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 Lads of Laois is a beautiful reel that I associate with the playing of Gerdie Commane, concertina player from Kilnamona. Michael Queally (fiddle) also recorded this tune on the band Moher’s first album, “Out on the Ocean”.
“John Kelly’s Concertina Reel” is great tune that I got from Denis Liddy at a session in McCarthy’s of Coore during the Willie Clancy Week back in 2014. I was familiar with this reel, associate with John Kelly Senior, through Tim Collins & Brian McNamara’s wonderful album “Reed Only”, and my good friend Tom Delany recorded it with concertina player Caroline Keane on their album “Never Say Good Bye, Say Good Luck” as well.
This is a lovely jig that I learned from Cathy Custy’s beautiful album “An Ceoltoir Fanach”. She plays if after “Gerry’s Beaver Hat”. The late Dympna O’Sullivan, who was one of my favourite concertina player, also recorded it on her first CD “Bean ChairdĂn”. This tune is played quite regularly in sessions around Doolin.
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!