The Fiddler’s Companion

© 1996-2008 Andrew Kuntz

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PORT - POY

 

 

Notation Note: The tunes below are recorded in what is called “abc notation.” They can easily be converted to standard musical notation via highlighting with your cursor starting at “X:1” through to the end of the abc’s, then “cutting-and-pasting” the highlighted notation into one of the many abc conversion programs available, or at concertina.net’s incredibly handy “ABC Convert-A-Matic” at

http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html 

 

**Please note that the abc’s in the Fiddler’s Companion work fine in most abc conversion programs. For example, I use abc2win and abcNavigator 2 with no problems whatsoever with direct cut-and-pasting. However, due to an anomaly of the html, pasting the abc’s into the concertina.net converter results in double-spacing. For concertina.net’s conversion program to work you must remove the spaces between all the lines of abc notation after pasting, so that they are single-spaced, with no intervening blank lines. This being done, the F/C abc’s will convert to standard notation nicely. Or, get a copy of abcNavigator 2 – its well worth it.   [AK]

 

 

 

PORT... See also (the Gaelic) "Puirt..."  An Irish port, or Gaelic puirt, was originally a common-time lesson or an air written for the harp and akin to a planxty (Flood) or sometimes a vocal air, but it is also the Gaelic word for 'jig.' Sanger & Kinnaird (Tree of Strings, 1992) say that there was actually no Irish tradition of ports, and that only one, “Purth Clarseach” (a version of “Port Gordon”) is recorded by Edward Bunting. The genuine ports that are contained in Irish collections appear to all have Scottish connections. The first recorded use of the word port, in a musical context, is in the poem by Donnachadh Mor of Lennox, in the Book of the Dean of Lismore, dating it to before 1513-40. The earliest datable port is perhaps “Port Robert,” in the Wemyss manuscript, going back to the 16th century. Sanger & Kinnaird state that the classic port seems to have been a “characteristically Scottish form of harp music which had a fairly short-lived fashion between the mid 16th and mid 17th centuries.” The form itself died out, its fortunes linked to the profession of harper which also waned at the same time for both political and musical reasons, thought the name lived on. In the 18th century other types of tunes more strongly melodic were still being called ‘ports’, though they had little to do musically with the older form.

                       

PORT A’ BHODAICH. AKA and see “The Carle's Rant.” Scottish, Strathspey. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning. AABB'CBB' (Kerr): ABCD (Athole, Gow, McGlashan). John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of this tune in print in Alexander 'King' McGlashan's 1780 collection. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; pg. 6. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 1; Set 26, No. 5, pg. 16. McGlashan (Collection of Strathspey Reels), c. 1780/81; pg. 28. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 7.

X:1

T:Port a’ Bhodaich

M:C|

L:1/8

S:Strathspey

B:Stewart-Robertson – The Athole Collection  (1884)

Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion

K:A

e| A<Ae>B c>B A<a | A<Ae>c d>c B<e | A<Ae>B c<Ae>d | c<Ae<A d>cB>e |

A<Ae>B c>B A<a | A<Ae>c d>cBE | A<Ae>B c<Ae>d | c<Ae>c d>cB>e ||

c<Aa>g a<AA>e | c<Aa>f =g<BB>e | c<Aag a>AA>e | f<ae<=g d>c B<e |

c<Aa>g a<AA>e | cAfa =g<BB>e | c<Aa>g a>Aa>e | f/g/a e/f/=g d>cB<e ||

d/c/B/A/ A,>A c<AA<e | d/c/B/A/ A,>e d<BB>e | d/c/B/A/ A,>e d/c/B/A/ A,>e |

d/c/B/A/ A,>e d<BB<e | d/c/B/A/ A,>e c<AA>e | d/c/B/A/ A,>e d<BB>e |

d/c/B/A/ A,>A AA/B/ c>A d>cB<e || c<Aa>g a<AA>e | c<Aa>f =g<BB>e |

c<Aa>g a>Aa>e| f<ae<=g d>cB<e | c<Aa>g a<AA>e | c<Aa>f =g<BB>e | c<Aa>g a>Aa>e|f/g/a e/f/=g d>cB |]

                       


PORT AN ACHRÉIDH. Irish, Single Jig. D Mixolydian. Standard tuning. AABB. Source for notated version: whistle player Pat White/Padraic de Faoite (Ireland) [Breathnach]. Breathnach (CRÉ I), 1963; No. 59, pg. 26.

