Down The Broom reel

Here’s a set with this reel that was played by a band known as THE IRISH TRADITION They played CONGRESS REEL / DOWN THE BROOM / STAR OF MUNSTER. It’s on their CD “The Corner House” (Green Linnet recording #1016; 1978). It’s also one of the tracks on Green Linnet’s double-CD “25 Years Of Celtic Music” (Green Linnet, 2000).

By the by, that’s a really good album.

Transcription: Gian Marco Pietrasanta
Source: Mike and Mary Rafferty_the old fireside music

At a summer school for ITM that I attended last year, the teacher (from Sligo I believe) said that this tune ALWAYS was played in set with the Gatehouse Maid.

Lars, det har du ratt i! And as an illustration of this – this tune came up yersterday at a session “somewhere in the USA” and, when the change was signaled, I immediately went roaring into “The Gatehouse Maid” and temporarily ground the set
to a halt as my American friends had started another tune. Automatic reflex on my part. I wonder if this is the first time I have ever heard “Down The Broom” not followed by “Gatehouse Maid”. A classic set and not heard all that often here. Halsa Uppsala fran mig. Jag bodde dar i nastan tre ar.

I finally learned this session standard today. It shares almost the same second part with “The Bag of Spuds,” so it was easy to pick up. Mayo flute player Paul Smyth’s solo album is the source. That’s a cracking track, joined by a piper. I might misremember it but the version on the recording is something like this:

K: Ador
G|EAAG A2Bd|eg~g2 egdc|BGGF GAGE|D2BD GABG|
EAAG A2Bd|eg~g2 egdg|eg~g2 dgba|gedB BAA:|
g|a2ea ageg|agbg agef|gedc BGBd|~g3a bgeg|
a2ea ageg|agbg ageg|dg~g2 dgba|gedB BAA:|

I happened to record Clare flute player Christy Barry play the tune, and found he has a very similar version to this.

I heard it played coupled with “The Gatehouse Maid” just once, but this tune is still referred to as the tune before “The Gatehouse Maid” quite often.

Source: John Skelton & Kieran O’Hare - double-barrelled
Transcription: gmp

T:Peter Flanagan’s
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:Reel
S:Cathal McConnell’s ‘Lough Erne’s Shore’
Z:gmp
K:ADor
EAAG A2 Bd|eged egga|gedB GABd|edBA GEDG|
A2AG A2Bd|eged egga|gedB GABd|e2dB A4:|
a2ea a2ea|a2ba gede|g2dg g2dg|g2ae ged2|
agea a2ea|a2ba gede|gedB GABd|e2 dBA4:|

Nice one GM, an old favourite, and it was good of you to offer it two ways, appreciated. I’m sure I knew this under another name, but I haven’t found it yet. It is a memory rouser - fond ones…

Isn’t this a variant of “Down the Broom”?

Quite correct, slainte. It says just that on the sleeve-notes of McConnell’s first recording.

This particular version of the tune reminds me of Gary Hasting’s mighty flute playing, which I happened to record from a radio programme some months ago.

Well, this is a duplicated post, but I don’t want it to be deleted.

I’m now convinced this tune is worth a separate entry. Obviously related to “Down the Broom,” actually it’s in between the well-known Sligo reel and “The Crosses of Annagh” or “Tommy Coen’s.” I was recently surprised to notice its similarity to “The Rakes of Kildare”: https://thesession.org/tunes/84

I was just about to post a different version of this tune. It’s actually an almost obsolete setting of “Down the Broom.” I learned it from Clare flute player Christy Barry’s playing. He often plays both old and new settings of the well-known Sligo reel in his workshops to demonstrate how one tune can change over the years. A bit of research shows a very similar version is in Joyce Collection under the title “Down through the Broom.” Anyway, here’s Christy’s setting:

K: Ador
A2BG A2Bd|egfa gedB|G2BE GEBE|G2BA GEDG|
A2BG A2Bd|egfg efga|gfge d2ef|1 gfgd BAAG:|2 gfgd BAA2||
a2ea a2ea|a2ba gede|g2ba gbag|gbaf gedg|
a2ea a2ea|a2ba gede|gfge d2ef|1 gfgd BAA2:|2 gfgd BAAG||

I was really surprised to know Mike Rafferty still plays a similar version of this old, rare and beautiful tune. It can be related to even “The Sligo Maid.”

Catherine and John McEvoy recorded a different version of the tune as Gan Ainm:

K: Ador
A2AG A2Bd|eged egg2|GEDE ~G3A|BcBA GEDG|
AGEG A2Bd|eged egg2|afge d2ef|1 gfgd BAAG:|2 gfgd BAA2||
agbg agbg|agbg agef|gebe gebe|gebe gedg|
ea~a2 aged|cdef g2fg|afge d2ef|1 gfgd BAA2:|2 gfgd BAAG||

Does anyone know which version of “Down the Broom” is on the CD, Traditional Irish Fiddle Music, by the Kilfenora Ceili Band? I am uncertain as to whether the Down the Broom reel that is linked to the Recording on the session is the same version they play.

I think I’ve got this recording on a compilation and also one by Paddy Killoran (which is a knockout - absolutely love his playing). This seems to be close (copied from another archive - credit as below):
X:1
T:DOWN BROOM (THE)
R:Reel
S:Paddy Canny and Peter O’Loughlin, Clare (fiddles)
N:As played (P O’L much the louder)
Z:Bernie Stocks
H:Played with “The Gatehouse Maid”
M:4/4
K:G
EA(3.A.A.A A2Bd | eg~g2 egdc | BG~G2 ~G3E | {G}EDB,D GABG | EA(3.A.A.A A2Bd |
eg~g2 egdg | eg~g2 dgbg | {a}gedB {d}BAA2 :| a2ea {b}ageg | agbg agef | g2dg Bgdg |
{a}geaf gedg | a2ea {b}ageg | agbg ageg | dg~g2 dgba | gedB {d}BAA2 :|

You can actually listen to Killoran play this tune: http://tedmcgraw.com/mp3/KilloranBroom.mp3
From N. American Archive of Traditional Irish Music: http://tedmcgraw.com/recimages/Irish_clips.htm

I tried recording this old reel:
http://slainte.web.infoseek.co.jp/old_broom.wma

Christy Barry always plays it on the whistle, but I personally prefer playing it as a slow piece on the flute.

