I learned the jig “Donnybrook Fair” from the playing of concertina player Dympna O’Sullivan. It is a common session tune, which was also recorded by Josephine Marsh on the album “To Meet A Friend” with Cyril O’Donoghue.
X:1
T:Donnybrook Fair
R:Jig
M:6/8
K:G
|:G2G AGA|Bee dBA|BAB GAB|AGE EDE|
GFG AGA|B2e dBA|BAB GAB|1 AGF G2D:|2 AGF GBd||
gfe fed|ege dBA|Bee dBA|Bed e2f|
g2g fed|ege dBA|BAB GAB|AGF GBd|
gfe fed|ege dBA|B2e dBA|Bed e2f|
g2g aga|bge dBA|BAB GAB|AGF G2D||
“The Laccaroe” is a tune a learned from my friend JB Samzun, who plays fiddle. He got this lovely reel from the playing of Pat O’Connor and it is also know as “The Old Ashplant” or “Eonach Mhic Coilín”.
I heard “Big Pat’s Reel” at a session in Gus O’Connor’s Pub in Doolin, played by my friend Christophe, a great fiddle player and harpist from France. I was also familiar with this tune through the recording “Waifs & Strays” by Michael Hynes and Denis Liddy.
I learned “The Hunter’s Purse” from Adam & Dave Shapiro’s CD “Cape To Clare”. Adam & Dave are two brothers from South Africa, who came to Ireland for the music and based themselves around Doolin. Adam is the fiddle player with “Fiddle Case” and still lives in the area and it is always a great pleasure to meet him for tunes!
