Fraher's Jig: A Song History

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"Fraher's Jig" is an Irish jig in D Mixolydian, also known in Irish as Port Uí Fhearchair and sometimes titled "Pat Burke's Jig."[1] Sources differ on its rhythm: the Traditional Tune Archive classes it as a single jig that is sometimes paired with double jigs, while irishtune.info indexes it as a double jig that is also played as a single jig.[2][1] The Archive's annotation traces the tune to Edward Fraher, a piper it places at Emly, County Tipperary, and dates to the first half of the nineteenth century.[2] According to the same account, Fraher's pupil and neighbour James Bourke of Kilfrush, near Knocklong in County Limerick, kept the tune and taught it to others before his death in the 1920s.[3]

Etching of a quiet road running through a grove of tall spreading trees

Francis Seymour Haden, A By-Road in Tipperary, etching and drypoint, 1860. A County Tipperary scene, shown for the tune’s origins with a Tipperary piper; it has no connection to the tune.

Kuntz reports that the piper Brother Gildas (Patrick O'Shea, 1883–1960), a De La Salle brother, had it from Bourke, and that the west Clare piper Willie Clancy learned it from Gildas and did most to spread it.[3] The oldest source irishtune.info indexes is a 1969 Clancy recording on The Gold Ring, and his playing is also heard on The Pipering of Willie Clancy. Volume 2.[1] Printed versions appear in Breathnach's Folk Music and Dance of Ireland (1971), Bulmer and Sharpley's Music from Ireland (1974), and Mitchell's Dance Music of Willie Clancy (1993), which notates Clancy's setting.[2][3] Later recordings include fiddler Seán Keane's Gusty's Frolicks, the Chieftains' 8, Paddy Glackin and Paddy Keenan's Doublin', and albums by Danú and Dervish.[1]

Mark Gilston includes it in Irish Tunes For Dulcimer, Volume 2, a collection of Irish tunes arranged for solo mountain dulcimer in DAD tuning.[4]

Our book that contains the song "Fraher's Jig"

Sources

  1. irishtune.info (Alan Ng): "Fraher's" (Tune ID #670).
  2. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Fraher's Jig".
  3. The Fiddler's Companion (Andrew Kuntz): "Fraher's Jig".
  4. Mark Gilston: "Irish Tunes For Dulcimer, Volume 2".
  5. Image: Francis Seymour Haden, A By-Road in Tipperary, etching and drypoint, 1860. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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