Tom Busby’s jig

Well folks, since it’s my birthday, I thought I’d reverse the process and give you a present. This comes from the playing of our very own HarryB, and has been requested by a member of a beginners flute class I’m teaching in Aberdeen. A bit ambitious, I think, but we’ll do our best. More about this later.

Happy birthday Kenny

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday

Kenny, you consistently post the best tunes here—thanks again for adding to my stock of tunes.

Happy Birthday, and many, many more!

Hope you had a great birthday. Darach.

Thank you, people - very nice of you. I do have some comments to add but no time at the moment.

Oops. Running late again…still: Happy Birthday, Kenny!

I first heard this jig at Hammy’s Flute Meeting in Ballyvourney in April last year when Harry Bradley played it at the tutor’s concert. Harry then went on to record it on his “Night Rambler’s Companion” CD. The sleeve notes say it came from a very old recording of uilleann piper Tom Busby.
I was asked to teach a beginner’s flute class for 6 weeks earlier this year. I’d been meaning to get Harry’s CD for a while, and noticed that night that Pete Murray who has “Celtic Chords” music shop in Stonehaven was there. I reckoned on supporting the local business, so asked him if he could get me the CD. It then occurred to me that maybe some of the students might like a copy too, so we ended up ordering 6 ! One of the students came back the following week saying how much he liked the tune “Tom Busby’s”, and could we have a go at learning it. I sent them away to try learning it by ear – I’ll find out how they got on on Monday. I’m sure none of them will cheat by learning it from the “dots” here – maybe. It’s an interesting tune, a bit reminiscent of the “Monaghan Jig” in places, but it does take some odd wee turns here and there.
Anyhow, Harry, your latest CD is very probably the best-selling traditional flute recording of all time in Aberdeen.
And before some eejit points it out, this is NOT the "Tom Busby’s" recorded by either "Solas" or "Cran". As far as I know, Harry’s the first to record this tune since Tom Busby himself.

A happy birthday from Charlie,Jeff and Nettie….might even shout you abeer at the National next year !!!!
Have a great day……..zoukboy…..

And here is a recording of Harry playing the tune on the uilleann pipes, found on his "Errant Elbows" blog:

http://errantelbows.podbean.com/2010/12/03/tom-busbys-jig/