The Maid Behind The Bar is one of the most common reel in Irish Music, but I have to admit we don’t hear it in Doolin very often. I learned it from Chris Droney, the legendary concertina player from Bell Harbour, Co. Clare.
X:1
T:Maid behind the Bar, The
R:reel
M:4/4
K:D
|:FAAB AFED|FAAB ABde|fBBA Bcde|f2af efdB|
~A3B AFED|FAAB ABde|fBBA BcdB|1 AFEF D2DE:|2 AFEF D2De||
|:f~a3 fdde|fdad fdd2|efga bee2|gebe gee2|
faa2 b2af|defd e2de|fdBA BcdB|1 AFEF D2De:|2 AFEF D2DE||
I associate “The Maid on the Green” with whistle and flute player Christy Barry from Ennistymon and also the legendary Chris Droney from Bell Harbour.
I first learned “Josephine Begley’s” many years ago from Terry Bingham’s album, on which he calls this tune “Mairtin O’Connor’s”. I only found out in February 2021 that this hornpipe was in fact a composition of Frankie Gavin. It is the great flute and concertina player from Laois Tommy Fitzharris who provided me with this information.
Lord Leitrim is a barndance written by the great composer Charlie Lennon for his brother Ben Lennon, who sadly passed away in 2020. I learned this tune from Tony O’Connell at the Concertina Cruinniu in Miltown Malbay back in 2014. Tony recorded this barndance with Ben Lennon himself on their great album Rossinver Braes.
