from PT Bell of Carrizo Springs, TX

WOW......almost blasted me out'a my chair on tha volume Howard, BUT, another great'n to yer credit. Thumbs-up.

The Irish cousin of this tune is "Sean se Ceo" (lit. John in the fog)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwMsBlnFpS0
or am I the only one that hears a similarity?

Edited by - mad baloney on 06/03/2012 18:10:05

No, I hear the similarity too. "Killie Krankie" is the first tune in the first volume of Knauff's Virginia Reels, published in the 1830's. I always assumed it was Scottish in origin. Just looking at the notation, it would seem to be the same tune. I've never heard it played though.

Howard - is that you playing, or a field recording of Mr. Bell?

Edit - Ah, I see the origin of this name now: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Killiecrankie

Edited by - DougD on 06/03/2012 18:44:49

whoa!

cool discovery, Howard. what made you pick this one up?

Doug, awesome connection to have made. next time i'm stuck on source research, instead of calling Carl Baron or Kerry Blech(or etc.), i'll ask you!

Thanks all. 

This is me playing, Doug, but what a great compliment that you thought it was an old field recording.

Michael, I have a whole list of PT Bell tunes I want to learn, this is just where I'm at :)

I wonder why Bell added "Ma" in between Killie and Crankie. 

Cool tune, Howard! It's got a great name too.

quote:

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Originally posted by DougD
Edit - Ah, I see the origin of this name now: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Killiecrankie

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Doug, here is more information on the battle. You might also like to see the lyrics of the song, the first three verses of which were written by Robert Burns.

The song is very different than the fiddle tune.

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

Edited by - soapycows on 06/04/2012 08:27:21

I would not be surprised (and would strongly suspect) that the tune the Irish call "Sean Se Cheo" is a variant of a Scots reel (or strathspey) originally named after Killiecrankie (the battle or just the place) and an american version came about too.

On the other hand...

I searched the usual Scots resources, nothing came up - which is odd because the Scots are very bookish with their tunes. So maybe this one went from Ireland or America to Scotland and got renamed.


The "Ma" in the title might have been an over 'celtic-ification' like when people call me O'Maloney. eg Killie MacCrankie ????

Killiecrankie is a wee village just up the road from me, Near the town of Pitlochry in Perthshire, Scotland. Home of the Clan Robertson. Famed for the so called " Soldier's Leap ". There ,more than 300 years ago ,a soldier made a leap to freedom of some 15 meters or so over a torrent raging through the gorge. The song "Killiecrankie" which refers to this battle ,but, the tune of the song bears little resemblance to the fiddle tune. By the way, I have been told the soldier was infact an Englishman being chased by the Scots. Who knows?

There are quite a few early settings of this tune, starting, I think, with Playford.  I think the early ones are more interesting than the standard song version.

Nice fiddle, BTW.