The Cuil Aodha jig

Last year, in a whistle class at the Willie Clancy Week, the teacher, Peter Phelan, asked if anyone knew this tune. He went on to say that some years ago he played with a band in Dublin (Ceoltoiri …. [?something beginning with L]), who sang a traditional Gaelic song, hailing from the village of Coolea (Cuil Aodha), whose title translated as ‘The Mother-In-Law’. The air of the song was the A-part of this jig. When arranging the song for a recording, the band decided to include an instrumental break, and what they came up with was the B-part. Session players, on hearing the recording, put the two bits together and called them the Cuil Aodha JIg. Thus, a trad tune was born. Needless to say, Peter was immensely chuffed at having, albeit unwittlingly, part-composed a tune which is now just as much at home in a session as The Kesh or The Maid Behind the Bar.

String and box players like playing it A, just to annoy the pipers and fluters - and because it sounds good.

On the Andy Stewart album “Dublin Lady,” Sean Og Potts plays this jig after Andy sings the song “Dinny the Piper.” The liner notes refer to it as “Amhran na Tae” (I think) from Cuil Aodha. Is this the name of the original air?

Unless I’m very much mistaken, this is the “Cuil Aodha” jig, posted by Gian Marco in 2002, but in the key of G instead of D. Also known as “The Song Of The Tea”, I’ve heard it played in A as well as G, but never come across it in D.

I recorded this at a session,but I don’t know it’s name.

Try C# instead of Cnat in bar 4 of the B music

Key signature: D Major
Submitted on August 29th 2003 by dafydd.
https://thesession.org/tunes/2758

Key signature: G Major
Submitted on July 4th 2002 by gian marco.
https://thesession.org/tunes/825

The tune started as a single-strain song air. The song was Amhran an Tae or The Song of the Tea. The arrangement by Ceoltoiri Laigheann is the source of the turn now played.

This is my version I’m not sure how different it is.
X: 1
T: The Song of the Tea
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
|: gfd cAd | GAG B2c | d2B cAG | FDF cBA |
G3 GFG | A3 dfa | g/f/ed cAF | AGF GBd :|
|: g3 gfg | aad fga | afd c2d | cAG FGA |
dgg gfg | afd f3 | fed cAF | AGF G3 :|

To hear this tune played but in A magor
go to=
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwg5iw6kU6Y

play video

This is the key I first heard it played by -Dermi
Diamond in a pub in belfast,,But maybe I play to many
fancy notes in it now -- But the video can be changed.
jim,,,

Does anyone have the ABC version of it to post it please?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tmKT7q-5Gw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ftradconnect.com%2F&feature=player_embedded

play video

A very popular session tune but I can’t pretend I like it.

Does it matter whether you like it or not?

What is this? A running commentary on tunes submitted long ago? It’s akin to spamming.

The comments on a few tunes say “It sounds like the first part of this” when they really, really don’t.

What is most traditionally played with the Cuil Aodha jig?

http://youtu.be/jJrGWblpDT0

play video

relaxed version played by Liam O’Maonlai* of the “Hothouse Flowers”

*[ - plus more than a few musical friends. ]

Got that wrong - just been pointed out on “Youtube” that the jig which Liam O’Maonlai is playing above is “Will You Come Home With Me ?”, not the “Cuil Aodha”. It’s a nice bit of whistle-playing, but nothing to do with this particular jig [ although I suppose they might go together ]. Sorry about that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqWvV2khZig

play video

The setting no 5 is from the playing of Tara Bingham, Dermie Diamond and Gabriel McArdle, as seen and heard in a video accessible for a limited time (today is 2016, march the 11th) on the replay of TG4 (Ceol ón Chartlann Le Paul Brady) where it is called “Cork”. This follows the Vincent Broderick’s composition The Old Flail, where it is misnamed Drumshambo which is a different tune.

Buttons and Bows played it with The Blue Angel in a very nice set
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoW_t5R1Jjg

play video

Their version is now available at https://youtu.be/O5s10r37IK4?t=1m3s

play video

Setting in A Major with chords. For the ornamentation I had in mind the diatonic harmonica in A: cuts for the note A using C# and different combinations of semiquavers.

as learned from Teresa Hogan

The B part here repeats with some fun triplets inspired by Dervish’s version of the jig.

This version, in E major, is from the concert by Finbarr Dwyer recorded in Dolan’s music venue
Limerick city in 2007.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVNV-p-hc-o

play video

It’s the second tune played (after https://thesession.org/tunes/1392#setting41145 ).
It is an amazing version of the tune!
(On the recording Finbarr is a half step higher, playing a D/D# box or a C/C# box.
I think a D/D# would be easier, but Finbarr could handle either with ease.)

Again, no - you really should listen to the playbacks when you post a tune here, to check what you’ve posted makes musical sense.

Kenny,
It seems ok now. I think the problem was that I was using [1 [2 markers
on just a bar and a half in the middle of the line
( I often see music written that way to indicate a variation).
But the ABC playback doesn’t handle that.
I was checking my transcription by playing along with
the recording at half speed, and it was correct the way I intended it to be read.

Jeremy has corrected it by writing out the two variations fully, so now it sounds fine.

My favorite version of this is on Dervish’s Travelling Show album.

Here is another beautiful recording (before ~2:00) with Chris McMullan on an Eb whistle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzjibvTb-aI

play video