December’s Tunes - More Manx Melodies

The 7 Celtic nations are, in alphabetical order of their Celtic spelling, Alba (Scotland), Breizh (Brittany), Cymru (Wales), Eire (Ireland), Galicia (same), Kernow (Cornwall),and Mannin (Isle of Man).

The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Dependency like the Channel Islands. It  lies in the Irish Sea, roughly equidistant between England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and was part of the Norwegian Kingdom of the Southern Isles until the 13th century. In January 2004, Sylvia Miskoe presented some Manx tunes to us, with an explanation of why native Manx tunes are mostly in the Dorian or Aeolian modes - namely the lack of bagpipes!

Here are three more Manx tunes. The first are a couple of B minor melodies in three-quarter time that I learned from the playing of Elke Baker in her ‘Over the Border’ CD. In her arrangement, Elke plays the first waltz Arrane Ghelby (Song of the Kelpie) twice, the second lullaby tune Ushag Veg Ruy (Little Red Bird)  two or three times, then goes back to the waltz for a final time. Here is another performance of the medley. I have also heard it performed with an increase in tempo at the end. Perhaps when the kelpie takes you down under the water! (From Wikipedia: A kelpie, or water kelpie , is a shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore.

I came across a trove of Manx tunes posted by a Manx musician ( ‘manxygirl’ ) on the website TheSession. A music teacher, with the website https://manninmusic.com/, she wrote her PhD thesis on the fiddlers of the Isle of Man. I picked another B minor tune from her posts, a jig Arrane ny Guilley Hesheree (Song of the Ploughboy), to match the feel but pick up the energy.

Click here for the tune notation.