           

PORT AN AIRD BHÁIN.  AKA and see “The Banard Jig.”

           

PORT AN BARUNTACT. AKA and see "The Barony Jig [2]."

                       

PORT AN BHAILE CHAOIL. AKA and see "The Ballykeal Jig."

                       

PORT AN BHRÁTHAR (The Monk’s Jig). AKA and see “The Monk's Jig,” “The Reverend Brother’s Jig.”

                       

PORT AN DEORAI. AKA and see “Exile’s Jig.” Irish, Slip Jig. E Minor. Standard. AAB. Cranitch (Irish Fiddle Book), 1996; No. 32, pg. 137. Cranitch (Irish Session Tunes: Red Book), 2000; 32. Rounder 3067, Alan Stivell ‑ "Renaissance of the Celtic Harp" (1982).

                       

PORT AN DREÓLIN. Irish, Slide. D Major. Standard. AABB. Source for notated version: set dance music recorded at Na Píobairí Uilleann, mid-1980’s [Taylor]. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995; pg. 37.

                       

PORT AN FHATHAIGH. AKA and see "Fahy's Jig [1]."

           

PORT AN FHIONNÁNAIGH. AKA and see “Fanning’s Jig.”

           

PORT AN GHALLÁIN. AKA and see "The Gullane Jig."

                       

PORT AN POSTA. AKA and see "The Bridal Jig [1]."

                       

PORT AN PUCA. AKA and see "The Fairy Jig."

                       

PORT AN REATA. AKA and see "The Runaway Jig."

                       

PORT AN RIAGÁNAIGH. AKA and see “Regan’s Jig.”

                       

PORT AN TEAMPALL. AKA and see "The Templehouse Jig."

                       

PORT AN tSAGAIRT (The Priest’s Jig). Irish, Double Jig. G Major. Standard. AABB. The tune, from an unknown manuscript,  is related to O’Neill’s “Happy to Meet {and Sorry to Part}.” Breathnach (CRÉ IV), 1996; pg. 10.

           

PORT AN TÚIR MHÓIR.  AKA and see “The Toormore Jig.”

           

PORT ANTOINE UI FHREAGHAILE. AKA and see "Anthony Frawley's Jig."

                       

PORT ARD, AN. AKA and see "The High Jig."

                       

PORT ARTHUR BLUES. AKA and see "Blues de Port Arthur, La." Cajun, Two-Step. D Major. Standard. AA'BBCC'. Port Arthur is a town in Texas where many Cajuns migrated. “Valse des Vachers” is a triple-time setting of the melody. Greenblatt (The Cajun Fiddle Tune Book), 1985; pg. 19.

                       

PORT ARTHUR STOMP. Cajun. Recorded by accordion player Marc Savoy. Pukka Records YOP 04, The Oyster Band ‑ "Lie Back and Think of England."

                       


PORT ARTHUR WALTZ (Valse de Port Arthur). Cajun, Waltz. USA, southwestern Louisiana. D Major. Standard. AA'BB' (Phillips): One part (Francois). A related tune is "Lake Arthur Waltz." Source for notated version: Harry Choates (La.) [Phillips]; Aldus Roger & Phillip Alleman (La.) [Francois]. Francois (Yé Yaille Chere), 1990; pgs. 448-449. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 34. Arhoolie 5027, Harry Choates ‑ "The Fiddle King of Cajun Swing ‑ Original Recordings 1946‑1949."

                       

PORT ATA-CUILINN. AKA and see "The Hollyford Jig."

                       

PORT ATHOL. AKA – “Port Atholl.” AKA and see "The Hawk of Ballyshannon," "O'Moore's Fair Daughter," "Katherine O'More." Scottish/Irish, Air. Originally composed for a patron by early 17th century Ulster-born (Francis O’Neill says he was born c. 1646, though he is also recorded as having died around 1650) harper Rory Dall O'Cahan, who travelled into Scotland and long played for the great families of that country. Atholl is in central Perthshire. The blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738) 'touched' "Port Athol" into his "O'Moore's Daughter" (Flood, 1906). It was printed by Bunting. Several (four) early versions of the melody appear in the Balcarres Lute manuscript, compiled in 1692-1694, and the tune appears to have been well-known by lutenists of the era. There are, however, two distinctly different tunes with the name “Port Atholl,” one printed by Bowie and Oswald.

