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Annotation:Kerry Huntsman (The)
X:1 T:Kerry Huntsman, The M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel S:O'Neill - Music of Ireland (1903), No. 1447 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A A2 cA BAcB|A2 cA BAFE|A2 cA BABc|efed cBAG| A2 cA BAcB|A2 cA BAFE|(3ded cA (3BcB AF|EFAc B2 Ae|| feae feae|feae dcBA|feae feae|efed cAAe| feae feae|feae dcBA|Ac (3efg abaf|efed ce a2|| e3f e3f|e2 cA BAFE|e3f e2 cA|(3Bcd cA Bc (3efg| agfa gfeg|fedf ecAc|(3ded fd (3cdc ec|(3Bcd cA BAFE||
KERRY HUNTSMAN, THE (An Seilgaire Ua Ciarraige). AKA and see "Connolly's Reel," "Craig's Pipes," "Greg's Pipe Tune," "Gregg's Pipes," "Greig's Pipes," "Kregg's Pipes," "Píopaí Greig." Irish, Reel. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC (O'Neill/1850): AA'BB'C (O'Neill/Krassen). "Kerry Huntsman" is a variant of Scottish composer Joshua Campbell's "Greig's Pipes." Francis O'Neill, in his Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922), recalled:
I first heard of this tune twenty old years ago [i.e. c. 1900] as being a favorite with James Quinn, an old-time Chicago piper, familiarly known as "Old Man Quinn." Although Sergt. Early his relative and pupil had learned it, the tune never got into circulation among musicians. Being unfavorably impressed by the version of "Grieg's Pipes" received with other tunes subsequently from Pat. Dunne of Kilbraugh, Tipperary, it was not included among the 1001 Gems in O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland.
The piper in whose honor the tune had been named must have been a noteworthy performer, for almost identical with thesetting in O'Farrell's Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes, is another in A Complete Repository of Old and New Scotch Strathspeys, Reels and Jigs, Selected from the Works of Neil Gow and Sons. Edinburgh 1805.
As the talented Neil Gow was much inclined to plagiarism, and from the fact that the tune in question had been previously printed by Neil Stewart in 1762 and as early as 1779 by Joshua Campbell in "a collection of Reels composed by himself" we may assume that Campbell's claim to the composition of "Grieg's Pipes" is indisputable [p. 151].
See also "Cobbler's Hornpipe (2)," "Fiddler is Drunk (The)," "Foxhunters Reel (1) (The)," "Gun Do Dhuit am Bodach Fodar Dhomh" (Old Man Wouldn't Give Me Straw (The)), "Limber Elbow," "Manchester Reel (1) (The)," "Willie Wink;s Testament (2)," "Willie Winkie's Testament (2)," "Willy Wilky."
