The Killavil Postman barndance

I was so sure I’d already added this barndance to TheSesh, but I couldn’t find it. I know I did a search for recordings and notes and that I did several transcriptions for someone…. That was at least last year or earlier, but it may have been in the time of my great hard disk meltdown? Anyway, I didn’t find the old transcription but here it is in two flavours and keys and with some other options woven in, basically using some recordings as touchstones, including “Arcady: After the Ball” and a YouTube recoding offered up in ‘Discussions’ recently ~

# Posted on June 5th 2007 by flossie
https://thesession.org/discussions/14004

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YIrzeY9iwo

play video

“Farewell to Whiskey” / “The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue” / “The Killavil Postman”

Recording: “Niall Vallely: Beyond Words” (concertina)
https://thesession.org/recordings/791

Track 12: “Fred Finn’s”

Recording: “North Cregg: Summer At My Feet”
https://thesession.org/recordings/1406

Track 12: “Fred Finn’s”

X: 1134
T: The Killavil Postman
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: barndance (polka)
K: G Major
B/c/ |
dg- ge | d/e/d/c/ B/A/G/E/ | DG GA | B2 B>c |
dg- ge | d/e/d/c/ B/A/G/E/ | da ab | a2 a2 |
gb g>e | d/e/d/c/ B/A/G/E/ | DG GA | B2 Bd |
ee c/B/A | dd B/A/G/E/ | DG GA | G2 Ga ||
bb g/f/e | bb g/f/e | bb- bc’ | b2 g2 |
aa f/e/d | aa f/e/d | aa- ab | f2 a2 |
bb g/f/e | bb g/f/e | bb- bc’ | b2 g2 |
bb aa | gg f2 | f/g/a/g/ f/g/a/g/ | fe d ||

Last night while I was out walking the dog I remembered that when I asked Dale Dahl the name of this tune a few years back, he told me he’d heard it called the “Sligo Polka”.

It has, like with other tunes, picked up a few names and associations… I had a suspicion there was a ‘trio’ that went with it too, but I never found one, and I still haven’t found an earlier title and source for this… That may account for why I hadn’t submitted it previously, plus the tendency for folks to crank this out at crazy tempos. What are they trying to prove anyway? The problem is, yet again, when the music and the musicians are distanced from the marriage of dance and melody… I think this is a hell of a lot more fun taken in stride than used to prove something, either the quantity of variations you can cram into it, or that you can drive it flat out ~ flat out… But I admit, I’m no fan of mixing crystal meths and traditional dance music… 😏 Speed kills!

Other famous Kerry Mills tunes, aside from the various “Kerry Mills”, are the likes of “Georgia Camp Meeting”, “Red Wing” and “Whistling Rufus / Reuben”…

The musicians (L-R) are Johnny Óg, Steve Simonds, Tomás Neachtain, Charlie Lennon and daughter, and Liam O’Hara.

‘c’ I love how you’ve posted this as a barndance, and I love your setting. Thanks once again. It makes a really crap polka.

The area deserves notice in its own right, but is mostly remembered and referred to in association with a fiddler born there, Michael Coleman (1891-1945), whose talents were born there and then exported to America in 1914, and then imported back in the form of 78 rpm recordings and airtime on the wireless (radio). Influences moved both ways, which is my suspicion with this melody. Having lost its name, as happens often, one was found for it, and more than once. As said previously, it has that dancehall way about it, with a touch of ragtime about it ~ and personally, I think it sounds like shight mixed in with the usual Irish polkas, which stand alright on their own. The change either way seems clumsy and out of kilter…

Michael Coleman’s father was a flautist, and their house was one of those open to visitors and musicians and dance, a ‘visiting house’, so much so that it had its own nickname ~ “Jamesy Coleman’s Music Hall”, but let me refer you to a place where you can read more yourself ~

http://www.irishfiddle.com/
http://www.irishfiddle.com/coleman.html

The area of Killavil has become tagged “Coleman Country”, but it is and has always had musical talent about, before and after this maestro…

Fred Finn was also from Killavil: https://thesession.org/tunes/452#comment224037

Yes, the fiddler, and so is Peter Horan, a flute player, and ~ follow the discussion link above for links specifically to do with Fred Finn…

Michael Coleman, fiddler, was born in the townland of Knockgraine, the parish of Killavil, South County Sligo on 31st January, 1891.

Other tunes have been tagged with this geographic association ~ jigs, reels, at least one song, ~ ?!? & a band…

The Killavil Jigs
The Killavil Jig
Killavil Fancy
Around Killavil
Trip To Killavil
Killavil ~

http://www.killavilmusic.com/

Go raibh ma’agat ~ nicely done Patkiwi!!! I’m glad the musicians were credited. I may not like that mix of tunes, but I enjoyed the listen… If it was his choosing, it isn’t the first time that Charlie Lennon has done some peculiar mixes of forms in a set…

Since you seem to know, what exactly is the ‘daughter’s’ name?

It has that feel about it, don’t you think?

