The Holy Land (reel) on The Session

With Easter coming up & all I thought this would be a good tune for the season. I let ABCMUS add chords to this because the beginning relies heavily on the IV-V-I chord progression to give this tune it punch. If you play an instrument that can play multiple notes you’ll have fun doing that G-A-D chording. Lot’s o’ fun this tune is.

The Holy Land

For years the Bothy Band ended many of their concerts with this tune, strung at the end of a set of six reels. It usually brought down the house.

“The Holy Land” ~ single reel

The B-part doesn’t repeat, but if you need to do that, well, it’s your choice to do so…

|: A |
~B3 d (3AAA Bc | d ~F3 DFA=c | BG (3GGG ABdf | af (3efg fdd :||
e |
(3fff df dfaf | gfed (3Bcd eg | f2 df dfaf | gfeg fdde |
f2 df dfaf | gfed cdec | dfaf g2 ag | (3fgf eg fdd ||

This is also nice played down a few steps:

|: D | ~E3 G D2 EF | GB, (3BBB G,B,DG | ~
| A | (3BBB GB GBdB | cBAG FGAc | ~

see cocus’s comment https://thesession.org/tunes/1522
on Ben Lennon /Clare musicians /BothyBand’s set-ing of the tune

Goes by the name "Dunboyne Straw Plaiters" on Colm Gannon, Jesse Smith and John Blake’s recent CD "The Ewe With The Crooked Horn".

Who would have thought!
2d part here akin to 1st part of the…Fairy Dance!
https://thesession.org/tunes/424

The Holy Land

I got this tune from a student of mine and thought he’d made a mistake in the first measure. But when I looked it up on The Session, I discovered it was actually written that way, sometimes with a half note first, and sometimes with a quarter note. Either way, that is not 8 beats in the first measure and I’m just wondering why no one else wondered about that or commented on it!! I know some tunes are quirky that way but I usually like a little discussion about it so I can make some sort of sense by it. Problem is, I have listened to it yet!. I will, right now.

Bothy Band

X: 1
T: Holy Land, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|: A |~B3 d ~A2 Bc | d ~F3 DFA=c | BG ~G2 ABdf | af (3efg fdd :||
e | f2 df dfaf | gfed (3Bcd eg | f2 df dfaf | gfeg fdde |
f2 df dfaf | gfed cdeg | dfaf g2 ag | (3fgf eg fdd ||