Annotation:Charley the Prayermaster

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CHARLEY THE PRAYERMASTER (Cormac na Paidireaca). AKA and see "Cow-Boys' Jig (1) (The)," "Fear a Fuair Bas (An)," "Girls of the Town," "I Will if I Can (2)," "O'Connell's Welcome to Clare (2)." Irish, Double Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Charley Murphy/Cormac na bPaidreacha or 'Charley the Prayermaster' was a professional piper "who had a regular outdoor pitch at Tralibane Bridge, a few hundred yards from the O'Neill home" (N. Carolan). The jig appears in the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper Canon biography:James Goodman under the title “O'Connell's Welcome to Clare (2).” "Charley the Prayermaster" was recorded by the McCusker brothers in 1959 and has also been recorded by Scottish fiddler Addie Harper (Wick). See also "Our Own Little Isle," similar in the first strain.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 168, p. 93. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 35. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 862, p. 160. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 122, p. 35.

Recorded sources: Brendan Mulvihill and Donna Long - "The Morning Dew" (1993). (Appears as "Girls of the Town." Mulvihill remarks the tune was favored by his first cousin, Jerry Mulvihill, for his classes in dance.)

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]

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