                       

PORT BAGARAC, AN. AKA and see "The Swaggering Jig [1]."

                       

PORT BALLANGOWNE. Scottish, Air. A harp tune appearing in the Skene Manuscript of c. 1615, collected for or by John Skene of Hallyards in Midlothian, set in tablature for the mandora. Under the simple title “A Port” the melody appears in Gordon of  Straloch’s Lute Book (also called the Straloch Manuscript) of 1927-29, with the postscript “Finis Port Rorie Dall,” referring to the harper Ruari (Dall) O Cathain. Finally, under the appelation “Port 6th” the tune appears in the MacLean-Clephane Manuscript of 1816, written by the seventeen-year-old Lady Margaret Wemyss, a member of a prominent Lowland Scots family. "Ballangowne" is a Gaelic place name variously called Balgowan, Balgonie, etc., meaning 'village of the smith', and refers to Balgowan, which lies between two main parts of the Lude estate, Inchmagrannoch and Monzie, on the River Tummel. Another suggestion {from Sanger & Kinnaird (Tree of Strings, 1992)}for the origins of the title is that it was perhaps composed for Lady Elizabeth Ross, of the Rosses of Ballnagowan. Sanger & Kinnaird (Tree of Strings), 1992; pg. 179. Flying Fish, Robin Williamson ‑ "Legacy of the Scottish Harpers, Vol. 2."

                                   

PORT BHEAN DE ROS. AKA and see “Mrs. Ross’s Jig.”

                                   

PORT BHRIAIN MHÓIR (Big Barney’s Jig). AKA and see “Big Barney('s Jig).” Irish, Jig. G Major. Standard. AABB. Breathnach (CRE IV), 1996; No. 7, pg. 5.

                       

PORT CAIT NI MATGAMNA. AKA and see "Kit O'Mahony's Jig."

                       

PORT CHILL CHAINNIGH. AKA and see "The Kilkenny Jig."

                       

PORT CIARRAÍOCH/CIARRAIG, AN. AKA and see "The Kerry Jig [1]."

                       

PORT CILL-FINAIN. AKA and see "The Kilfinane Jig."

                       

PORT CORNAD MIC SEOIN. AKA and see "Jackson's Rolling Jig."

                       

PORT CROTUIR UI CATASAIG. AKA and see "Con Casey's Jig."

                       

PORT CUILLINN UI CHAOIMH. AKA – “Port Chuilinn.” Irish, Jig. D Major. Standard. AA’B. Treoir. Compass Records 7 4407 2, Ciaran Tourish – “Down the Line” (2005. Learned from the playing of Dermot and Tara Diamond).

X: 1

T: Port Cuillinn ui Chaoimh

S: "Treoir"

M: 6/8

L: 1/8

R: jig

Z: Transcribed by Bill Black

K: D

F/A/ | BdB BAF | Add dFA | BdB BAF | AFE E2 F/A/ |

B3 BAF | Add dAF | G3 FAF |1 EDE D2 :|2 EDE D3 ||

DFA d3 | dfd ecA | g3 fdB | AFA B3 |

Adf a2 a | baf a2 f | gfe fdB | AFA B2 g ||

fdd d3 | dfd ecA | g3 fdB | AFA B3 |

Adf a3 | baf a2 f | gfe fdB | AFA B3 ||

                       

PORT DALAIG [1]. Irish, Polka. Ireland, West Kerry. G Major. Standard. AABB. Apparently the composition (with “Port Dalaig” [2]) or favorite tune of Tom ‘na Hinise’ O Dalaig (Tom Daly, 1907-1989), a fiddler from Inishvickillane, Co. Kerry. Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham (An Pota Stoir: Ceol Seite Corca Duibne/The Set Dance Music of West Kerry), No. 1, pg. 13.

 


PORT DALAIG [2]. Irish, Polka. Ireland, West Kerry. A Dorian. Standard. AABB. See note for “Port Dalaig [1]." Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham (An Pota Stoir: Ceol Seite Corca Duibne/The Set Dance Music of West Kerry), No. 4, pg. 14.

 

PORT DALAIG [3]. Irish, Polka. Ireland, West Kerry. D Major. Standard. AABB. See note for “Port Dalaig [1]." Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham (An Pota Stoir: Ceol Seite Corca Duibne/The Set Dance Music of West Kerry), No. 10, pg. 16.

