# Music by Genre > Celtic, U.K., Nordic, Quebecois, European Folk >  Slow haunting Irish tune?

## bluesguy63

Can anyone recommend a slow Irish tune that is easy to learn?

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## Rod_Neep

Oh Yes....

This one!!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=C2UZReQGNVI

Rod

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## IndianaTim

Hector the Hero. Easy to play, memorable, even has a curious name.

Tim

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## Bertram Henze

> Hector the Hero. Easy to play, memorable, even has a curious name.
> 
> Tim


To be precise, Hector the Hero is a Scottish tune and is about Sir Hector McDonald, a Scot who successfully made it up the English army hierarchy, fought in India and died under mysterious circumstances in Paris.

For a slow Irish tune, I'd recommend Inisheer (or, in Irish spelling: Inis Oirr); can be found on thesession.org. 
Inisheer is the smallest of the three Aran islands off the coasts of Galway and Clare and is forever fixed in my memory due to a stormy boat trip which left me lying on the Inisheer beach for hours, throwing up and looking forward to the trip back...

Bertram

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## John Flynn

I just learned O'Carolan's "Blind Mary," a really great slow tune that is not that hard.

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## steve V. johnson

Hector's a great tune, fun, poignant.

I'm not quite familiar how to attach files here, but I think I've attached an mp3 of Kevin Burke with Sweeney's Dream, playing "King of the Fairies".

It's a hornpipe in E dorian.  Here's the page on it from TheSession.org with ABC notation, sheet music and comments: 

http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/475

This recorded version isn't a particularly 'haunting' version but it's a good one from which to learn the tune.  I first learned it in session, from some folks who really liked to play it in a very spooky way, so I know that it can get that vibe going.

I hope you enjoy it.

stv

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## Eddie Sheehy

Mna na hEireann (women of Ireland)
Marbhna Luimni (The Limerick Rake)
My Singing Bird
Skibereen
Glory-o to the Bold Fenian Men
An Chualann
An Ghaoth Aneas (The South Wind)

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## allenhopkins

Several O'Carolans:
_O'Carolan's Quarrel
Sheebeg Sheemor_ (sp.?)
_Planxty Irwin_

Don't know if it's Irish, but _Ned O' the Hill_ also meets the criteria.  And a particular favorite of mine is the slow version of _Castle Kelly_ that I got from the band Swallowtail.

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## Markkunkel

I've recently learned Planxty Fanny Poer (sometimes "Power") and find that it's delightful.  I've attached a public domain version by a group Slainte (about which I know nothing else), and both ABC and notation for the tune are available here:

http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/957

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## Flowerpot

Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór

It's such a great tune, simple yet completely moving.

here's a Celtic harp playing it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0mot5vBCBc

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## Eddie Sheehy

Allen, Ned O' the Hill - Eamon a' Chnoic - is indeed Irish.  Eamon (Ned), a Tipperary man, led Patrick Sarsfields men on a famous ride out of the beseiged city of Limerick (1690) and around behind Williams lines to blow munitions for the seige at Ballyneety.

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## Gerry Cassidy

Brian Baru's March?

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## Bill Van Liere

My wife and I just learned a slow air called _The Isle of Shadows_ written by Matthew C. Heumann in 1988. As Matt is an American concertina player it is technically not irish but it falls right in there with all those O'Carolan pieces and is a great Celtic tune that was easy for me to learn cause it stuck in my head for days. I learned this from The Braeburn Collection Vol. 1 where it is written in Bm, which is alway fun, but we moved it into Cm just to get a little different sound or probabaly because my wife plays it on an Eb whistle which is haunting by itself.

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## JeffD

> Inisheer is the smallest of the three Aran islands off the coasts of Galway and Clare and is forever fixed in my memory due to a stormy boat trip which left me lying on the Inisheer beach for hours, throwing up and looking forward to the trip back...



You too!  I didn't need a storm, as the ferry boat pilot suffered from testosterone poisoning and took every wave head on full throttle. "The waves inside me belly boys..."

On Inisheer I was advised to take some brandy, because "it beats dry wretching."

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## JeffD

That being said, I can recommend Limerick's Lament, played very slowly. You'll cry your eyes out.

