The Humours Of Carrigaholt reel

Requested by JimFrey. Unlike previous postings , this is a tune I haven’t learned up until now, but it’s a good ‘un.
This setting is from one of the Armagh Piper’s Club whistle tutors. It’s not a tune I’ve come across much in sessions, even in Ireland.

Another version of this reel is played in Chieftains 4, track 1. Here is the ABC notation:

X:1
T:Humours of Carrigaholt, The
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:reel
K:Dmaj
fe|d=cAF ~G2AG|FDD2 FGAB|=cAGF ~G2FG|Add^c d2:|
~f2df ~f2gf|edcd efge|fd~d2 f2gf|edcd ~e3e|
fded ~f2gf|edcd ef~g2|agfa gfec|Addcd2||

Angelina and Peter Carberry and John Blake play a version in A-flat, on their CD “Memories from the Holla.” This sounds nice because you get all the bass notes going on the banjo.

I assume Angeline retuned the banjo to do this, so I transposed it to G. (Perhaps she played in A and dropped the tuning a semitone, but it’s nice to hit that open G string) Here we go:

X:1
T:Humours of Carrigaholt
D: Peter & Angelina Carberry: Memories From The Holla
M:C|
R:Reel
K:G
BA|: GFDB, C2 DC | B,G,G,A, B,CDE|=FEDB, C2 B,C|DGGA BGAF|
GFDB, C2 DC|B,G,G,A, B,CDE|=FEDB, C2 B,C|1 DGGF G2 BA :|2 DGGF G2 GA|
B2 GA BGdB|AGFG ABcA|BDGA BGdB|AGFE D3 A|Bdd^c dedB|
cBAB c2 Bc|dedc BGAF|G2 GA BGAF:|

They organize it a little strangely as well, doubling the A part and singling the B part, and eventually ending on the A part before going in to Tie the Bonnet. But it sounds great!

This is a lovely tune and I think maybe it influenced the first part of Jackie Daly’s Fly Fishing Reel, when played in A. Then again, it could be co-incidence. On listening to the Carberry’s version of this tune and then to Jackie play the Fly Fishing Reel I was taken by how similar the first part of both tunes were.

Paddy, do you know O’Connell’s Trip to Parliament? That has a similar A-part too.

Indeed it does.

micho russell plays a variation of this under the name patsy cambell’s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWrLrXVN9Gg

play video

This one is always such a pleasure to play.