Brian Boru’s March jig

Yes, I know it’s not a jig. But there’s no "march" in the tune menu, and even if there were, some marches are 6/8 and some are 2/4, and Jeremy has pointed out to me that the site is set up so that the time signature is set by the tune type, not by the abc code we enter.

Jeff

I guess you can march to it. Jigs always being in 6/8 (seems to me) to be something that happened around 150 yrs ago. I’m also under the impression that the Irish word for jig "port" just means "tune" not really defining the meter. I’m not too sure about all of the facts I stated but I’m sure some subscribers could shed some more light on this subject.

I like the tune. I have matched it up with a jig called "The Black Rogue", and they work quite well together.
Tom

I know another version of this song, a more simple one, I found the sheets on the "ceili house band" site
Tiago

Maurice Lennon’s "Stone of Destiny" (on this database) goes with "Brian Boru’s March" quite well, presumably because both tunes have a march-like feel to them, even though one is a jig and the other a reel.
Trevor

Sometimes it’s good to go from one type of tune to another (slip jigs to jigs and vica versa are quite common). The combination of the Brian Boru March and Stone of Destiny was tried out at the Monkstown Wednesday session for no better reason than the Maurice Lennon connection and because it worked well it now crops up most weeks and has also found its way into Foinn Seisiun Book 2.

I think this is what those guys were playing in that scene with the pipes,fiddle and whistle.Am I right? I might be remembering it wrong.

Er, no. Didn’t we have this discussion over at O’Sullivan’s March? I don’t recall hearing this in the movie, and it wasn’t listed in the credits either.

Oh.Sorry.

No bigee. 🙂

There were many clan "marches". They were the themes of the clans. I’m not sure the word "march" means what we think of today, like Sousa and stuff. Many clan marches were banned because they incited sedition. Some only survived because they were used as dance tunes.

I noticed that this version is played in the key of A minor. I know it in the Key of B minor when I play it on the harp.It gives it a brighter sound in this key.

Phill

The tune is played in several keys and ways and combinations, including:
2-part: just A & B
3-part: adding the variant C
4-part: as given
6-part+: for the obsessive and the criminally insane…

Yeah. I used to play this, with the reel version of the tune, which I’m about to post. The version I had - and I have no idea where I got it from - was in two parts, thus:

X:1
T:Brian Boru
M:6/8
R:March
K:Edor
B | G>FE E2B | G>FE E2A | F>ED D2A | F>ED D2B |
G>FE E2B | G>FE E3 | EGA B2A |1 G<EE E2 :|2 G<EE E3 |
|: DGA B2A | B2A BAG | DFG A2F | A2F AFD |
EGA B2A | B2A BAG | EGA B2A |1 G<EE E3 :|2 G<EE E3 ||

Very similar to the tune as posted. I prefer it, ‘cos it’s mine, of course 🙂

The third to last bar can be played | B2A Bcd | for variation, though that does, of course, ‘fill in’ the mode, which I’ve suggested in the past that I like to avoid doing …

… for clarity, I meant the ante-penultimate bar …

It has been pointed out to me that the reel version which I have is already on the site, under the name: Sean Frank’s

https://thesession.org/tunes/102/details#comment100


It’s listed in Ceol Rince na hEireann, Breandan Breathnach as ‘Brian Boru’ - no 182 in Breathnach’s book, and goes great after this march, if you play the march also in Edor (which is what the reel should be in)

Setting as played at the Golden Guinea pub session, Bristol (UK).

This tune is used as the basis for a song by Alan Stilvell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SI0-q4K39A

play video

2-part version played in Oxford

From the playing of Joe O’Donnell’s Shkayla.

Maybe I missed this in the discussion, but could someone fill me in on who Brian Boru was?

Brian Boru was High King of Ireland, founder of the O’Brien dynasty. (Reign: 1002-1014)
source: Wikipedia

Cécile Corbel’s (Breton Harp Player) version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swv0kFp-6Zw

play video

Lyrics:
Comme le chant des pierres; Qui résonne en silence;
Comme l’eau qui serpente, Et qui gronde sous moi,
Tu sais, je reviendrais, Dans ma terre d’enfance;
Au pays des rêves, des fées et des rois.

Là-bas mon amour, Loin de la ville,
Il fait plus froid et les jours sont fragiles,
Brumes d’été, les clochers des îles tu verras,
J’irai là-bas.

Comme Brian Boru, Roi de l’irlande,
Je prendrais la mer et je rendrais les armes.
Brian boru, bientot je serai de retour,
E keltia.

Translation:
Like the song of stones; Which echoes in silence;
Like the water that winds, And rumbles under me,
You know, I would come back, In my childhood land;
In the country of dreams, Fairies and kings.

Over there my love, Far from the city,
It’s colder and the days are fragile,
Summer mists, the steeples of the islands you will see,
I will go there.

Like Brian Boru, King of Ireland,
I would take to the sea and I would surrender.
Brian boru, I’ll be back soon,
E keltia.

That gives a tune very surprising for an Irish tune, in phrygian mode, interesting anyway but quite weird here 😀
I suppose the F’s more probably to be sharp, and an E minor or aeolian key (3rd minor and 7th minor - with no 6th in the scale), which would make the version more in line with the others.
😉

Based on The Bonny Men’s version. First tune here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMeUX0lTw4o

play video

Well, shoot me down if you like, but going back to the OP’s post, there IS now a category for March, so I have amended Jig to March. It is akin to our dotted 6/8 pipe marches in the Scottish repertoire. I have always played it in B min. Here’s a clip that gives you all those favourite Irish marches in one track! (The third one being much the same as the Scottish march, The Roke and the Wee Pickle Tow, the town tune of Linlithgow, West Lothian, which has been discussed elsewhere on this site).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4WFmPYHA5U

play video

And if you want lyrics:

Brian the King (Brian Boru)

Crouched high in round towers, against the return
Of foreign marauders who pillage and burn
The monks of St. Kevin pray each in his turn
"When will God send us a Champion King?"
Around them is piled their treasures and gold
The manuscripts thick with the riches they hold
The monks raise a prayer that is desperate and bold
"When will God send us a Champion king?"

Chorus
Rally to me then Connemara,
Follow the one High King of Tara.
Fearlessly fight and boldly sing
Onward for Erin and Brian the King!
Warriors of Ulster, Munster, Leinster,
Cleanse her of those who’d war against her
Brian Boru shall victory bring
Onward for Erin and Brian the King!

In dagger thin boats that slice down the Bann,
The Shannon, the Liffey, each stream in the land
The Norse kill and plunder, afraid of no man
Who will lead Erin as Champion King?
For Erin is splintered by mountain and sea
Each fragment a kingdom but no kingdom free
‘Til Brian of Munster becomes the Ard-righ
And Erin unite for her Champion King!

Chorus

While Brian has slept, the years run their course
The sword of the British replaces the Norse
One more are we slave to a cruel foreign force
Who will lead Erin as Champion King?
Our shackles to sunder, our lands to defend
To dare to make Ireland all Irish again
What less can we do, and still call ourselves men?
Children of freedom and Brian the King?

Chorus