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## Eddie Sheehy

Yes, Limerick's Lament - Marbhna Luimni - is truly haunting... Sharon Shannon does a lovely rendition on the button-accordion on one of her albums.  I'll try to throw a tab together for it and maybe an mp3.  However, I'll venture to say that it's not easy to play and requires a lot of feeling .  There's one part that has a quick passage of notes that are a bit tricky.

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## Patrick Sylvest

Molly Malone

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## Dagger Gordon

Bertram,

Not for the first time am I impressed with your grasp of knowledge about my part of the world (the last time was to do with oil rigs in the Cromarty Firth and various local whiskies).

Hector the Hero is indeed a Scottish tune, and was written by the great Scottish fiddler and composer James Scott Skinner.  There is a monument to Hector MacDonald in Dingwall where he came from, about 20 mins from me.

It is a fine tune, although I confess 'fun' is not a word I might have used to describe it. 'Limerick's lament' would certainly fit the bill.  I seem to remember it being called 'Limerick's lamentation'.

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## Nigel Gatherer

Here's a selection of my favourites:

Eibhlin
Eleanor Plunkett
Down By the Sally Garden
Blind Mary
Planxty Irwin
Planxty Fanny Power

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## Bertram Henze

> Bertram,
> 
> Not for the first time am I impressed with your grasp of knowledge about my part of the world ...


Thanks, I feel very much honored  :Redface: 
I wish I could afford to visit Scotland more often, gladly accepting all of its treats and habits (except that I'd be reluctant to wear a kilt). I still remember a moment in a quiet pub in Lochgilphead, where I sat on my own in front of a pint of stout when a voice in my head, loud and clear, said "you never need to be afraid anymore"; now I would have attributed that to the pint of stout, but the glass was still full. Up to now, the prophecy holds. I'll come back someday for more.

Bertram

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## John Ritchhart

I like this one.

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## Manfred Hacker

Happy New Year to everyone out there,

I think '*Lord Inchiquin*' would also fall under the category 'slow Irish tune that is easy to learn'.

I like this stately tune a lot. 

Manfred,
(in the process of learning the waltz 'The Star of County Down' with lots of double stops) :Mandosmiley:

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## mrmando

Taimse im Chodladh.

I don't know if it's easy to learn, but it sure is haunting! 

O'Carolan's Farewell or Hugh O'Donnell might work better on mandolin.

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## mrmando

> (in the process of learning the waltz 'The Star of County Down' with lots of double stops)


Hm. The tune commonly known as "Star of the County Down" (based on an old English carol, "Dives and Lazarus") is not a waltz.

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## Manfred Hacker

> Hm. The tune commonly known as "Star of the County Down" (based on an old English carol, "Dives and Lazarus") is not a waltz.


Hi mrmando,
The book I am learning it from says that it is 
'the Irish *waltz* version of a very common and widespread ballad melody of English origin. A number of ballad texts and songs are sung to this tune, including .... Dives and Lazarus .... Sometimes the melody appears in *4/4*...'

My knowledge of Irish mando / fiddle music is (still) limited. I have quite a few tune books but not very much listening experience.
Now you have made me curious and I will search for a ballad version as well.
Manfred

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## Billywally

Crested Hens
It is the first tune on an Celtic tune set I have on my Myspace page; about my favorite of all hauntingly sweet melodies I have heard.  
Check it out
www.myspace.com/billysbands

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## mrmando

> Hi mrmando,
> The book I am learning it from says that it is 
> 'the Irish *waltz* version of a very common and widespread ballad melody of English origin. A number of ballad texts and songs are sung to this tune, including .... Dives and Lazarus .... Sometimes the melody appears in *4/4*...'


Hm. Well, I don't think I've ever heard it _not_ done in 4/4, but then my experience/exposure isn't exactly vast either. I can hear it in my head as a waltz ... it would make a nice one, methinks. Some tunes lend themselves quite readily to switching between 3/4 and 4/4 ... witness "Blue Moon of Kentucky."

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## ilovemyF9

Saint Patrick's Day is the first Celtic tune I learned on the Mando.  It's a gorgeous slow piece of music & I am sure you will recognize the melody instantly:

http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~eknuth/.../spatrick.html


Good Luck & Happy New Year to ALL!

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## John Flynn

> Hm. Well, I don't think I've ever heard it _not_ done in 4/4, but then my experience/exposure isn't exactly vast either. I can hear it in my head as a waltz ... it would make a nice one, methinks. Some tunes lend themselves quite readily to switching between 3/4 and 4/4 ... witness "Blue Moon of Kentucky."


