An Chearc Ar Fad Is An Anairthe slide

I learnt this tune originally as simply “Kerry Slide” but the set that it was in is labeled ‘single jigs’ and it does sound more like a jig than a slide. So I submitted it as a jig. Corrections, clarifications, or lawsuits are welcome 🙂

-Jonathan

I’d say it’s a slide for sure.

I’ve taken the liberty of changing the details and ABC accordingly: feel free to change them back if you’re sure it should be a jig.

It’s definitely got that slidiness to its rhythm though.

Thanks, Jeremy. I can’t argue with an expert! :

I’m sure this has been discussed a billion times before, but what is the difference between a jig and slide? the time signature? the ‘slidiness’?

One way to tell it’s a slide is to look at the time signature. If it’s a slide it will say 12/8 instead of 6/8. But this isn’t reliable, and if there’s no sheet music -- how can you tell? It wasn’t until I began playing for set dancers that the distinction revealed itself to me. If you imagine playing a hornpipe a little slower and with a dotted rhythm, (dum… de dum… de dum… de dum…) and then keep that rhythm in your head and fit the slide into it -- you’ll have a slide. It’s not simply a fast jig, but rather something more like a slow, dotted hornpipe. If you try this with a regular jig it will feel awkward and seem like there

“something like slow dotted hornpipes”

Aren’t hornpipes already dotted, as in swing eighths? Or do you mean dotted on top of the already dotted? A dotted dotted hornpipe? 🙂

Around here hornpipes seemed to be played slow and with a dotted rhythm, (like my example for finding a slide rhythm above). But I used to always wonder why the fellas from Ireland played them faster and with a more even rhythm, or maybe just a slight swing. When I started playing for set dancers it all came in focus after seeing the way they dance to them. If I played it in the old way, slow and dotted, they couldn’t dance very easily. But when I played them more like how I heard them on recordings or from the visiting Irish musicians -- they worked perfectly.

tAnraith / t-anraith (Anriath = broth, soup)
~ pronounced, at times ~ tAirthe / t-áirthe 😏

Anyone else out there with another take on this?

anairthe / aniart = course linen / canvas
I suppose from that you could translate this as ~
“The Whole Chicken in the Bag” ~ ?

chearc / cearc = hen, female

ar fad = long, whole

I need to review what little Irish I’ve had or have and revamp that and stretch it a little… I’ve always loved the old colloquial phrases, and the songs, it is about time I gave them greater consideration…

snippetty runs => The Dingle Regatta

This setting in D is from the playing of John Murphy (Currow and Mourneabbey) recorded by Pat Slattery in Ballydesmond in 1976.
See https://soundcloud.com/pj-teahan-884614828 around the 17 minute mark.

“The Whole Chicken and the Soup”, so two courses.