The Battle Of The Braes barndance

This is one of lovely tunes recorded on Iain MacDonald and Iain MacFarlane’s duet album. I didn’t know much about it, but a bit of research shows it seems a melody taken from the song of the same name: http://www.rampantscotland.com/songs/blsongs_battle.htm It’s a very lighthearted tune to commemorate a bloody event, just like the Kinnegad Slashers.

This tune is found in Highland Bagpipe collections and attributed to Ronald MacKenzie. ‘The Battle of the Braes’ was a sort of riot which occurred south of Portree when around fifty policemen were sent in to evict crofters from Braes but were met by a barrage of stones thrown by the local women (the men being more afraid of the consequences of defying authority); they broke but reformed and attacked the ladies with truncheons, resulting in several bloody heads. The eventual outcome was a national scandal which halted the evictions.

A Youtube video has appeared of the flute player Niall Kenny playing this tune; it is the last tune in the first set

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsY0eod7eQM&feature=user

play video

Billy Pigg’s tune is not the same as the Scottish 2/4 march. It is a 6/8 march that is a very close relation to "Dr. Bett’s Supper", Henderson, 1895, p. 9. The original "Skye Crofters" was published in the same book.

Chords on X:1