The Cedars Of Lebanon reel

I’m posting this tune in response to a meatspatial request by a fellow member of The Session, when it came up in Mick O’Connor’s session a couple of days ago. Having heard it before, I was able to blunder through it, but I resolved to seek it out and learn it properly, as it’s well worth the trouble.

It’s a composition of Sean Ryan, the late fiddler from Offaly. This transcription comes from Henrik Norbeck’s abc collection.

This has been played in the North of Ireland for several years, where it has been associated with Belfast fiddler Andy Dickson. Thanks, David - I hadn’t known it was one of Sean Ryan’s, or the composer’s title.

Also known as master seamus, this version comes from the playing of Johnny Canning, a great fiddler who was with the famous St. Roch Ceili Band, but is now a medical student in Dundee:

K:Dmaj
C3D|:EA, (3A,A,A, EA,C(E|DE)FA dcde|fd (3ddd AFDF|GGFG EGFG|
EA, (3A,A,A, EA,CE|DEFA dcde|fd (3ddd AFDF|1 GBAG FDDF:|2 GBAG FDDA|
|:~d3 e fdBd|Adfb afdf|e^def ~g3 a|bagf edce|
~d3 e fdBd|Ad (3ddB AFDF|GFGA B(d {e}dB)|1 AFEG FDDA:|2 AFEG FDDF|

For those who ain’t heard of them, the St Roch ceili band is reviewed on the footstompin website:

http://www.footstompin.com/artists/st_rochs_ceili_band

This is actually *not* the Master Seamus on Dermot Byrne, right? How confusing! Two Master Seamus’s, but only one of them is another name for Cedars of Lebanon?!?
Please clarify, somebody.

ballyhoo - in my opinion, Jamie’s source, John Canning got it wrong. This tune posted here is Sean Ryan’s “Cedars Of Lebanon”, although as I’ve said above, you will find it called, [ and occasionally recorded as, ] “Andy Dickson’s”.
“Master Seamus” , which you rightly point out was recorded by Dermot Byrne, is a completely different tune, and I believe, a Charlie Lennon composition, which was played a lot by Tommy Peoples. Another confirmation is that “Master Seamus” has also been recorded, under that title, on a Comhaltas tour CD by concertina player Ernestine Healy.

I learned it from Gerry O’Connor , where he gave credit to Sean Ryan as the writer .

Mark Evans, English flute player, bouzoukiist and singer, formerly resident in Baltimore, does a great job with it on "A Rival Heart" where he slows it down to a hornpipe, worth a listen:
http://www.rivalheart.com/

I mentioned Ernestine Healy above as playing the reel "Master Seamus" on a Comhaltas CD. The tune she plays before it is "The Cedars Of Lebanon". I can’t help but wonder if someone, somewhere along the line, has learned the tune from this recording and got the 2 tune names mixed up. Wouldn’t be the first time.

https://youtu.be/Brb_eT6ja6Q

play video