Jump to content

Name of this tune from the Hebrides?


soloduet

Recommended Posts

Thank you very much Saguaro and Rich! It seems that it's difficult to find the name of this tune, but Rich, as you are living in Scotland, if you happen to meet some musicians from the Hebrides, please let me know if they have a clue.

Didie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didie

 

Obviously you really want to name this tune so here are a few options to try:

 

If you have, or can write out, the first few bars of the tune in abc notation then try putting that into abc tune finder:

http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind

 

You could post your question on the Session web site.  I know it says it is for Irish music, but there are often non-Irish topics discussed there.

https://thesession.org

 

Another good site to post your question would be the Mudcat Cafe:

https://mudcat.org

 

There other traditional music sites out there, but these two have lots of active members, a lot more than on concertina.net.

 

Finally, Jack Campin is probably the online authority on Scottish traditional music, his email address is the bottom of this long web page:

http://www.campin.me.uk

 

Let us know if you solve the mystery.

 

Don.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you so much Don and Mathhag for the very detailed information. I didn't have enough time to make more research yet but I will try and a friend of mine living in the north of England asked some Scottish musicians who have all come back with the same answer: they believe it could be from an old scottish tune called " Ye Jacobites by Name" which was adapted from an older tune written in Orkney about 1794, "My Love's in Germany".

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/17/2019 at 1:49 PM, soloduet said:

Thank you so much Don and Mathhag for the very detailed information. I didn't have enough time to make more research yet but I will try and a friend of mine living in the north of England asked some Scottish musicians who have all come back with the same answer: they believe it could be from an old scottish tune called " Ye Jacobites by Name" which was adapted from an older tune written in Orkney about 1794, "My Love's in Germany".

 

Here's a link to Vin Garbutt singing My Love's in Germany, fast forward to 2:12 to hear the song, Vinny's intro is good but he was from Teesside with a very strong accent which may be difficult for non-native UK English speakers to understand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds to me like the question is answered. Both “Ye Jacobites by Name” and “My Love’s in Germany” are clearly the same tune as the mystery Hebridean Air. As an aside, since this thread started, I have been struck by the similarity of the Air to the American shape-note song, “Wondrous Love,” although that’s probably a case of parallel evolution rather than actual relation. I didn’t post this earlier in the thread before a viable answer emerged because I didn’t want to confuse the issue with what I suspected was a tempting but wrong answer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very happy to receive all these beautiful recordings. My first impression was that it was not the same tune but after listening to it more carefully I noticed that I could almost play the Hebridean air together. Tempo and keys are different but the melodic and harmonic structures are very similar, with just a slight difference for the last phrase which is repeated. So maybe the same tune evolved in quite different versions when passed on orally. And it makes me want to play it also in a faster way, maybe for a summer version...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I‘m not so sure - the harmonic succession is so much standard and applies to a wide variety of tunes. Whereas „My Love‘s in Germany“ sounds in fact very similar to the well-known „Jacobites“ tune,  the tune presented and discussed here lacks the call-and-response pattern of the other two, and the minor/major shift from section A to section B sounds much less distinct. Not the same tune neither a variant to my ears (unless in the sense of „we are all descendants of Adam and Eve“, or similar).

 

Best wishes - ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In another thread,

 

On 2/22/2019 at 6:37 AM, SimonThoumire said:

I’ve been delving into the tune book The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and The Isles this week. It’s full of tunes chiefly acquired during the period 1715 to 1745

 

 

It occurred to me that he might have some insight into what’s going on here, so in that thread, I suggested he have a look at this one.

 

Meanwhile, I have been listening to the Hebridean tune, Ye Jacobites by Name, and My Love’s in Germany a lot. I’ve even notated them. Sure, there are small differences among them, but unlike Wolf, I have no doubt they are all essentially the same tune. And as I said earlier, I don’t feel that way about “Wondrous Love.” It just has a lot in common with the others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that it is possibly a wrong version of "Ye Jacobites by Name"! Sounds like they've not listened to it properly or it has been wrongly transcribed. If it is not that then I've never heard it before. I think Robert Burns' 1790 rewrite can be a message for all governments today.

 

Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear, give an ear,
Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear,
Ye Jacobites by name,
Your fautes I will proclaim,
Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear, you shall hear
Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear.

 

What is Right, and What is Wrang, by the law, by the law?
What is Right and what is Wrang by the law?
What is Right, and what is Wrang?
A short sword, and a lang,
A weak arm and a strang, for to draw, for to draw
A weak arm and a strang, for to draw.

 

What makes heroic strife, famed afar, famed afar?
What makes heroic strife famed afar?
What makes heroic strife?
To whet th' assassin's knife,
Or haunt a Parent's life, wi' bluidy war?

 

Then let your schemes alone, in the state, in the state,
Then let your schemes alone in the state.
So let your schemes alone,
Adore the rising sun,
And leave a man undone, to his fate, to his fate.
And leave a man undone, to his fate.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...