Annotation:Kisimul's Galley
Back to Kisimul's Galley
KISIMUL'S GALLEY. AKA - "Keishmul's Galley." Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA. The stronghold of the MacNeill's of Barra was Kisimul's Castle, built in the thirteenth century at the southern end of the Isle of Barra. Kishmul was legendary pirate or riever who plied his trade in the 14th century on the north east coast of Scotland, among the Hebrides. The song was collected from Mary Macdonald on the tiny island of Mingulay at the southern end of the Hebrides by Marjorie Kennedy-Fraser (1857-1930). The lyric begins:
High from the Ben a Hayich
On a day of days
Seaward I gaz'd,
Watching Kishmul's galley sailing.
O hio huo faluo!
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), vol. 2, 1988; p. 44.
Recorded sources: Fontana STL 5465, The Corries - "Kishimul's Galley" (1968)
Back to Kisimul's Galley