The Trip To Nenagh reel

Apparently a Sean Ryan tune!

This looks to be the same tune as "The Road to Nenagh" on a CD called "Two Gentlemen of Clare" featuring Gerdie Commane on concertina and Joe(?) Ryan on fiddle. I don

Just learnt this tune this morning. Heard it on Shantalla’s website so I got the name and setting from there. I think the rolls need tidying up but it’s a good driving reel.

Already in the tune data-base, Conan. Posted by "bootboy" on 12th July 2002. Like "bootboy", I also know it as a Sean Ryan composition, titled "The Trip To Nenagh". Sean Ryan Trio recorded it on the Belfast Outlet label, early 70s.

I thought I’d post this version of the tune due to a recent discussion here: https://thesession.org/discussions/8435#comment180128
The main difference is in the B-part of the tune.


X: 1
T: Trip To Nenagh, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmix
S: Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh, Port Na Coille
S: Micheal O Raghallaigh, Port Na Coille
dcAG FD~D2|A,DFA dcAG|Ad~d2 A=fed|c2Gc EcGc|
dcAG FD~D2|A,DFA dcAG|Ad~d2 AdFd|GE^CE D2FA:|
|:~d2df adfa|geed ^cAce|d/c/dAG FDDC|EGAB =cecB|
A2de fded|^cdef g2e/f/g|a2ea ^caec|1. dcAG FAD2:|2. dcAG FAEA|D8|]

"The Hidden Ireland:
The First Selection of Irish Traditional
Compositions of Seán Ryan"

Compiled by Brian Ryan

Page 28: "Trip to Nenagh"

I found a spicy setting online, closer to the version we play at our session:

X: 1
T: Trip To Nenagh, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmix
dcAG FAD2|A,DFA dcAG|Ad~d2 A=fed|c2Gc EcGE|
dcAG FAD2|A,DFA dcAG|Ad~d2 AdFA|GB,EG FD~D2:|
|:Ad~d2 adfa|gfed ^caec|d2AG FAD2|(3EFG AB c2AG|
Ad~d2 fded|^cdef gefg|a2ea ^caec|dBAG FD~D2:|

I got a different version from some Melbourne musos in the early hours of the morning whilst playing round a campfire at a festival. Their B-part ending was different to other settings I’d heard before, so I jotted it down on a scrap of paper:

X: 1
T: Trip To Nenagh, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmix
d2AG FD~D2|A,DFA dcAG|Add^c d=fed|c2Gc EcGc|
d2AG FD~D2|A,DFA dcAG|Ad~d2 AdFA|GEAG FD~D2:|
|:d2ed adfa|g2ed ^cAfe|d2AG FD~D2|(3EFG AB c2Bc|
Adde fded|cdef g2fg|a2ga (3efg d^c|A=cGE ED~D2:|

Nice and interesting settings and variations… This is a lovely tune… 🙂

Here’s a setting very close to the by-the-book version, for comparison with the rest:

K: D Mixolydian
|: ^c |
dcAG FADF | A,DFA dcAG | Ad d/^c/d d=fed | c2 Gc EcGc |
dcAG F2 D/E/F | A,DFA dcAG | Add^c AdFA | GC E/F/G FD D :|
|: F |
Ad d/^c/d adfa | gfed ^caec | d2 AG F/G/A DG | (3EFG AB c2 Bc |
Add^c Ad f/e/d | ^cdef gefg | a2 ea ^caec | dcAG FD D :|

One of my absolute favorite tunes, ever! I play it like so:

X: 1
T: Trip To Nenagh, The
C:Sean Ryan
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: D
dcAG FDDG, | A,DFA d=cAG | Ad ~d2 A=fed | =c2 Gc EcGc |
dcAG FDDG, | A,DFA d=cAG | Ad ~d2 ADFA | G=CEG FD D2 :||:
Adfd adfa | gfed ceAc | dcAG FADF | (E/F/G) AB =c2 Bc |
Adde (ef)ed | cdef .g2 (e/f/g) | a2 ea caec | dcAG FD D2:|

I do it as part of a set following Paddy O’Brien’s "Ormond Sound". Tasty!

-Jay

Nice version, Jay. I like your low G in the 1st and 5th bars.

Best played v fast!
A pacey, if not racey tune that puts in mind Nuala Ní Dhomnaill’s poem An Rás (The Race), an epic Love trip, where the first place name she mentions is Nenagh;

"Faoi mar abheadh leon cuthaigh, no tarbh fasaigh …
Like a mad lion, like a wild bull…
…I blindly drive the car through the small towns of the west:
I drive the wind before me and leave the wind behind…"
(and it all ends with "Spanish wine"!)
(translation; Michael Hartnett)

I don’t know about playing it fast. It moves too far for that to sound good, IMO. I play it at what I consider to be medium pace - around 100bpm or just below. (And I’m generally considered to be a fast player.)

Nice setting here by Aisling Neville (great playing too!)

http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_392_4_aisling_neville/

I notice that Edel Fox and Neill Byrne have this tune recorded as The Meadow and I gather saying it is a Finbar Dwyer composition. It is in a Sean Ryan’s collection as his and see http://www.irishtune.info/search.php:
"composed by Finbarr Dwyer or Seán Ryan, with Dwyer’s claim having the advantage of first publication"

This tune is The Meadow as recorded by Finbarr Dwyer (note spelling of his name is correct here) in 1970 on his recording Pure Irish Traditional Accordion Music. This recording was re-issued in 1994.

