David, thanks! Worked like a charm!
All great versions, whilst i'm still trying to learn the b part. DJ, love the sound of your 'studio' has a lot of energy!! mc
I like this tune, but it really isn't a hornpipe, it is a set dance and it has been an "official" set dance tune in the past. It is meant to be played for dancers who, in turn, will want you to sound just like the recording they used to dance to while practicing. Since the primary feature of most dance practice CDs is dead on tempo a lot of interpretation gets thrown out the window The first few video renditions of this tune are strange, to say the least, if you have had to play it at a lot of contests. I like what everyone has done with this tune so far. I rarely hear it in a session mostly because it is hard to find a tune to go with it, I suspect. And I love that Bridger!
Reels, Hornpipes, Set Dances, Polkas, Jigs, Slip Jigs, Slides. The mind reels <haha> So what distinguishes a Set Dance from a Reel or a Hornpipe?
DJ, this link might help. someone generously answered a similar question I had. http://sites.google.com/site/irishmusicrhythms/ this is a great resource. mc
OK, here is my first ever video of of myself playing. I played this as a hornpipe, I guess, at least that's what the bodhran track is supposed to be (another first). The quality seems pretty poor, is that because I chose the mobile option? My Old Wave really does sound better than this, even if I don't.
Rí na Síog - played on an Eastman 815MDA Mandola
Great first video, BlueMt. Under the message window, you click on "Go Advanced". Then you will see more icons on top of the window. Click on the red button "Tube" and and you will get a window where you can insert the information copied from the Youtube page. In your present video, this should be: "5t0SmLb60_E" Mandolinistically, Manfred
Thanks! Manfred. Eric
Just found a version that offers some potential to the dancers amongst us: Just occurred to me that that is something we haven't seen Eddie do yet, have we?
Wow, what a production!
Bertram, I agree, I'd love to see Eddie "Lord of the Dance" Sheehy favor us with a jig or 2. mc
Hey, he's got a whole crew, haven't you seen his family santa photos! I bet he could get THEM to do it!
Yeah! Who needs Riverdance when we have Eddies Cru????? haha mc
Actually......
Am I supposed to be looking at her feet? Another vote for Eddie's Cru!
Dana, believe it or not, Irish stepdancing is supposed to be strictly about feet only There is a historic reason why they hold their arms down, but Michael Flatley definitely can't remember what it was...
My dog can dance a version of a jig... I call it Roverdance...
Has Mattel released Riverdance Barbie yet?
No, but they released Divorce Barbie - she comes with half Ken's stuff...
Just discovered the group and and thought it would be good motivation to build my abysmally small repertoire. Hope you don't mind me bumping some old discussions in the coming weeks.
Welcome Solas - yeah, that was exactly the same motivation that brought me here, too. And it does help a lot. No problem about bumping old discussions, most of them deserve to be brought back to memory and some actually start a second life that way. Your dexterity is remarkable, so technique is certainly not a problem of yours However, did I hear the odd left-out measure here and there?
There is one left out measure at the end that I know about. Also, I just noticed I didn't arrange the tune correctly. May have to record it again later.
Welcome to the group! Tell us a little about yourself and your mando! Please look through our past Tune of the Weeks, PLUS our huge list of 'Other Tunes' and feel free to submit any! Or, any tune that you like to play, that hasn't been played yet!
I've just introduced myself over in the "new people" thread (well, not new to the Cafe but new to this group), and as I play King of the Fairies every now and then, I did a quick clip of it with my resonator tenor guitar. Barbara said earlier that the tune works well on tenor banjo, and the reso is rather similar in character: Martin
Martin, very nice. Your reso tenor guitar has a very nice sound to it...
Been wantin' to record this for a while. Not sure if I'm playing it right. Just sort of picked it out by ear.
I've long liked this tune, and have been meaning to record an accompanied version for some time. I was prompted to finally do so when Cafe member harper (Evelyn) kindly sent me the arrangement she had made for her contra dance band. A good tune for a thumping mandocello bassline. I tend to channel the Horslips version when I play this tune, so this is faster than it is sometimes heard. 1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin 1925 Zimmermann waldzither Ozark tenor guitar Suzuki MC-815 mandocello Martin
Bump
My take on this set dance. For those of us who grew up in Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s, Horslips' version of this song will be forever etched into our memories and it's quite hard sometimes when playing this to avoid lapsing into some of their idiosyncratic syncopations... Played on my G&O #34 mandolin.
Great tune, well played!
Originally Scottish, stolen by the English, perfected by the Irish - a tune for St Patrick's Day. King of the Fairies has become such a standard that we might overlook what a wonderful tune it is. Influenced by Kevin Burke's ultra-slow version, I have tried something similar, much slower than I used to play it, but I now realize nowhere as slow as he does.
lol i would say that's the recipe for a powerful amount of Irish tunes , i read somewhere that the slide was the only genre in Irish trad that was actual Irish in origin . great tune , fine playing .
A cracking tune and so well played, Richard. Your tempo suits the tune beautifully, letting it breathe for the listener.
Thank you, both. Indeed, Lawrence, plus many of the tunes have been through the filter of a return transatlantic crossing. The search for purity is seldom successful and always disastrous, in my view. I think it's fun how mixed up all these traditions are. John, I agree that it is often better to dial it down a bit and let the tune breathe. In this case, it lets me breathe too - not sure I would manage those triplets at the tempo I used to play.
Wow, that's really nice. I like the rhythm and the clarity of each note.
Like the sound track to a movie. Richard, nice! Clear, fine playing giving it a misty, nostalgic and timeless atmosphere. That reminds me, I haven’t see one of Ginny’s blockbuster, panoramic vids recently!
Thank you, Dennis - rhythm and clarity is what I associate with your playing. And thanks, Simon. Well, as it happens it is part of the soundtrack to a "movie" (my migration video - watch the Celtic forum for more details). What does this have to do with migration? Nothing, but I wanted to play it and so I used it as an illustration of the naming of Irish and Scottish traditional tunes. I'm glad the recording quality is good. Unfortunately, as there are 33 tunes in the video, the sound quality rather depends on how early, or preferably late, in the process I recorded it.
Sounding good Richard!
Thank you, Frank!
Sounding mighty fine Richard, you always do the right mix.
Thank you, Christian. I admit I was pleased with this one.
I'd forgotten that I'd recorded an acoustic version of this set dance a couple of years ago. Oh well... here goes with the 2023 version...
It was Horslips who introduced me to this tune which I now love to play but never imagined in my youth I’d be playing as a pensioner
The surviving members of Horslips are no adolescents, themselves, these days... :-)
Always a great listen, this one, Aidan. Fine version you give us here.
Link to Week #319
Enjoyed the two different versions of this classic from both Richard and Aiden.
@John (W). I'm kind of in two minds about this tune. It was spoilt for me because at one session I used to play at, we had a punter (from my hometown, as it happens) who used to get pretty well langered and demand loudly that we play King Of The Fairies. We used to resist because once a session starts to play requests, where does it end? "The Fields Of Athenry"? "Ole, Ole, Ole"? In the end we figured that just playing the tune would shut him up and get him out of our hair. But in the process, the tune became something of a chore rather than a straightforward pleasure...
Another classic (popular) hornpipe that I’ve been wanting to record for sometime. Vega cylinderback 203
