Beautiful little jig I have been working on this week for my Celtic music project Dúchas. Trying to get the melody to sit on the guitar and use as many open strings in the arrangement as possible to imitate the drones you'd hear on the Uilleann pipes. Am playing this one with the pick and using a more aggressive style of attack. Next will be to experiment with a more classical guitar approach playing fingerstyle with moving bass lines and harmony in the inner voices.
There are two tunes that go by this name, and both are rather old. Both appear in O'Neill's collections of Irish music, which were published in 1903/1907. Francis O'Neill collected them in Chicago over the course of 30 years or so, so it's likely they would have existed in Ireland well before that, at least mid 19th century is likely.
This 'Rolling Wave', aka 'The Humours of Trim' as recorded by O'Neill, is a really great Uilleann pipes tune, which makes me think it was composed by a piper. It was recorded by the great Co. Clare piper Willy Clancy sometime in the first half of the 20th century. It was also recorded on an album called The Lonesome Fiddler which features 'classic' East Galway tunes, but it was also mislabeled as being composed by Paddy Fahey on the same album, despite Paddy being born 10 years after it was published in O'Neill's, so take that for what it's worth.
The other tune that goes by the same name is 'The Rolling Waves' (emphasis on the plural), aka 'Maguire's Kick' or 'The Lonesome Jig'. It's likely from the Sliabh Luachra region of the Southwest known for its slides and polkas. It shows up a lot in recordings featuring this style and has been recorded by some of the greats from the region like Julia Clifford... but that tunes a story for another day!
A virtuosic repertoire of Celtic music that taps into the heart of traditional Irish culture. 'Dúchas' is the Irish word for ‘nature’, ‘instinct’ and ‘origin’ and with this show Chris takes you on an exploration of Irish heritage through the lens of it’s ancient and beautiful music. The aim of 'Dúchas' is to develop a programme of traditional yet contemporary music arranged for solo guitar. The traditional element is in sourcing ancient Celtic melodies and finding a home for them on the guitar. The contemporary element is found in the expression of these melodies with digital technology, improvisation and modern convention.
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