Annotation:Mac Griogair a Ruaro
X:1 T:McGrigor's Lamentation, The M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Slow" B:Dow - Ancient Scots Music (c. 1775, p. 16) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D A>B d2d2|ef {e}d2 (BA)|AB d2d2|ef {e}d2 BA|FA f2f2| a>f {e}f2 T(e>d)|{e}d>B A2 (E>F)|(A/B/A/F/) TE2D2|| AB d2d2|(ef) {e}d2 T(B>A)|A>B d2d2|d>e {de}f2 A2| F>A f2f2|a>f {e}f2 T(e>d)|(f/e/d/B/) A2 (E>F)|(A/B/A/F/) TE2 D2:|]
MAC GRIOGAIR A RUARO (Lamentation for MacGregor of Roro). AKA - "MacGregor Aruaro," "MacGregor's Lamentation, "MacGregor of Rora." AKA and see "Yesterday my pretty brown-haired girl was harvesting barley with me." Scottish, Slow Air and Waltz (3/4 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The melody was first printed in Daniel Dow's Ancient Scots Music (c. 1775, p. 16) as a slow air ("McGrigor's Lamentation"). It is barred differently that subsequent versions, which have the first two notes of Dow's version as pick-up notes, before the first bar. "Mac Griogair a Ruaro" is in the section of 'Perthshire Airs' in Patrick MacDonald's 1784 collection. Gow (1802) directs: "Very slow with much expression." Morison also indicates a slow tempo and says the composition is "Old".
Clan Gregor claims descent from Grigar, third son of Kenneth MacAlpin, first king of Scotland. Glenorchy was the clan's original seat but as they prospered lands in Glengyle, Glen Lyon, Glen Straye and Balquidder came under their control. The clan's prospects waned in response to increasing power of the Campbells, however, resulting in their retreat into the Balquidder area, and at one point they became known as "The landless clan."
