf | g2 gf gBBA |1 GA (3BAG A3 A3 G ||

I wish there was a way you could edit posts on here. Couple of small changes - added a ‘g’ at the end of the 2nd line of the 2nd part and took out the 1st time bar sign that was sitting at the end of the tune due to lazy copying and pasting on my part!

X:1
T:Islay Ranter’s Reel
M:4/4
C: Charlie McKerron
D: Capercaillie - Delirium
R:Reel
K:Ador
|: EAAB cgcd | e2 ed eAAf | g2 gf gBBA | GA (3BAG cABA |
EAAB cgcd | e2 ed eAAf | g2 gf gBBA |1 GA (3BAG A3 G :|2 GA (3BAG A3 g |
| a2 ab aged | eA (3AAA eAfA | g2 gf gBBA | GA (3BAG cABA |
| ^cA (3AAA cAdA | eA (3AAA eAfA | g2 gf gBBA | GA (3BAG A3 g |
a2 ab aged | eA (3AAA eAfA | g2 gf gBBA | GA (3BAG cABA |
EAAB cgcd | e2 ed eAAf | g2 gf gBBA | GA (3BAG A3 A3 G ||

The tune before this on Delirium is called Martin Rochford’s and can be found here:

https://thesession.org/tunes/1062#comment456237

Sorry about the dead link 3 posts up. The tune got deleted as a duplicate.

“Does anybody play it on the banjo?” slainte

I give it my best shot… Sounds great.

"Anyway, back to the tune. The version posted above is that which I have heard played in sessions. The version recorded by Capercaillie, on the album, ‘Delirium’, however, featuring the composer himself on fiddle, instead of repeating the B-part, reverts to the 2nd strain of the A-part for the last 8 bars (I’m experiencing deja vu. See )

Why doesn’t anyone else play it like that?" CreadurMawnOrganig

We do!

NCFA has it in the last set of abc’s above. Up to the high g rather than down to the low G. Does it matter? Well, that depends on the company you keep.

My take on Capercaillie’s version.

For the melody I used the version played by an Asturian band called Skitarna, I give you the link of the track of the only cd they recorded. The reel is the third one in the set. My setting has a quite simple melody, I avoided any variation on it.

For the ornamentation I only used rolls and cuts.

https://youtu.be/IrxtayQ_WQA

play video

My take