There’s a fair bit of uncertainty about who composed this reel. Just because the tune is called "The Meadow" on Finbarr Dwyer’s recording doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s correct. The "Sean Ryan Trio’"s LP record "Back Home To The Cliffs Of Mohir [sic]" was recorded in Belfast and released in 1972. It has subsequently been released on CD, and a contributer here very generously forwarded me a copy complete with sleeve notes. According to those notes for Track 7 - "The Trip To Nenagh" is one of Sean’s many compositions, and can be found in "The Hidden Ireland" - a book of his compositions".
I don’t have that book, so can’t confirm that, but the compilers of the sleeve notes were Brian Ryan [ son, perhaps ?] , Pat Lyons and Kathleen Ryan, the latter two being the other members of the trio, and - assuming it’s the same person, - Kathleen Ryan was Sean Ryan’s wife, so you’d think that they would know.
Finbarr Dwyer certainly recorded it as "The Meadow", but that may be because he didn’t have Sean Ryan’s title.

https://thesession.org/tunes/831

as ‘Trip to Nenagh’. Not one of his better tunes but that’s only me speaking. 8))

Regards
David

Is it possible to merge this with the real reel Trip to Nenagh?

Regards
David

Kenny, perhaps Finbarr Dwyer also recorded it as " The Meadow " as that was the name that he gave it when he composed it!! Just saying. There are many Dwyer compositions that ended up in the compositions tune book of other people. Perhaps this is one.

Certainly, ‘Trip to Nenagh’ has some of the hallmarks of Dwyer and, as I mentioned, it’s not a ‘good Sean Ryan tune’ in my opinion (his usual tunes tend to be a bit ‘smoother’ somehow).

I’ll ask Finbarr’s brother next time I see him, see what he thinks.

Regards
David

Richie - could you please provide your evidence for thinking this to be a composition of Finbarr Dwyer ?

Hi everyone

I spoke to Richie Dwyer last night and he categorically stated that what is claimed as a Sean Ryan tune is actually a Finbarr Dwyer composition. Richie said Finbarr wrote it in the sixties and recorded it in 1970. If he’d had a bible handy, he would have sworn on it. In my opinion, Richie is an intelligent, thoroughly straightforward and honest person and thus I believe him. He knows, quite comprehensively, all of his (several) brothers’ tunes.

I can only conclude that a genuine mistake was made by including this tune in Ryan’s book; amongst his papers - with his true compositions - must have been other tunes he liked and wrote out. It’s highly doubtful that there’s any dishonesty, just good old human error and certainly not the first or last instance of such a mistake.

I’ve no contact details for Brian Ryan. The most information there is on either of Ryan’s books is a lone ISBN on the first. If anyone knows Brian, it might be worth getting his side of the story. I’ll keep trying.

Regards
David

Thanks for taking the time to do that, David. A Finbarr Dwyer tune it is then, although I’m at a loss to explain how Sean Ryan could come to include it in "a book of his own compositions".

According to Fintan Vallely’s book "The Companion To Irish Traditional Music", Sean Ryan died in 1985. "The Hidden Ireland" was published in 1991, when Sean wasn’t around to make any corrections. A genuine mistake, as you say, David, would seem to be the likeliest explanation.
Very happy to have the record set straight on this - my apologies to Richie Murray, who was right, and I was wrong.

Sean’s son, who put the book together some years after Sean’s death, with help from Sean’s wife Kathleen. There’s another tune in ‘Hidden Ireland’ that I’ve wondered about and you’ve queried on this very forum: ‘McMahon’s Hornpipe", which is in ‘Hidden Fermanagh’ and attributed to James McMahon.

The truth shall not be hidden. 8))

And who knows, there may be a book of Finbarr’s (and one of Michael’s and of John’s and of Richie’s…) tunes out one day, hopefully not before too long anyway. Did his sisters write any? Must find out.

Regards
David

I’ve taken the liberty of re-titling this reel as "The Meadow", as it seems that that was the name given to it by its’ composer. I’ve also added the Gaelic equivalent title of "An Moinfheir", which was the name given when the tune was included in Vol.3 of Bulmer & Sharpley’s "Music Of Ireland" collection of books. They had no source for it.

See:
http://www.seankenan.com/download/141/1

The Trip to Nenagh is somtimes called ‘An Moinfheir’ or ‘The Meadow’. The tune was composed by Tipperary fiddler Sean Ryan and named in honour of the town of his birth.

Moinfheir, Aravale. Tipperary

I’m no authority on Irish Music but the story that DavidT told above regarding the name of the tune at play was told to me by an authority on the accordion who most definitely told me that he had heard Finbarr himself in the 90’s play it live at a gig and stated it was his and played it as if it was his thereafter.
Fair play Kenny, your genuine humility is to be admired and apology accepted sort of speak! No hard feelings.

Let the mans music live on and now knowing that is titled right on this website I hope he rests easy.

Richie.

A great tune by the group Mondegreen, Found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_E5vhXCkxQ

play video

It really highlights the best parts of a Mixolydian scale and goes great over that D drone.

The F natural is correct!

Also, I modified a few notes to fit the range of my Whistle.
The first 8th in measures 2 and 6 are normally an A below the staff.
The 2nd half of beat 1 in measure 8 would have a C natural below the staff.

I wonder who gave it this title. This tune has already been posted as The Trip To Nenagh and was composed by fiddler and prolific composer Sean Ryan. https://thesession.org/tunes/831

I knew the name was too weird to be true! I’d never heard that tune before, so thanks for the correction. My first thought is to have this post removed, but it also may guide other ignorant people to the right tune/name with your comment

As heard at a session in Austin, TX