The Garden Of Daisies hornpipe

No place for Set dances here so I put this in as a Hornpipe. I hope that’s O K?

Gabriel Byrne tells us in the sleeve notes of his tape, ‘Irish Traditional Piping’, that this tune comes originally from a song - ‘Sliabh Gael gCua’ from Waterford, whch was actually composed in Wales by Padraig O’Mileadha (1877 - 1947)

Now if it was composed in Wales by an Irishman, what does that make this tune?

Once again I’m not sure of the Key, but it appears to be in D Major most of the time, but has a few C naturals in there for good measure?

Sorry folks, must have watched too much TV in the 70’s.

I meant, of course Gay McKeon, not Gay Byrne!

I finally got around to downloading ABC onto this new Mac this evening & so was able to listen to this tune, & I have since corrected the c’s.
However, I’m sorry but it looks real messy folks, so I guess I chose the wrong key after all, but hopefully uncle Jeremy can unscramble the key for us?

The abc Tune sounds ok to me though.

If you change it to key of D, the ^c becomes redundant and can be removed:

T:Garden Of Daisies, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: hornpipe
K: D
fg|a2 af gbag|fdfa gfec|dcde fdec|dedc AGFG|
AB=cA d=cAG|FEFG ABcA|dcdf edce|1 d2 dc d4:|2 d2 dc d3 A||
dcde fdfg|abaf defg|abaf gbag|fefa gfec|dcde fdec|dedc A2 fg|
abaf gbag|fefa gfec|dcde fdec|dedc AGFG|AB=cA d^cAG|FEFG AB=cA|dcdf edce|1 d2 dc d3 A:|2 d2 dc d4||

Tony MacMahon on ‘MacMahon from Clare’ plays a great version of this - very surprised it’s not here already.

Michael O’Connor kindly wrote to me with some follow up info. to my initial remarks about this tune.

"I’m from Waterford myself, I emailed my grandmother when I read the post…Here’s what she said.

"Padraig O‘Mileadha was from Touraneena (a mile or so from Sleepy Rock, the birthplace of Ellen O’Mahoney - your great great great grandmother who married Thomas Whelan of Kilgobinet).

To my shame I don’t know any of his poems; he wrote mostly in Irish.

On the way to Colligan, the signpost marked ‘Knockboy Graveyard’ All that area is Sliabh gCua. The song “Sliabh Gael GCua” was made famous by Nióclás Toibà n from Ballinagoul, Ring, and - yes - we knew him well. "

The area she’s talking about is just outside of the town of Dungarvan, as far as the reference to Wales is concerned, I’ll get back to you on that.

All the Best
Michael O’Connor"

Many thanks for that Michael.
I’m sure we all look forward to hearing more from you on this.

The B part posted by Ptarmigan is not the one I’m used to hearing, having fewer measures. The version of this tune that I know corresponds to the setting in O’Neill:

X: 1
T: The garden of daisies
C: anon.
O: Ireland
B: Francis O’Neill: “The Dance Music of Ireland” (1907) no.974
R: Long dance, set dance
Z: Transcribed by Frank Nordberg - http://www.musicaviva.com
F: http://www.musicaviva.com/abc/tunes/ireland/oneill-1001/oneill-1001-097
4.abc
M: C
L: 1/8
K: D
(fg)a2(af) gbag|fefa gfef|dcde fdec|dedc AGFG|ABcA dcAG|FEFG ABcA|dcdf edce|[1d2dd defg:|[2d2ddd2||
|:A2|dcde fefg|a2(af) defg|a2(af) ggag|f2(fe) defg|
|a2(af) gbag|fefa gfef|dcde fdec|dedc A2(fg)|
a2(af) gbag|fefa gfef|dcde fdec|dedc AGFG|
|ABcA dcAG|FEFG ABcA|dcdf edce|[1d2ddd2:|[2d2dd defg|]

Better late than never, but the link below answers all our questions.

http://www.ballinagree.freeservers.com/mileadha.html


All the best

Here is a transcription of Paddy Murphy’s setting on the concertina.

X: 1
T: Garden Of Daisies, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: hornpipe
S: Paddy Murphy
D: In Good Hands
Z: Daniel Bradbury
K: Dmaj
e/2fg|:[a2A] [aA][fF] gbag|{fa}fefa gfef|dcde (3fedec|dedc AGFG|
AB(3=cBA d=cAG|(3FEDFG AB(3=cBA|dcd{e}f ed(3cde|1 d2 (dc [d2D2]) fg:|2 d2 (dc d2)AA||
|:dcde {fa}fdfg|a2{b}af defg|a[aA]{b}[aA][fF] [gG][bB][aA][gG]|fa{fa}fe defg|
a2{ab}af gbag|{a}fefa gf (3efe|dcde (3fedec|dedc A2FG|
[a2A2] [aA][fF] gbag|{a}fefa gfef|dcde (3fedec|dedc AGFG|
AB(3=cBA d=cAG|FEFG AB{=cd}=cA|dcdf ed(3cde|1 d2 dc d3 A:|2 d2 dc d4||

Watch Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh play this setdance: http://source.pipers.ie/Media.aspx?mediaId=4593&categoryId=296

The reels are The Beauty Spot and The Caucus Reel if I’m not mistaken.

There are two very different tunes with the same title as this in Petrie No 609 & 610

is transcribed from the playing of Bobby Casey (1979).

In the antepenultimate bars he sometimes plays an F natural roll, or something between F natural and F sharp which I don’t quite get by ear. :~)

In reference to a sung version of the tune, it is sung on the Ó Riada Sa Gaiety, Ceoltóirí Cualann recording. ‘Sliabh Gael gCua’ isn’t listed as the song. Perhaps it’s the same melody with different words? If you’re fortunate enough to find the album, it’s fantastic. It would be a forerunner to the Chieftains. The presence of harpsichord on a number of the tracks makes it particularly interesting. It’s a live recording from the 60’s, I believe. There’s more info about the album on this website:

https://thesession.org/recordings/1745

If memory serves (because my LPs are put away in a box somewhere, as I can no longer play them - so I can’t check) it’s on Ó Riada Sa Gaiety under the song’s title “The Palatine’s Daughter” - but the song has a much simpler melody line than the hornpipe. Seán Ó Sé sings it while Seán Ó Riada plays the dance tune in counterpoint on the harpsichord and It. Is. Brilliant. Especially when the tempo ramps up halfway through and the other instruments join in - you can sure that “Chieftains” sound.

[A minute later]: I just googled it, and found the track on YouTube:

Iníon an Phailitínigh (The Palatine’s Daughter)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTgOzVR95oE

play video

*IMPORTANT* FEIS MUSICIAN READ THIS

Some versions of this tune have been transcribed incorrectly as such you cannot play them at a feis.

Be vigilant with versions of set dances you get from the session. For example, fiddler around the fairy tree is missing an entire 4 bars on the session so your dancer will continue dancing after you finish.

This version is a transposed version of one of the settings above and it is definitely correct.

I prefer to play this in A because I learnt it from Anton and Sully’s traditional set dance recording.

jmeme - you need to put “ |: ” after the first two notes ( “(cd)” ) to be correct.