The Arra Mountains slip jig

Thanks to Emily for teaching this tune to Sos, Zina, and myself during Paddy’s Angels’ visit to Montana. Em learned it from Kevin Crawford at Gaelic Roots this year and gave it to us as he played it on flute. This instantly became one of my favorite slip jigs--it’s “awesome,” isn’t it Em? 🙂 Totally.

For the sake of getting the basic tune under your fingers, here’s a somewhat simplified setting:

T: Paddy O’Brien’s
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
K: A dorian
|:EAA EAB cBc|EAA EAG GFG|EAA EAB c2 d|
|ege ege dBG:||
|A2 a gef g3|e2 a ged Bcd|e2 a gef g2 e|
|dBd ege dBG|
|A2 a gfe g3|e2 a ged Bcd|efg fga g2 e|
|dBd ege dBG||

And here’s how it’s been coming out on my fiddle lately:

T: Paddy O’Brien’s
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
K: A dor
||EAA EAB ~c3|EAA EAF GFG|EAA EAB c2 d|~e3 ege dBG:||
|[Ae]aa gef ~g3|[Ae]aa ged Bcd|[Ae]aa gef g2 e|dB/c/d ege dBG|
|[Ae]aa gef ~g3|[Ae]aa ged Bcd|e/f/ge f/g/af g2 e|dB/c/d ege dBG||

Good job Will! I was also in that class and had fun learning this slip jig with Emily. Kevin rolled the C naturals as a variation.

Joyce

We’ve been playing this one followed up by Kid on the Mountain recently. Good stuff.

T:Arra Mountains
R:slip jig
N:track 12b
D:Brian McNamara: Fort of the Jewels
Z:Bill Reeder
M:9/8
L:1/8
K:G
EAA EAB c3|EAA AGF GED|EAA EAB c2d|e2e ege dBG:||!
.Aza gef ~g3|~a3 ged Bcd|eAA gef ~g2e|d^cd efe dBG|!
.Aza gef ~g3|aba ged Bcd|e/f/ge f/g/af g2e|d^cd efe dBG||

I found this on a pae of music that also had “A Fig for a Kiss”.

I have a feeling there is a problem here with the key signature. The G# just doesn’t sound right to my ears and the occasional C# might be ok where the accidentals are marked but not in the key signature. Which leaves us with onlythe F# in the key signature (?Amix).
I couldn’t find any other source for this tune to see how it might be notated elsewhere.
There is a SLIABH BÁNA reel which is the ‘White Mountain’ Reel - probably no relation. Alos there is an air also known as “Sliabh Geal gCua ” or “The White Mountain”.
Also can’t find any record of a recording of this tune and I have done an abc search that failed to turn up anything.
Having said all that it seems like a nice tune.

This is Arragh Mountains, aka Paddy O’Brien’s, already in the archives here: https://thesession.org/tunes/1901

Well aren’t I the silly one. I did an abc search on TuneDB and Google but didn’t get around to doing it the only place that really matters - HERE!
Will, do you happen to know whether this was the Nenagh (Tipperary) POB - deceased, or the other one? The settings on the other entry sound great. Really nice tune.

These are the words of a song.The Slivermines are some hills where they found a bit of silver - doh! They are not far from Nenagh and Newtown which was the home of the deceased Paddy O’Brien. He recorded this on his album with a fiddler - Banks of the Shannon.
"Leave me on the road to Nenagh,
Hear the rippling Shannon call,
Where the Arragh mountains meet the Silvermines, "

To complete the picture go to this website:
http://www.destinations-uk.com/ireland.php?countyid=66
Garrykennedy is where Paddy O’Brien used to play in the sessions at Larkins Pub

http://wikimapia.org/7623995/Arra-Mountains-Sliabh-Ara
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/105348
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7899662

X: 5
T: Arra Mountains, The
C: Paddy O’Brien
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: Ador
|: E2 A EAB cBc | E2 A EAF GED |
E2 A EAB c2 d | e2 e ege dBG :|
|: A2 a gef gfg | A2 a ged Bcd |
[1 A2 a gef g2 e | d2 d ege dBG :|
[2 e2 e faf g2 e | d2 d ege dBG |]

Paddy O’Brien’s version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o-V6nMJeSc

play video

Athena Tergis plays this as The Arragh Mountains with Will You Come Down to Limerick? It’s a lovely set together.

But who has had the strange idea to insert confusion with the title of this tune by adding “The Cock and the Hen” as the main (yes, the main !) title of this tune ? I checked (as of 2021, march the 14th) all the recordings of it and none use that title.
Furthermore this tune composed by Paddy O’Brien has been named The Arra Mountains, which is the name appaearing in all the recordings found here, so no need to add an hypothetical other completely different alternative name.
I will correct it (if possible)
PS: the “real” The Cock & the Hen" is here https://thesession.org/tunes/93

Third tune :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kmch_GRUqA

play video

I learned this setting from Siobhán Peoples, my online teacher for Willie Week this year. We’re playing it before Never An Easy Mind: https://thesession.org/tunes/191#setting41563

The second part of this setting is particularly interesting, where the melody seems to cut across the bars somehow, making it sound as though the tune is skipping a beat even though it’s actually straightforward slip jig timing throughout. Great tune!

As played on my C#/D box