Across The Black River jig

This jig in Bmin, written by Kevin Burke as played with Ged Foley on their recent “In Tandum” recording.

It was also recorded on The Celtic Fiddle Festival CD “Encore” in Dmin.

Great tune, thanks for posting it. It faintly reminds me of another fine b-minor jig Kevin Burke wrote, “Up in the Air,” which he recorded on “Portland.”

Thanks, smw. Good ear, Up In the Air is played with this tune in the Celtic Fiddle Festival set.

More a slide than a jig I feel.

Interesting hetty - I don’t get that feel from the phrasing. I know Kevin called it a jig at the Cincinnati fest in Ohio this past summer. Can you eleborate a bit on why feel it’s a slide?

minor modifications to the last line (last 2 1/2 bars and adding 1st and 2nd endings)

K:Dmin
R:Jig
M:6/8
L:1/8
C:Kevin Burke
d3 dcd|Acd c2a|gec cde|d2c A2G|
d3 dcd|cAG ceg|a3 age|1 d3 dcA:|2 d3 def||
gag g2e|d2c A2G|GAc dcd|e2g def|
gag g2e|d2c A2G|ded c2G|1 A3 Aef:|2 A3 A2c||

my initial reaction from looking at it (especially the ‘B’ music) and singing it in my head was to link each pair of bars 1+2, 3+4, etc to form a phrase. 4 pairs of triplets giving 4 beats such as I recognise in slides. 12/8 with two 6/8 bars linked together. Hope that all makes sense.

I can see how you could read the phrases that way. I guess several jigs have phrases that stretch over 2 bars giving them a slide quality and visa versa

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=muS2GEeJ3x4

play video

The othetr tune is The last train from Loughrea
https://thesession.org/tunes/7993

This tune is in B dorian, not B minor. The key signature should be A.

T - you’re splitting hairs .. the G# in the B dorian scale or the G nat in the B minor scale doesn’t matter since there are no G’s in this tune. Irish tunes are about the melody line not the chordal structure anyway.

The second half sounds much better played like this:

efe e2c|B2A F2E|EFA CBA|c2e Bcd|
efe e2c|B2A F2E|BcB AFE|1 F3 Fcd:|2 F3 F2A||

With CBA instead of BAB.

Its how Lúnasa play it…

I’ve had a go at working out some chords for this (added to my slight variation on the transcription below) but it usn’t quite right yet - please can anybody help?
X:1
T:Across the Black River
C:Kevin Burke
S:In Tandem
Z:Edgar Bolton
M:6/8
R:Jig
K:Bm
|:“Bm” ~B3 BAB | FAB A2 f | “A” ecA ABc | ~B2 A +slide+F2 E |
“Bm” ~B3 BAB |AFE Ace |“D” ~f3 fec |1 “Bm” ~B3-B2 A :|2 “Bm” ~B3-Bcd ||
|: “A” efe e2 c | “Bn” ~B A ~F3 | “F#m7” EFA cBA | “A” c2 e “Bm” Bcd |
“A” efe e2 c | “Bn” ~B A ~F3 | BcB A2 E | “F#m” F3 F3 :|

Yes, those Bn chords should be Bm - you’ll have to excuse me as I type mainly by ear 🙂

This is my favorite video of it; great for playing along while learning (it’s the second tune, but the first one --“The Last Train from Loughrea”--has become a favorite of mine as well):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZlFBBFCtx4

play video

Transcribed from Lunasa’s 2006 album - Se. Lovely tune. Played on Low F whistle

From the playing of Kozo Toyota. Transposed down from Cmin.

I think an interesting aspect of this tune is how the A part is in B Dorian but the B part is in F#m. In my ear this creates an interesting contrast of the two parts with the B part sounding more “minor” than the A part which sounds almost major but not quite - indeed, like a dorian mode does. I really like this “key change” in the tune and think it adds interest and emotion to it.

This can be transposed down a step to put it in A Dorian for the A part and Em for the B part:
X:8
T:Across the Black River
K:Amin
M:none
R:Jig
M:6/8
L:1/8
C:Kevin Burke
A3 AGA|EGB A2e|dBG GAB|A2G E2D|
A3 AGA|GED GBd|e3 edB|1 A3 EFG:|2 A3 ABc||
ded d2B|A2G E2D|DEG AGA|B2d ABc|
ded d2B|A2G E3|ABA G2D|1 E3 ABc:|2 E3 E3||X:2

Oops, I just noticed that I left the K: field as it was generated by EasyABC as Amin when it should be ADor. Sorry. I don’t know how to edit a comment.

Hello,
As a very average accompanist, I can use the chords of the A major scale (E, C#m, G#mb5) (B_Dor) but I can also play the G7M of the D major scale (B_Ael).
The absence of the G# note is part of the beauty of this tune, as you can navigate the variety of harmony.
Sorry if I do wrong