The Flax In Bloom reel

From O’Neill’s “Dance Music of Ireland”…I was flipping through the book and playing random tunes. I came across this one and decided to learn it.

Brent

Maeve Donnelly plays a 3rd part to this reel on that great album she did a couple of years ago. She of course plays it in A, with the the fiddle tuned to AEae ( a tip of the hat to the great West Clare fiddler Patrick Kelly).
I’ve transcribed the 3rd part she plays into D……

faaf dfaf| gabg ecAb| affd ABAF| A2ge fdd2|
faaf dfaf| gabg ecAB| AGFG A2df| afeg fdd2|

The last couple of bars are actually modified a bit, as she goes to a high “a” on the “e”string, which would mean a high “d” when transposed up to the key of D.
I don’t play high “d”‘s myself, I’ll leave that to them classical fellas. But if you’re so inclined it would be --A2d’b--- instead of the A2df.

Lovely 3rd part though, goes great with the first two. Does anyone know of any other recordings of this with three parts?

Here’s how I hear the 3rd part (transposed into D):

efaf dfaf|gabg ecAb|affa dedB|A2ge fd~d2|
faaf dfaf|gabg efdB|AFFG A2d’b|afea fd~d2:|

I wonder how often this tune is played as a single reel just as transcribed in O’Neill. It’s recorded as a double on at least three recordings I own.

Anyway, here’s a neat version of the tune based on the playing of Ballymote concertina player Mairead Hurley.

K: Dmaj
|:D2ED FAAf|gefd edBd|BAFB ABdf|(3gfe fd edBd|
D2ED FAAf|gefd edBd|BAFB ABdf|1 afeg fdAF:|2 afeg fede||
|:f2df e2ce|dfed BAFA|DFAd FAdf|(3gfe fd edBd|
f2df e2ce|dfed BAFA|DFAd FAdf|1 afeg fede:|2 afeg fdAF||

You can actually listen to her play it with some variation:
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebloomofyouth/rams/2007/4august.smil (the set starting around 53:00)
From The Bloom of Youth 2007: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebloomofyouth

I played another 3rd part in the setting on my CD “Dragon Reels”. I got it from a house concert tape of Kevin Burke, Dale Russ, and Tom Creagan.


~f2af dfaf|~g2fg e~B3|f~d3 Adfd|ceae c/d/e ae|
~f2af dfaf|~g2fg e~B3|A~F3 ABdf|afeg f~d3:||

Roger Landes

Another flute setting I just transcribed for a friend, sort of second-hand from Mike Rafferty, with yet another slightly different B part. Long cran on the starting D.

X:1
T:Flax in Bloom
R:Irish reel
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:D
|: D2DD ADFA | fedf edB2 | AFFF dfaf | gefd edBA |
| D2DD ADFA | f2ff edB2 | AFFF ABdf | afeg fede |
|: f2ff egfe | dedA BAFA | DFAD FAdf | gefd edBd |
| fedf edce | d3A BAFA | DFAD FAdf | afeg fed2 :|

Want to see the Flax bloom beautifully blue?
Buy a packet of flax seeds from a reputable food shop and broadcast them on any rough ground. They grow very tall so they prefer sheltered grassland types of ‘habitat’ but, provided you don’t live in Arizona or Greenland, or the birds don’t eat them all first, you’re bound to get some results.

Linnen thread:
http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/flax-plant.html

Irish Native Linum spp.;
http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=96&wildflower=Flax,%20Fairy

I think this is pretty close to the version played on Brendan Mulvihill’s album, “The Flax In Bloom.” He plays a two part version, but I’ve written in his variations -- he’s such a brilliant player!


X: 1
T: The Flax in Bloom
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
D2 (3FED FAAf|gefd edBd|A F3 DFAF|
GEFD E A,3|DEFA d f3|g3 f fedB|(3 BcB FB ABde|faea fdAF||
D2 (3FED FAAf|gefd edBd|ADFA dfaf|gefd e B3|
ADFA DFAd|gefd edBd|(3ABA FB ABde|faea fdde||f3 ffec A|d3 A BAFA|
DFAd FAdf|gefd e B3|fagf egfe|d3 A BAFA|DFAc defg|afeg fdde||
f3 ffec A|d3 A BAFA|DFAd FAdf|gefd e B3|fagf egfe|d3 A BAFA|
DFAc defg|afeg fdAF||D2 (3FED FAAf|gefd edBd|A F3 DFAF|
GEFD E A,3|DEFA d f3|g3 f fedB|(3 BcB FB ABde|faea fdAF||
D2 (3FED FAAf|gefd edBd| A F3 DFAF|
GEFD E A,3|DEFA d f3|g3 f fedB|(3 BcB FB ABde|faea fdde||
f3 f g3 g|a3 A BAFA|DFAd FAdf|gefd e B3|fagf egfe|
d3 A BAFA|DFAc defg|ageg fd de||f3 ffec A|d3 A BAFA|
DFAd FAdf|gefd e B3|fagf egfe|d3 A BAFA|DFAc defg|afeg fd d2||

Is this tune also the strathspey The Marquis of Huntley’s Highland Fling?

A fiddler at our session plays this tune as a hornpipe and it sounds great.

Another take on the 3rd part, from a 1966 recording of Sean Maguire.

# Posted by Ediot - December 21st, 2012
https://thesession.org/members/86794

This is a three part setting of this great tune. I got it from Roger Landes, who recorded it with John Whelan on the Dragon Reels album (https://thesession.org/recordings/535). Roger had posted the 3rd part in the comments above, saying that he got it from a house concert recording of Kevin Burke, Dale Russ, and Tom Creagan. So I edited it into a full setting (and changed it to the way that I play it).

Taught by Edel Fox, Willie Clancy Folk Festival Concertina workshop, July 2003