Annotation:Kirrie Kebbuck (The)

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KIRRIE KEBBUCK, THE. Scottish, Strathspey. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Hunter): AAB (Cranford/Holland): AA'B (Martin). Composed by J. Scott Skinner and one of the tunes included in his concert set of 1921 which was romantically entitled "Warblings From the Hills." Kebbuck is the Scots word for a large whole cheese. Hunter (1988) records that when the tenants of Skinner's friend, Alex McPherson ("The Laird o' Thrums"), paid rent "he always offered them a whisky, a bannock and a slice of kebbuck." Skinner's handwritten note on the bottom of his 1908 manuscript copy reads: "An amazing operation upon a huge cheese performed by 'The Laird' wi' a saw. For the Cairngorm MS."

Cape Breton fiddler Bill Lamey recorded the tune (in a medley with Skinner's "MacKenzie Hay") on 78 RPM.

J. Scott Skinner (1843-1927)



Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cranford (Jerry Holland: The Second Collection), 2000; No. 117, p. 45. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 105. Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), vol. 4, 1991; p. 20.

Recorded sources: Rounder Records 7057, Jerry Holland - "Parlor Music" (2005).

See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
See Skinner's manuscript copy at The Collection [3]
Hear Bill Lamey's late 1940's 78 RPM recording at the Internet Archive [4] [5] (2nd tune in medley)




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