The Hidden Ireland jig

Anybody knows the origin and the title of this little jig?

Learned from the banjo and box duet playing of Liam Farrell and Joe Whelan. They recorded it as “Charlie Lennon’s” while Liz Carroll and Tommy Maguire did it as “Sean Ryan’s” citing the Tipperary fiddler as the source. A bit of research shows it’s listed as “Aggie Whyte’s” in Luke O’Malley’s Collection of Irish Music, vol. 1. Apparently it’s an untitled tune from the playing of East Galway fiddler. Both C. Lennon and S. Ryan are prolific composers, so I adopted A. Whyte’s as a provisional title. Any info would be appreciated.

No. 107, page 54, tune #107 ~ “Aggie Whyte’s Jig”

This was a gan ainm, without name, so, as often happens, Luke O’Malley named it after his source for it, the fiddler Aggie Whyte…

That is just for starters, repeating what you already know really, and a slip of the keys. I have more on the fiddler herself I’ll add more carefully, completing the intention. I shouldn’t use this are for making notes… The jig feels to have bits from different sources, but it isn’t one, as is, I’m familiar with… More to follow, more carefully… 😏

She must have been one hell of a fiddler, I don’t think there’s a tune form I haven’t seen with her name preceeding it ~ jig, reel, hornpipe, polka, waltz… Either she was the source that inspired someone else to take it one and without a name they ascribed it to her, or someone was so impressed by this fiddler that they named a composition after her.

1954 All Ireland Fleadh, Cavan ~ she was the first woman to win the Senior Fiddle title…

Here are a few short gems extracted from comment made by Philippe Varlet:

Aggie Whyte [White] (d. 1979), from Ballinakill, East Co. Galway, was the daughter of fiddler Tommy Whyte, one of the original members of the old ‘Ballinakill Ceili Band’, which started in 1926 as the ‘Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players’

In 1938, Aggie joined the band to record in Dublin and became a permanent member. A photograph of the band from that period, used for the cover of Reg Hall’s CD “Irish Dance Music” (Topic) shows Aggie seated next to Father Larkin, the “inspiration” behind the band.

Aggie Whyte played with several bands, including ‘The Leitrim Ceili Band’ and ‘The Tulla Ceili Band’. She is seen standing (back row, left) in a photo of the band shown in the booklet of the CD reissue of the Canny/Hayes landmark album.

I understand that back in the days of vinyl these two cut an album together. It must be a gem. I see it isn’t listed in the recordings on site here, not yet. I hope someday to hear it…

X: 2
T: Aggie Whyte’s
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: D Major
|: A |\
DFA dcd | edc dAF | DFA dAF | Ac/B/A GFE |
D2 A dB/c/d | edc dAf | afd gec | dAf d2 :|
|: f/g/ |\
afd gec | dcd AFD | fdB gec | dcB A2 f/g/ |
a^ga ba=g | fd/e/f ecA | dcd AFD | GG/F/E D2 :|

This is The Hidden Ireland by Sean Ryan. Also the title of the first volume of his tunes.

Jim

Compiled by Brian Ryan

Page 4: “The Hidden Ireland”

Well caught skerries ~ I’m kickin‘ myself… For comparison, because it always interests me how things ’evolve’, including names, as unfortunately “Aggie Whyte’s” has nice ring to it, here’s the same again for comparison, between the evolutions and this recommened source collection ~

X: 1
T: The Hidden Ireland
T: Aggie Whyte’s
B: The Hidden Ireland: The First Collection of Tunes by Seán Ryan
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
|: A, |\
DFA dcd | edc dAF | DFA dAF | A,CE GFE |
DFA dcd | edc dfb | afd gec | dAF D2 :|
|: f/g/ |\
afd gec | dcd AFA | fdB gec | dcB AFA |
~a3 bag | ~f3 ecA | dcd AFD | A,FC D2 :|

There is now a second collection out. It’s on my list of wants… 😉
~ along with the biggest ~ the want to chase up recordings of the man himself ~ Seán Ryan…

Thanks for the info.