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The Holy Land reel

There are 45 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with

The Holy Land appears in 2 other tune collections.

The Holy Land has been added to 30 tune sets.

The Holy Land has been added to 220 tunebooks.

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Five settings

1
X: 1
T: The Holy Land
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:A|"G"B4 "A"A2Bc|"D"dF F2DFA=c|"G"BGGF GABd|"A7"eaag "D"fdd:|
e|"D"f2df dfaf|"Em"gfed "A7"cdeg|"D"f2df dfaf|"A7"gfeg "D"fdde|
"D"f2df dfaf|"Em"gfed "A"cdef|"D"dfaf "G"g2bg|"A"afeg "D"fdd||
2
X: 2
T: The Holy Land
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
~B3 d (3AAA Bc|d ~F3 DFA=c|BG (3GGG ABdf|af (3efg fdd:|
(3fff df dfaf|gfed (3Bcd eg|f2 df dfaf|gfeg fdde|
f2 df dfaf|gfed cdec|dfaf g2 ag|(3fgf eg fdd||
3
X: 3
T: The Holy Land
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
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||
4
X: 4
T: The Holy Land
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
A|B3 c A2 Bc|dF3 DFAd|BG G2 ABdf|afeg fdd2|
B3 c A2 Bc|dF3 DFAd|BG G2 ABdf|afeg fdde||
f2 df dfaf|gfed (3Bcd eg|f2 df dfaf|gfeg fdde|
f2 df dfaf|gfed cdeg|dfaf g2 ag|(3fgf eg fdd2||
# Added by JACKB .
5
X: 5
T: The Holy Land
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
~B3d A2Bc|dFF2 DFAd|BGGF GABd|eaag fddc|
ABBd A2Bc|dFF2 DFAd|BGGF GABd|eaag fdde|
f2dc dfaf|gfed (3Bcd eg|f2dc dfaf|gfeg fdde|
f2dc dfaf|gfed (3Bcd ef|dfaf g2fg|afge fedc|

Eleven comments

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 | ~

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

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 ||

Henry Benagh (fiddle), Marcus Hernon (flute), Noel O’Grady (bouzouki) & Tommy Keane (uilleann pipes). Filmed c1985 in The Good Mixer, Camden Town, London.

I prefer beginning like this
B3G A2Bc | d
as in this superlative rendition (from 44:12)
https://youtu.be/HFuIofGQSHo?t=44m12s

The Holy Land, X:5

This version is based on the one by the great fiddler Katie Davis Henderson, which I learnt from her youtube channel on its serie New Tune Every Day, but with my own “touch” being a flute player. I recommend to everyone to watch her videos, I’m a big fan of her.
This is her version in which you can hear there is no C nat at all during the whole setting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cVmWX9pzv8