Annotation:Mr. Masson,Manse of Botripnie

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 MR. MASSON, MANSE OF BOTRIPHNIE. Scottish, Strathspey. B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Composed by William Marshall (1748-1833). Botriphnie is a parish in Aberdeenshire, formerly called Fumack Kirk, after the patron saint, Fumack. There was a St. Fumack’s Well at Botriphnie, near Keith, attended to by a crone who cared for the saint’s wooden image there (after the Reformation the Kirk punished local folks who worshiped natural springs). The small river of Isla runs through the middle of the parish. Mr. W. Masson was a minister, as a diary records there was a new minister in the parish around 1840 by that name. Masson contributed a short sketch of the area in 1841 to the The New Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. XIII. Paul Steward Cranford (2000) notes this tune was a favorite of influential Cape Breton fiddler Angus Chisholm.  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Cranford (Jerry Holland: The Second Collection), 2000; No. 58, p. 24. Marshall, Fiddlecase Edition, 1978; 1845 Collection, p. 22.  Recorded sources:  See also listings at: Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources

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