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The Greenland Man’s Tune hornpipe

Also known as Da Greenland Man’s Tune, Da Greenlandman’s Tune, Da Greenlandmans Tune, The Greenland Highland, The Greenland Man’s Fling, The Greenland Man’s Highland Fling, The Greenland Man’s Highland, Greenland Mans Tune, The Greenlandman’s Tune.

There are 13 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with

The Greenland Man’s Tune has been added to 3 tune sets.

The Greenland Man's Tune has been added to 71 tunebooks.

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Three settings

1
X: 1
T: The Greenland Man's Tune
R: hornpipe
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Amaj
|:d>B c>A (3BcB E2|F>G A>G F<D D2|
d>B c>A (3BcB E2|G>A B>G A2A2:|
|:B2 B>c d2 d>B|A2 A>F D>E F<A|
B2 B>c d2 d>B|1 A>F (3FED E4:|2 A>F (3FED E3 c||
2
X: 2
T: The Greenland Man's Tune
R: hornpipe
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Edor
|:E>c|d>Bc>A (3BcB E>F|D>FA>G F<DD>c|d>Bc>A (3BcB E2|G>AB<G E2-:|
E>A|B>^AB>c (3ded (3dcB|A<^GA>F D>EF<A|B2 B>c d2 d>B|A<Fd>F E2- E>A|
B>^AB>c d2 (3dcB|A2 A>F D>EF<A|d>fc>e B>^AB>c|d>BA<F E2||
3
X: 3
T: The Greenland Man's Tune
R: hornpipe
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Amaj
d2B c2A|BcB E3|F2G A2G|FD2 D3|d2B c2A|BcB E3|G2A BG2|A3 A3:|
|:B2B B2c|d2d d2B|A2A A2F|D2E FA2|B2B B2c|d2d d2B|AF2 FD2|E3 E2:|

Ten comments

The Greenland Man’s Tune

From The Boys Of The Lough.It’s not really a hornpipe. I think that the mode is D lydian,but that’s only a guess. A haunting tune.

“The Greenland Highland”

R: highland fling
K: E minor

|: E>c |
d>Bc>A (3BcB E>F | D>FA>G F*DD>c |
d>Bc>A (3BcB E2 | G>A B*G E2- :|
|: E>A |
B>^AB>c (3ded (3dcB | A*^GA>F D>EF*A |
1 B2 B>c d2 d>B | A*Fd>F E2- :|
2 d>fc>e B>^AB>c | (3dcB A*F E2 ||

* = “SNAP!”

Da Greenlandmans Tune - jig version

With the above spelling - this one seems to be notated as jig. (and some of the short notes should really be “snaps”) (See the version on Blazin Fiddles - Fire-ON)

T:da Greenlandmans Tune
M:6/8
K:A
d2B c2A | BcB E3 | F2G A2G | FD2 D3 | \
d2B c2A | BcB E3 | G2A BG2 | A3 A3 :|
|: B2B B2c | d2d d2B | A2A A2F | D2E FA2 | \
B2B B2c | d2d d2B | AF2 FD2 | E3 E2:|

Strathspey / highland fling

My suspicion is, carrying from what I’d offered earlier, that with the melody and the ‘snap’ (F D2 / B G2) its origins are as a strathspey / highland fling…

Type of Tune

Actually, it’s none of the above. It’s never been danced to so its what Shetlanders call a “listening tune.” During Shetland’s whaling days, the tune was supposedly brought back to Shetland from Greenland where it was learned from one of the Greenland “natives.” The words were supposedly in Yakki.

yaki yaki yakiii from a yakki dog?
did you mean Yup’ik? or a pigin?
Ish dish shome shtory shomeone told you wunshe? a drunken Shetland shailor pøhåpsh? 🙂

The first bar vaguely reminds me of a medieval tune (13th c?) I heard once (wunsh?)
It also reminds me of a Munster slide, kind of.

Da Greenland Man’s Tune

According to “Da Mirrie Dancers” - “A Book Of Shetland Fiddle Tunes” - edited by Tom Anderson and Tom Georgeson for the Shetland Folk Society and printed in 1970 :

“Da Greenland Man’s Tune” - Traditional. Collected in Unst from J.Stickle by P. Shuldham-Shaw".

Posted by .

“The Greenland Highland” - nothing stopping me from stepping it out 😎

Though I screwed up on the key above, obviously in one of my semi-conscious moments and before the ‘<’ could work here…

X: 4
T: The Greenland Highland
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: highland fling
K: EDor
|: E>c |\
d>Bc>A (3BcB E>F | D>FA>G F<DD>c |
d>Bc>A (3BcB E2 | G>AB<G E2- :|
|: E>A |\
B>^AB>c (3ded (3dcB | A<^GA>F D>EF<A |
[1 B2 B>c d2 d>B | A<Fd>F E2- :|
[2 d>fc>e B>^AB>c | (3dcB A<F E2 |]

da greenlandmans jig

our ceilidh band play this tune regularly, paired with ‘da Shaalds o Foula’ for the Foula Reel dance
which of course isn’t a reel at all but a jig…………….