I have rarely hear "Star of the County Down" NOT done as a waltz, although I have encountered the 4/4 version once or twice. The Fiddler's Companion site says it can be a 4/4 march, or an air or waltz in 3/4. The Session site lists it in 4/4, but the Fiddler's Fakebook has it in 3/4. In 3/4, it is one of my all time favorite tunes, a slow, haunting tune as requested by the OP. In 4/4, I don't much care for it.

A great mandolin version in 3/4 is on the Buckahannon Brothers' CD "Little River Stomp."

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## IndianaTim

> To be precise, Hector the Hero is a Scottish tune and is about Sir Hector McDonald, a Scot who successfully made it up the English army hierarchy, fought in India and died under mysterious circumstances in Paris.


Ah. A good bit of a history lesson there. Thank you, Bertram. I should have guessed at the source, as Hector isn't exactly a common Irish name. I learned this tune from my wife, who has a notable predilection toward those Scots influenced Donegal tunes.

I've tried to ameliorate her palate with a healthy helping of polkas and slides, but to no avail. 

Tim

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## Michael Barnett

Loch Lavan Castle was the first tune I learned on fiddle. Played it slow and haunting. Brought tears to my buddy's mom's eyes, but that just may be because it was the first tune I learned to play on fiddle. My fiddle playing brought tears to many eyes over the years. Never was really very good on fiddle. : )

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## R. Kane

Did anyone else notice that Nigel Gatherer made his first post on the 'cafe message board today? Welcome, and Slainte!

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## Cheryl Watson

Well, these tunes are not purely Irish but I find pretty celtic tunes to play on mandolin by listening to some of the world's greatest celtic fingerstylists a few below but there are many more...

Pat Kirtley--South Wind

Martin Simpson:  Believe me All These Endearing Young Charms

Al Petteway: Jock O'Hazeldean   Faire Wind  and the very haunting Rise Up My Love

Cheryl :Mandosmiley:

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## Dagger Gordon

Loch Lavan Castle is another Scots tune, actually a reel called Loch Leven Castle which is not far from Edinburgh and where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned for a while.

I've never heard it played as a slow air, but I used to quite like the Fuzzy Mountain String Band's version of it like an American old-timey tune.

While I'm at it, I might as well note that 'Jock o' Hazeldean' is another Scots tune, in fact it's a song written by Sir Walter Scott (although ctwang does note that his selection is not purely Irish).  He is right in suggesting that Celtic fingerstyle guitarists often pick the kind of tune you may be looking for.

I'm not sure if the original poster is aware that there are a lot of tunes written by an old harp player called O'Carolan which are perhaps the kind of thing you want, and are used a lot by Celtic guitarists.

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## Michael Barnett

> Loch Lavan Castle is another Scots tune, actually a reel called Loch Leven Castle which is not far from Edinburgh and where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned for a while.
> 
> I've never heard it played as a slow air, but I used to quite like the Fuzzy Mountain String Band's version of it like an American old-timey tune.


I figured it might be Scots, and would get corrected. I appreciate the info. When I was first learning to fiddle, pretty much everything came out as a slow air...

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## whistler

> Crested Hens
> It is the first tune on an Celtic tune set I have on my Myspace page; about my favorite of all hauntingly sweet melodies I have heard.  
> Check it out
> www.myspace.com/billysbands


Billy - It's a lovely tune, indeed.  But it's not Irish or anything like Irish in style, to my ear.  It was composed by Gilles Chabenat, a French hurdy-gurdy player, and is a _bourrée à trois temps_, a traditional French dance form.

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## whistler

> a _bourrée à trois temps_, a traditional French dance form.


...although it is often played, loosely speaking, as a slow air.

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## whistler

I don't play many _real_ slow airs, but one that I do play (albeit on the whistle more than the mandolin) is _Casadh an tSúgáin_ (The Twisting of the Hayrope).  
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/4581

Another, which I don't play but intend to learn one day, is the beautiful Donegal air, _Paddy's Rambles Through the Park_, traditionally supposed to be a 'fairy' tune. 
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/512

I would strongly recommend finding recordings of these tunes and focus more on learning them by ear than from the sheet music - they should be played in more-or-less free rhythm.

