The Bush In Bloom reel

Source: Fourmolehouse by Alan & John Kelly
Transcription: g.m.p.

T:Bush in Bloom, The
M:4/4
L:1/8
S:Heathery Breeze by Matt molloy
R:reel
K:G

d2BG AGEF|G2(3Bcd efge|dGBG AGEF|1GBAF ~g3e:|2GBAF ~g3z||:
g2dg egde|gdbg ageg|g2dg egdb|agef ~g3z|
ag~g2 agef|gefd edBz|eg~g2 ea~a2|agef ~g3z:|

I think I prefer this as a single. That Matt Molloy setting’s nice. The O’Neill’s version’s quite a lot different in the 2nd part, and retains that variation where it goes up high halfway through the A-part:

X: 1
T: The Bush in Bloom
L: 1/8
M: C|
R: Reel
S: O’Neill – Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 515 (ornamentation edited out by me)
K: Gmaj
d2BG AGEF|G2Bd efge|d2BG AGEd|eaag fde^c|
d2BG AGEF|G2Bd efge|d2BG AGEF|GBAF G2ef||
g2dg Bgdg|g2bg agef|g2dg Bgdg|egfa g2ga|
bg~g2 agef|gage dega|bgaf gfed|edef gage||

Mark’s (NB/Dow) version from O’Neill’s is very close to what I got off of a live recording from the Ennis Fleadh Nua in 2003.

Here’s a great rendition of the tune: http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_222_4_francis_oconnor

The second tune of the set is probably a reel version of Lord Moira, or Bonnie Scotland.

This version from the more modern section of the Power manuscript from Kilmore in Wexford is very similar to x3 above. The ‘modern’ section of the Power manuscript has pages dated 1921, so it may be the case that the music transciber had access to a copy of O’Neill’s book as a source for many of the tunes in that section.