Cuba March (The)

 CUBA MARCH, THE. AKA and see "The Mill Mill O." American, March (6/8 time). E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A 6/8 time version of "The Mill Mill O." See also note for "Blue Eyed Stranger [1]." The name Cuba is derived from a native word, Colba, of unknown meaning. Christoper Columbus named the island Juana (in honor of Prince Juan of Castille), but the native name stuck (Matthews, 1972). The melody appears in the music manuscript book of Giles Gibbs (b. 1760), of Ellington, Connecticutt. Gibbs was a fifer in the American Revolution from 1777 to 1780, until he was captured and subsequently killed in Royalton, Vermont, by a British raiding party. While the appearance of the melody in Gibbs' commonplace book is one of the earliest appearances of the tune under this name, it subsequently appears in several martial musicians' copybooks and in fife and drum manuscripts through the early 19th century (see EASMES ). Thomas Calvert's "Cubie March" is perhaps a variant (published by Neil Stewart, 1790, Edinburgh, in Collection of Marches & Quick Steps Strathspeys & Reels). Printed source: Kate Keller (Giles Gibbs Jr. His Book for the Fife...1777), 1974; p. 29. Miller (Fiddler's Throne), 2004; No. 27, p. 28.

X:1 T:Cuba M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Quickstep March S:Giles Gibbs manuscript copybook (c. 1777-1780) K:Emin BGE EDE|GAB AGA|BGE EDE|G2A B2A|BGE EDE| GAB AGA|BGE EDE|GBA G3::d3 d2e|d2B AGA| e3 e2g|d2B BAB|d3 d2e|d2B AGA|BGE EDE|G3 G2:||

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