Annotation:Laddie with the Pladdie (The)
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LAD WITH/WI' THE PLAIDIE, THE. AKA - "The Laddie with the Pladdie." AKA and see "Four Provinces Flings (4)," "Rose among the Heather (1) (The)." Scottish (originally), Canadian, English; Strathspey, Highland Fling, or Highland Schottische. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Balmoral): AABBC (Kennedy, Kerr, Lerwick, Martin): AA'BBCCDDE (Cranford). Kerr gives parts 'A', 'B' and 'E' of the setting found in Cranford. The tune has variants in Scotland, Cape Breton, and the north of England. Pipers sometimes call the tune "Rose among the Heather (1) (The)," notes Paul Stewart Cranford (1995). The tune was used as a vehicle for the Kielder Scottische in Northumberland. Christine Martin (2002) notes the melody is also a well-known Gaelic port called "Faighir Muileach (Am)" (Mull Fair (The))a mid-20th century Gaelic song by Edward Pursell (also known as "Far am bi na faireachan" from the first line). See also the related Irish "Four Provinces Flings (4)."
An early recording was by concertina player Alexander Prince, who was (according to Stuart Eydmann’s The Life and Times of the Concertina, chapter 7, "The Concertina in the Music Hall and Variety Theatre" [1]):
Born Alexander Sutherland into a Scottish professional musical family around 1870, he later became established in Nottingham as a professional concertinist and achieved considerable fame as a soloist and prolific recording artist during the period 1906-1924.
Source for notated version: variations learned by fiddler Jerry Holland (Inverness, Cape Breton) from a recording of Cape Breton fiddler Joe MacLean [Cranford].
Printed sources: Cranford (Jerry Holland's), 1995; No. 127, p. 37. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune Book), vol. 2, 1954; p. 19. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1); No. 7, p. 19. J. Kenyon Lees (Balmoral Reel Book), c. 1910; p. 17. Lerwick (Kilted Fiddler), 1985; p. 33. Martin (Traditional Scottish Fiddling), 2002; p. 41.
Recorded sources: Regal G 7003 (78 RPM), Alexander Prince." Rounder Records, "Jerry Holland" (1976). Topic TSCD 669, Billy Ballantine, Jake Hutton & Tom Hunter (et al) - "Ranting and Reeling: Dance Music of the north of England" (1998. Piccolo player Billy Ballantine {born c. 1890's} and fiddlers Jake Hutton and Tom Hunter were all from Northumberland). Wildcat Records WILDCD 101, Ronan Martin - "Ronan Martin" (2008). Buddy MacMaster - "Traditional Music from Cape Breton Island" (1993).
See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [3]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [4]
Hear the 78 RPM recording by concertina player Alexander Prince at the Internet Archive [5] [6]
See a clip of Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster (appears as 2nd tune, after "Niel Gow's Lament for His 2nd Wife") [7]