Annotation:Glenkindie

Find traditional instrumental music

Back to Glenkindie


GLENKINDIE. AKA - "Glenkindie's Reel." AKA and see "Lord Alexander Gordon." Scottish, Strathspey or Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune is "Lord Alexander Gordon", a strathspey attributed to William Marshall, but first published by McGlashan and the Gows. The circumstances of the name change are not known. There is a ballad about one "Glenkindie," a harper, who has the power to induce a whole company to sleep, save for his lady-love:

He harpit a fish out o saut water,
Or water out o a stane,
Or mild out o a maiden's breast,
That bairn had never nane.

To his surprise, however, the charm is turned against him by his serving-man, who also happens to be smitten by the lady, and he harps his master asleep instead (Sanger & Kinnaird, Tree of Stings, 1992).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Kennedy (Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Reels and Rants), 1997; No. 53, p. 15. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 4; No. 121, p. 15. Wilson (Companion to the Ballroom), 1816; p. 62 (appears as "Glenkindie's Reel").

Recorded sources:




Back to Glenkindie