Annotation:Anach Cuain (1)

Jackie Small, in his notes to the tune in CRÉ V, says the tune was originally a song air, arranged as a dance tune. Junior Crehan has one such reworking, which he called "The Sheep in the Boat." The song was composed by the poet Raiftearaí (Blind Rafferty), although Small thinks the air probably predated it. It tells of a tragedy in which nine people were drowned in the Corrib river, several miles from Galway City, in the year 1828. They had departed from Eanach Dhúin, on the eastern shore of Lough Corrib.

Sources for notated versions: flute player Colm O'Donnell (b. 1962, Aclare, County Sligo, Ireland) [Flaherty]; fiddler Martin "Junior" Crehan (Mullagh, County Clare) [Breathnach].

Printed Sources: Breathnach (CRÉ V), 1999; No. 49, pgs. 24-25. Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; pg. 14.