A composition of Fermanagh flute player James McMahon, who wrote the Banshee. I first learned the A major version from Charlie Piggott and Gerry Harrington’s duet playing, but transposed it back to the original key. A different version of the tune can be found on page 82 of Hidden Fermanagh Book. It seems to be included in Ceol Rince Vol 4, too.
There are a couple of jigs with similar pentatonic feel:
Here it is in G. At our local session, we play it in this key after MacCallum’s (The Chapel Bell) in D.
Re: James McMahon’s
James McMahon’s jig is more or less a D version of the Caherlistrane in A, which I encountered first on Patrick Street #2. Caherlistrane is a place in north Galway; I don’t know if it is associated with McMahon. https://thesession.org/tunes/3006
Re: James McMahon’s
Or alternatively, "The Caherlistrane" is a version of "James McMahon’s" [ in "D"], transposed to "A". How do you know which came first ?
Re: James McMahon’s
Good question. "Versions" are commutative, and don’t include chronological metadata. The solution hinges on whether J. M. is truly the composer.
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