Ookpik waltz

Altan’s Another Sky CD has it listed this way.

Over here in Texas this waltz is commonly known as the Canadian Waltz - one of my favorite waltzes and a great competition waltz.

I’ve always liked this tune. Ookpik is an Inuit name for the Snowy Owl, and inspired a cute fuzzy doll with big eyes of the same name.

According to Andrew Kuntz’s Fiddlers Companion, it was composed by Frankie Rodgers, of Mission, British Columbia, who has published it in a tunebook of his compositions.

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/OM_OO.htm

We play the Ookpik Waltz by way of Altan.
It is a bit different from the one posted.
This is the whole thing with all the repeats.
I have been working like crazy to get it all down -
so I hope I got it this time.
Lovely tune!

X:122
T:Ookpik Waltz
C:Frankie Rodgers (Altan)
M:3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=108
R:waltz
K:G
%%MIDI program 1 77
|:D E>F|G3 A B>d|A F3 (3DED|EG- G3 A|G3 A B>d|e4 e>f|ed3 B>A|B d3e2|d2 g2f2|!
e4 e>f|e d3 (3 dBA|B3 d (3BAG|E4 E>D|C3 D EG|D F3 D2|E2 G3A|1 G3:|2 G3 A B>d|!
|:e2 B3 A|B4 e2|d2 B3 A|B4 B2|A4 A>B|A G3 (3GED|EG-G3 A|G2 B2 d2|!
e2 B3A|B4 e2|d2 B3 A|B4 B2| A4 A>B|A G3 (3GED|EG-G3 E|FE D2 (3DEF |!
G3 A B>d|A F3 (3DED|EG- G3 A|G3 A B>d|e4 e>f|ed3 B>A|B d3e2|d2 g2f2|!
e4 e>f|e d3 (3 dBA|B3 d (3BAG|E4 E>D|C3 D E>G|D F3 D2|E2 G3A|1 G3 A B>d:|2 G6|
P:AABABA

Absolutely beautiful tune. A friend of mine plays this at a session back home (donegal) on his harmonica and its really nice.

Track 12 on the CD ‘Another Sky’ recorded by Altan quite a few years ago. CD notes don’t say when.
The line up on this track is : Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh - fiddle, Ciaran Tourish - fiddle, whistle, Dermot Byrne - accordion (melodeon), Ciaran Curran - bouzouki, Mark Kelly - guitar, with guests: Jerry Douglas - dobro & James “Hutch” Hutchinson - bass.

the sleeve notes say “we first heard this played by Jeff Titon at his home on Little Dear Lake on our first visit to Maine in 1985 and subsequently learned it from George Fowles, a friend of the band. Tradition has it that Inuit people believed the Ookpik was an owl who carried then souls of the dead away”.
Great waltz at a very steady/slow pace with plenty of swing. Has really to be heard before playing it. The dobro is a terrific inclusion.

In bar 16 (‘A’music) the 2nd ‘G’ is played with middle ‘C’ added and in bar 16 ‘G’ is played with ‘B’ below middle ‘C’ added (at the same time in both case 1st and 2nd times). I’ve yet to learn how to show that in abc notation.

Following joe fidkid’s link*, I put the setting found on Andrew Kuntz’ page, reorganizing the ABC for coherence and reading conveniences. It’s a more accessible setting (rythmically) than the other posted here.
By the way, Boys of the Lough had a nice version of this waltz too (not especially related to the setting I have posted here)
*https://thesession.org/tunes/5422#comment190027

I find that backing on this gives a fairly solid rythmic basis …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2IwkS4xHIc

play video

… but I prefer Altan’s take.

I tried to find the name of this (scottish ?) waltz with Tunepal, using G, C, anf F key but without success. And even without success, I can’t imagine this tune is not already here !
Please, if duplicated, be forgiving.
While deciding finally to post it, I choosed the key of G…

https://thesession.org/tunes/5422

You are forgiven.

Thanks Nigel.
I should have remembered that !
Am I getting too old for this kind of sport ?

I must apologize for putting the wrong title to this tune. Cannot understand why I did that as I had the CD in front of me. My apologies to George Fowler for getting his name wrong. The writing on the sleeve notes are so small that at the time of writing I saw the ‘r’ as an ‘s’. Either that or I made an unrealized typing error.