In the YouTube, I particularly liked the foot stomping… 😎

~ a dance that would go nicely with this…

I’ve just had a good laugh reading comments on the YouTube link, how Alistair Cassidy doesn’t like Niel Gow’s “Farewell to Whiskey” outside of its originally intended use as a ssssloooowww air tempo. I could see that if the whiskey were already gone, but if it was on its way out by the hands or throat of another, the adrenalin would be up and I’d be angry enough to want to take things apace… 😉

Apologies, Charlie’s daughter is named Eilish, there’s also a second guitar player whose face I can’t see but I’d hazard a guess that it’s the Dubliner Dave Flynn. The first two tunes have been recorded as a set by nearly everyone, the only time I’ve heard the third is as a piano tune off Arcady’s first record

Well credited. It is just the third tune in the set, this one, that jarred in combination with the others. It went further for poor Cassidy… 😀

I think Kerry Mills also wrote “Meet me in St.Louis, Louis”

wow I just saw that youtube clip and am a bit freaked out by it, I think it’s a bit rude of the person to film that and put it up on youtube without asking the musicians, particularly Charlie, Johnny and Eilis, as it is their session.

that is me playing guitar, you can see my guitar but you can’t see me! as far as I remember Steve had just arrived into the session around that time and that’s why you see him standing up.

It was a great session though, as it always is there but I’ll be looking out for bootleggers from now on!

T:The Killavil Post
M:4/4
S:Pathway To The Well by Matt Molloy And John Carty With Arty McGlynn
Z:gian marco pietrasanta
K:G
|dg g>e | d/e/d/c/ B/A/G/E/ | DG GA | B2 B>c |
dg g>e | d/e/d/c/ B/A/G/c/ | Aa ab | a2 ag/f/ |
gb g>e | d/e/d/c/ B/A/G/E/ | DG GA | B2 Bg/f/ |
ee/B/ c/B/A | d/e/d/c/ B/A/G/E/ | DG GA | G2 Gg/a/ ||
b-b/f/ g/f/e | b-b/f/ g/f/e | bb- bc’ | b4 |
a a/f/ g/f/e | a a/f/ g/f/e | aa- ab | f4 |
b b/f/ g/f/e | b b/f/ g/f/e | bb- bc’ | b2 g>a |
bb aa | gg f2 | a>g f/g/a/g/ | f/a/e/a/ dB/c/ |

Sorry for my ignorance but I’m a bit lost having read through the posts on this tune. Was this composed by Kerry Mills or is it just similar to something he would write?

However, I never did manage to find the specifics or the suspected trio… 😏

Submitted on October 11th 2009 by Kevin Rietmann.
~ /tunes/9960

X: 5
T: Sligo, The
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: Gmaj
|: Bc |\
d2 g2 g2 e2 | dedB GEDE | G2 GG G2 A2 | B5 Bc |
d2 g2 g2 e2 | dedB G2 Bd | e2 a2 a2 b2 | a6 ef |
g2 b2 g2 e2 | dedB GEDE | G2 GG G2 A2 | B8 |
e3 B cBAz | d3 B cBAz | D2 G2 G2 A2 | G6 :|
z2 |\
b3 f gfez | b3 f gfez | b2 bb b2 c’2 | b8 |
a3 e fedz | a3 e fedz | a2 aa a2 b2 | f8 |
b3 f gfez | b3 f gfez | b2 bb b2 c’2 | b6 ga |
b2 b2 a2 a2 | g2 g2 f4 | fgag fgag | f2 e2 d2 |]

I have two recordings of this, one from a batch of outtakes of Fintan Vallely and Mark Simo’s Starry Lane to Monaghan record, the other of Paddy Carty and fiddler, this can be heard on the BBC website:

http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=025M-C1005X0026XX-2600V0.xml

No tune titles are given for this session, the Sligo is listed as “Unidentified Scottish tune.”

Very fun tune, hope I didn’t muck up the ABC, especially after criticizing others only a few days ago…

# Posted on October 11th 2009 by Kevin Rietmann

Fnarr, if you play a session in a pub and end of on youtube tough cookies, that can always happen when you play music in public.
Of ocurse you COULD scowl at the person filming or say something stern to them about not putting the video online. I personally would prefer it was put on youtube if I was playing.

This Killavil Post tune is played on a Geantrai composition refered to as The Seneca Square Dance

This is, more or less, the way Matt Molloy plays this tune on Shadows on Stone. I don’t think this version is on the site yet

it is killavil postman, already here, but in key of d. see https://thesession.org/tunes/7317
marin

# Added by gian marco - April 7th, 2008

X:2 a cleaned up version of a setting I posted here years ago, which was rejected as a duplicate, it was preserved in the comments of the setting of this tune as a barndance which is linked above, however. I have 3 recordings of this and it’s always played as a polka, indeed in the comments to the Killavil Post tune it’s right off the bat mentioned as being in a set of polkas and I’ll always think of it as such, as played by Fintan Vallely/Paddy Carty/Molloy+J Carty.

Fintan Vallely informs: Peter Horan told him that this tune was learnt from Fred Finn’s father (Mick Finn?) who brought it over from America.

Not all polkas are 2/4 in nature, nor do the necessarily start life as a polka, note the many marches that have taken on that added identity and use…

This has very much of the rag about it melody-wise, and swung is how I first learned it, though I am well aware of others playing it straight… Even so, it is, in my opinion, a cleaner transcription in 4/4 than 2/4, which is also true of other tunes, note dense marches for example.

It’s the second tune played by Matt Molloy after the Galway Piper in his solo album “Shadows on Stone”.

allready here ……. 🙂 killavil postman, see: https://thesession.org/tunes/7317
marin

A charming duality, from a relaxed but jaunty march tempo and feel, swung, a two-step, akin to a rag in spirit and feel ~ or ~ taken more brisk, up tempo, polkafied, though akin to what I sometimes refer to as a ‘ballroom polka’, not manic, around 120 bpm as a 2/4 polka, as Matt Molloy takes it on “Shadows on Stone”, track 13, the 2nd tune of two:

https://thesession.org/recordings/45

From the playing of Walking On Air.

Last tune of their “Polka Set”.