 

PORT DALAIG [4]. Irish, Polka. Ireland, West Kerry. E Dorian. Standard. AABB. The melody, especially in the ‘A’ part, is similar to “Riding on a Load of Hay.” See note for “Port Dalaig [1]." Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham (An Pota Stoir: Ceol Seite Corca Duibne/The Set Dance Music of West Kerry), No. 16, pg. 19.

 

PORT DALAIG [5]. AKA and see “Ballyoran Polka [1]."

 

PORT DALAIG [6]. AKA and see “Ballyoran Polka," “(An) Gallope,” “Galop Hey,” “The Kerry Polka,” “Paddy Spillane’s [2]." Irish, Polka. Ireland, West Kerry. D Major. Standard. AABB. Like “Port Dalaig [5]," this is a version of “Ballyoran [1]." Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham (An Pota Stoir: Ceol Seite Corca Duibne/The Set Dance Music of West Kerry), No. 54, pg. 34.

PORT DALAIG [7]. AKA and see “Off She Goes [1].”

 

PORT DALAIG [8]. Irish, Slide (12/8 time). Ireland, West Kerry. E Minor. Standard. AABB. Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham (An Pota Stóir: Ceol Seite Corca Duibne/The Set Dance Music of West Kerry), No. 78, pg. 45.

           

PORT DHOMHNAILL MHIC GUTHAGAIN. AKA and see “Donald MacGugan’s Rant.”

           

PORT FIAGUIDE AN SIONAIG. AKA and see "The Foxhunter's Jig [1]."

           

PORT GAEDEALAC, AN. AKA and see "The Hibernian Jig."

           

PORT GAEL-LINN. AKA and see “Dash to Portobello.” The title honors the Irish recording company.

           

PORT GORDON{AC} [1] (Gordon’s Tune). AKA and see "Mary of Ballyhaunis." Scottish/Irish, Air (4/4 time, "with spirit"). G Dorian (O’Neill): A Dorian (Ó Canainn). Standard. One part (Ó Canainn): AB (O’Neill). A harp air composed for a Scottish patron by early 17th century Ulster-born (Francis O’Neill says he was born c. 1646) harper Rory Dall O'Cahan, who travelled into Scotland and long played for the great families of that country. The tune was reworked a century later by blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738) and later used for the Irish song "Maire beil ata h‑Amnair." Several early Scottish versions of the melody appear in the (Crawford of) Balcarres Lute Manuscript, compiled in 1694. It can be found in Cooke’s Selection of Twenty-one Favourite Original Irish Airs arranged for Pianoforte (Dublin, 1793).

***

There are actually several airs entitled “Port Gordon.” One of them is in John Bowie’s Collection of Strathspey Reels and Country Dances (1789), a partial version of which (under the title “Port 2nd”) also appears in the MacLean-Clephane Manuscript of 1816, written by the seventeen-year-old Lady Margaret Wemyss, a member of a prominent Lowland Scots family. The subject of one of them is likely to have been George Gordon, the first Marquess of Huntly (1562-1636), maintain Sanger & Kinnaird (Tree of Strings, 1992), who defeated Argyll at the battle of Balrinnes. It had been fortold that Argyll’s harp would be played in the Gordon territory of Strathbogie, encouraging Argyll to attack thinking his victory was assured; indeed the harp was so played—as the spoils of war. Source for notated version: Chicago Police Sergeant and fiddler James O’Neill, originally from County Down [O’Neill]. Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 61, pg. 55. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903/1979; No. 40, pg. 7. O’Neill (Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922; No. 63.

X:1

T:Port Gordon [1]

M:C

L:1/8

R:Air

S:O’Neill – Music of Ireland (1903), No. 40

Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion

K:G Minor

dc|B2 Bc B2 AG|G>A Bc d2 cA|G2 GF D2 D^F|G4 G2 dc|B2 Bc B2 AG|
G>A Bc d2 cA|G2 GF D2 D^F|G4 G2||GA|B2 c2 d3B|c2 d=e f2 d>g|

g>f dc B2d2|c3B G2 dc|B2 Bc B2 AG|G>ABc d2 cA|G2 GF D2 D^F|G4 G2||

 

PORT GORDON [2].