Just noticed another error….. ‘Little Dear Lake’ should have been…… ‘Little Dear Isle’

I’ve just listened to the Frankie Rodgers clip and it really does come across as a different tune in comparison with Altan’s version. I’m wondering what George Fowler thinks.

“Little Dear Isle” is “Little Deer Isle”, Hetty. To the best of my recollection (and I was there in 1986 when Mairead first heard the tune) Jeff Titon’s version came from Maggie Holzberg via a cassette tape made at a session somewhere. At that time I only knew Frankie Roger’s now-famous and popular waltz by that recording and similar versions making the New England rounds in the mid-80s. Yes it’s a quite different tune from Roger’s recorded version on his “Maple Sugar” album. I like them both and play them both, though most folks know the folk-processed version these days. Of course I was delighted that Altan wanted to record the tune, and still very much enjoy their recording of it.

Here is a transcription based on the YouTube video (above) of Frankie Rodgers playing his composition. Could not find a way to code “D.S. al Fine”. !D.S.alfine! did not work.

X:1
T:Ookpik
M:3/4
L:1/4
R:waltz
K:G
“Em”e>d e/f/|edB/A/|B>A B/A/|G/F/E>B,|EGB|“D”AFD|“Em”E3-|E3-|E3|“D”z2D||
|:S“G“G> F G/B/| “D”A F D| “G”G3-| G2 d| “Em”e>d e/f/|edB|“G”d3-|d2d|
“Em”e>d e/f/|e d B/A/|B>A B/A/|G/F/ E B,|“C”CEB|“D”A(3F/G/^G/AO|“G”G3-|1G2D:|2G3||
||“Em”eB/B/B/B/|BAG/B/|dBA|B3|“Am”AA/A/A/A/|BAG|“Em”EDB,/D/|E3|
“Em”eB/B/B/B/|BAG/B/|dBA|B3|“Am”AA/A/A/A/|BAG|“Em”EDB,/D/|E3|“D”D3!D.S.!||
O||G>F (3G/F/=F/|E2B,|EGB|AFD|[E3B,3]-|[E3B,3]|]

D.S. al Coda
Unable to code so it prints correctly.
Transcription based on the playing of Frankie Rodgers which may be heard in the YouTube video above.

Thank you so much for that Janglecrow. I fell in love with that tune, as played by Frankie Rogers, when I started playing the fiddle a few years ago. Not being able to play much by ear I ended up playing the various other versions I found the dots for but always preferred the more raw sound of his version. You have reminded me of the tune now, and I shall go back and play it as I think it should be, for me, now I have a couple more years practice to help me.

Should be similar to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoh6mgqJ4Lw

play video

Just left out a few variations, like | d2 g2 (3fgf| in bar 8 and | B3A GA | in the 2nd bar of the B part.

Frankie Rodgers (1936-2009)
British Columbian country fiddler and entertainer.

His waltz was first recorded in 1973 (track #6 on the LP “Maple Sugar, Fiddle Favourites by Canada’s Old Time Fiddle King”) although the copyright to his published book of compositions gives 1965 as a date (probably only a legal mention).

This link, from the tune archive,
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Ookpik_Waltz
is useful for whom is interested in the socio-historical Canadian background to the tune and to the ‘Ookpik’ name and national mascott (as opposed to the Inuit/Iñupiat ‘Ukpik, Uppik, Aukpik or Oukpialouk’ bird (and spirit) or the actual bird itself (Bubo scandiacus) to which “Ookpik” bears only a flimsy -and tokenist- connection).

For some reason X:8 is transcribed as if in 3/8. Was that intended, luddite?

Donald K,
It was not intended.
I found the reason, I copied from one of the other versions to build mine but that had overriding L1/8 code.
I have removed it and inserted twice more bars. Should be okay now.

Good on you.

Transcribed from this gorgeous version by the Blake Whitmore Trio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz4Ge5Q-EQc

play video

Frankie Rogers is playing his composition in a video posted above. I transcribed it best I could. Edited my ABCs and got the D.S. al Coda in the correct place this time.