John Mhosaí McGinley’s hornpipe

I requested this hornpipe some time ago, so, having learned it since then, I’ll post it here. I got it from “The Fiddle Music of Donegal Vol. 2” where it is played in style by fiddler Vincent Campbell from near Glenties, county Donegal. I have been fortunate enough to have played a few times with Vincent up at the Glenties fiddle weekend which used to be on in October – maybe it’s coming up soon around Halloween or has already taken place. Vincent is a man of great music and sharp wit. According to the CD notes, John Mhosaí McGinley (Mhosaí being his father’s nickname) was a fiddler held in very high regard in the Glen area and beyond. Indeed, John Doherty’s father Mickey considered John Mhosaí the greatest fiddler he had ever heard.

Cathal Hayden plays an almost unrecognisable (but quite incredible) version of this tune http://youtu.be/q1H8I3I59B8?t=2m11s (I got the tune name from the same set, worse recording at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKldeDu_–w)

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Um, it’s probably unrecognisable because it’s a completely different tune, wheresrhys. Don’t put your trust in tune names, especially if your tune goes by the name of a musician who has lots of tunes associated with their playing. Lots of different tunes can go by the same name. In your YouTube vids, the 2nd tune played by the band is not a hornpipe but a reel called The Heathery Cruach https://thesession.org/tunes/1265.