Damn, I was trusting slainte to make these connections…

The Cottage in the Glen ~ reel
Key signature: E Dorian
Submitted on February 21st 2002 by barney morgan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/558

The Crosses Of Annagh ~ reel
Key signature: A Dorian
Submitted on November 30th 2002 by gian marco.
https://thesession.org/tunes/1170

Strikes me as very similar to Lady Birr off Fisherstreet and Lunasa https://thesession.org/tunes/4499.

http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_270_3_paddy_ryan_and_john_carlos

Kevin Burke and John Carty recently recorded the set together on Patrick Street’s album “On the Fly.” That’s a lovely fiddle duet influenced by P. Kiloran’s recording.

By the way, I love playing Josie McDermott’s composition “The Trip to Birmingham” before the set.

Really good playing here by Cathal Hayden, PJ MacDonald and Arty McGlynn…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR0GBTbbro0&feature=rec-fresh+div

play video

Listen to Mick Flynn and Michael Gorman play it here:

http://juneberry78s.com/sounds/ListenToIrishDance.htm

3 videos of The Dubliners playing an absolutely awesome version of this tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vOyN_ohpn4

play video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2iHNSlJMfc

play video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKxpBliaQ-w

play video

can’t tell which is best 🙂

edit: like the last one best … maybe XD

First tune here…….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR4m-eNkiJQ&playnext_from=TL&videos=f8eSobvSzA8

play video

Listen to Harry Bradley play Seamus Ennis’s version of the tune on the pipes: http://errantelbows.podbean.com/2011/06/13/down-the-broom-reel

The pipes set played in the clip was made by a friend of mine!

I was given a copy of the tape of Séamus where he plays that version; Pat Mitchell transcribed it in the big book of Ennis’s dance music, obtaining a copy of the tape from a friend of mine. Séamus got the setting from Monaghan piper Willie Clarke, “a watchmaker by trade; piper too.” You can read about him here: http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/w_clarke.htm

The tune Séamus played after is very nice too; he remarks that it was the first tune his father would play on the fiddle, always starting on the 2nd part. Forget if Pat transcribed that one.

Thanks for posting the dots of this classic session tune! I’ve joined in it often but never put the time to learn it prop-orally!

Is the same Peter Flanagan that is featured in the book ‘Passing the Time in Ballymenone’?

X: 4 above is a setting of a reel found on Terry Teahan and Gene Kelly’s LP “Old Time Irish Music in America” (Topic 1977), which they call “The Broomstick; I think it might be a variant of “Down the Broom”. According to the sleeve notes, Gene Kelly “Gene learned [this] from the late John Glynn, a fine accordion player who lived in Brooklyn. He also heard them played a lot by Paddy Sullivan, a fiddler from Kerry.”

X:5 from Séamus Ennis’s piping, as mentioned above - the Willie Clarke setting.

West Clare Set Dancing 1972: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIDWFZtOsUc

play video

Featuring the McCarthys, Willie Clancy, Junior Crehan, Kevin Burke, James Kelly, Martin O’Connor and more.

This setting is transcribed from the playing of Paddy Killoran, who was the first to record it with The Gatehouse Maid in 1937. Slainte posted a link to an mp3 of Paddy’s playing above, and I repeat it here for convenience:
http://tedmcgraw.com/mp3/KilloranBroom.mp3

X:1
T: Down the Broom
R: reel
M: 4/4
S: Paddy Killoran
Z: joe fidkid
K: A dorian
“First time through” E2 (3AAA A2 Bd | eg ~g2 eg d2 | DG ~G2 G2 BG | (3GGG BG AGED |
E2 (3AAA A2 Bd | eg ~g2 egdg | eg ~g2 egba | gedB {d}BA A2 ||
“Thereafter” EA (3AAA A2 Bd | eg ~g2 egdc | BG ~G2 GAGE | (3DED B,D GABG |
EA (3AAA A2 Bd | eg ~g2 egdg | eg ~g2 egba | gedB {d}BA Ae |]
~a2 ea {b}ageg | agbg ageg | (3ggg dg Bgdg | {a}geae gede |
~a2 ea {b}ageg | agbg ageg | eg{a}gg edba | gedB BA A2 :|

My version

Starts at 01:00
https://youtu.be/TZ_RRH282i4?t=1m

play video

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

play video

Is it just me or is this one of the few reels you can actually play in a pure pentatonic scale? Plenty of others come very close, but I’ve now heard several pentatonic settings of this tune.

Donegal fiddler Frank Cassidy’s version on “Níl Gar Ann!”. Note that Alan Ng lists this separately as “Broomstick”.

A version I got from a good friend of mine. He is a great concertina builder in Germany and an fine player aswell.

Version’s X7 and X10 are sufficiently different to warrant another entry. Julia and Billy Clifford called it the Threshing Reel, Monks of the Screw called it the Broomstick. It is in Johnny Leary’s 254 as Mike Sullivan’s Hornpipe. I believe I heard Breandán Ó Beaglaoich play it as the Broomstick. As pointed out elsewhere, in that form it resembles Jim Moore’s Fancy, DMI 510.

Willie Clancy’s version