I learned “The Cordal Jig” from my good friend Sami Koenig, a wonderful fiddle player from Switzerland, during one of his visits to Ireland. Cordal is a village in North Kerry.
X:1
T:Cordal (The)
M:6/8
R:Jig
K:D
|:BAF E2E|FEF DFA|BAF EFA|B2A Bcd|
BAF ~E3|FEF DFA|def edc|B2A Bcd:||
|:d2e fed|c2c ecA|dcd fed|f2e fga|
d2d fed|c2c ecA|dcB cBA|B2A Bcd:||
“The Collier’s” is a common session tune and one of my favourite reels. I associate this tune with the great Tommy Peoples, but also with my friend John Fitzgerald, who is a great local whistle player here in Doolin with a style that reminds me very much of Micho Russell.
“The Boys of Ballisodare” is a popular session which I learned from Christy Barry, Terry Bingham & James Devitt. It is very often played before “The Five Mile Chase”.
I learned this beautiful jig, “The Gallowglass”, from my friend Adam Shapiro. Adam is an amazing fiddle player from South Africa who has been living in Clare for many years and is a member of The Fiddle Case. I also associate this tune with another friend of mine, Kirsten Alstaff, who recorded this jig on her first solo album. It actually gave the name to the album as well.
3 thoughts on “Cordal Jig (The)”
When did this tune originate? What year?
Hi Greg! Thanks for leaving a comment 🙂 It is a very old tune, dating back to the late 1700s at least. It is mentioned in James Aird book “Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 3”, published in Glasgow in 1788. It is also present in James Goodman’s collection in the mid 1800s and both books have it under the name “Jackson’s Bouner Bougher” or “Jackson’s Banner Banogher”. I hope that helps!
I got curious about the Cordal jig and that’s the information I was searching for. Thanks!