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## Dave Harbst

Buy Butch Baldassari's "Music of O'Carolan". You'll love it and it's great to learn from.
Check it out here: http://www.soundartrecordings.com/MusicofOCarolan.shtml

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## Randi Gormley

Foggy Dew if you take your time on it...

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## tango_grass

I always like O'Carolan's Welcome.  A tune Lunasa does pretty hauntingly in the last set on their Otherworld CD.

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## BBarr

This is my favorite tune from the 'fair folk'..... Pretty Girl Milking a Cow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5wGVXqV5k8

I also play Blind Mary and Si Bheag Si Mhor as they are fine slow tunes to relax by.

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## Shelby Eicher

Star of the County Down is an awesome tune played slow!

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## Martin Jonas

A lot of the ones I can think of are Scottish rather than Irish, but great to play on mandolin.  Try:

MacCrimmon's Lament
Battle of the Somme
Lament for Abercairney
Lament for Glencoe
Flowers of the Forest
Michael's Mazurka
Parcel of Rogues
Morag of Dunvegan
Lochaber No More
The Mist-Covered Mountains (an actual Irish one...)

Martin

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## ApK

How about the Aran Boat song:
http://www.mudcat.org/midi/midifiles/aranboat.mid

There is some debate about if it's Irish or Scottish (depending on if it's Aran or Arran) but it's a great slow, haunting, easy to learn tune.  Best with a fiddle, I think.

BTW, I love 'Star of the County Down.'  I prefer the up-tempo versions, but Celtic Women do a really nice slow version.  Not sure if I've ever heard it as a waltz.

ApK

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## John Flynn

Attached is an mp3 made from a midi of "Star of the County Down" as a waltz. It is the Mike Stangeland transcription off of Mandozine. Not sure how "haunting" a midi can be, but you get the idea.

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## ApK

Interesting.  For comparison, here's a midi of it in 4/4.  Decidedly non-haunting.

http://www.socc.ie/~midiclass/irish%...nty%20down.mid

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## Bob DeVellis

I like some minor-key jigs played slowly.  Coleraine is a good example.  A fiddler friend says it should be the Halloween theme song.  Humors of Trim is another that comes to mind.  Playing these jigs at a very stately pace gives room for lots of expressiveness and some nice ornaments can be incorporated without tying your fingers in knots.  Of course, many of you can play these as fast jigs without tying your fingers in knots but I'm referring to those of us with more modest skills.

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## Steve Cantrell

I like pretty much everything this Youtube user does. 



For some reason, I never see the Youtube video I've added, so here's the url in the event it doesn't materialize from the ether. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrPB0...e=channel_page

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## FlatpickerRob

Maybe Aran Boat song

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## Eddie Sheehy

I'd forgotton about "My Lagan Love".  It's been a while since I've played it.  It fits the bill.  Horselips did a rocked out version of it in the early 70's.  Didn't quite do it justice.  "King of the Faeries" was similarily butchered by Magic Musheroom around the same time.  "My Lagan Love" was my mom's favorite tune.

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## whistler

> Maybe Aran Boat song


Again, a lovely tune.  But Scottish, not Irish.  This is named after the Isle of _Arran_, off SW Scotland, not the _Aran_ Islands off the coast of Clare and Connemara.

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## Tom C

One of my favoraites. Oopik Waltz.

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## ApK

> Again, a lovely tune.  But Scottish, not Irish.  This is named after the Isle of _Arran_, off SW Scotland, not the _Aran_ Islands off the coast of Clare and Connemara.


As I said above, I have seen the history of the tune debated quite a bit and there is argument over whether it should be Aran or Arran.  Or even Erin.
I've read seeming reliable sources claim it is Irish and others claim it's Scottish.

http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/986

And the good news is, it seems the either side is happy to claim it, so if you say it's Irish in a crowd of Irishmen, you're unlikely to get arguments!

ApK

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## Eddie Sheehy

"And the good news is, it seems the either side is happy to claim it, so if you say it's Irish in a crowd of Irishmen, you're unlikely to get arguments!"

Not really.  An Irishman will argue with a stone.....

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## Sandy Beckler

Shame on you Rod.......for posting that link to Youtube "Down by the Sally Gardens" (Maura O'Connell and Karen Matheson)
I can't stop watching it...at work, at home...what a great tune.

Sandy :Grin:

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