MAUDABAWN CHAPEL. AKA - "Reavy's," "Ryan's Reel." Irish, Reel. E Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB' (Reavy): AABB (Taylor/Tweed): AABB' (Feldman & O'Doherty). Composed by fiddler and composer Ed Reavy [1] (1898-1988) of Drexel Hill, near Philadelphia, Pa., originally from County Cavan (he emigrated in 1912). The tune is named for a church the “Plumber of Hornpipes” attended with his family in Barnagrove, Maudabawn, a few miles outside Cootehill, north-east County Cavan. Along with "Hunter's House (The)," this is the most famous Reavy composition in the tradition. Eileen Ivers (originally, Bronx, New York) selected the melody as one of the pieces with which she won the Senior All Ireland fiddling title. Philippe Varlet believes the tune was probably composed in the 1950's. Maudabawn Chapel The first strain is similar to "John McFadden's Favorite."
Ed Reavy (in uniform)
Vincent Campbell recorded the tune under the title "The Reefs," a corruption of the name Reavy. Fr. John Quinn/An tAthair Seán Ó Coinn finds the tune in the c. 1960 manuscripts of the Longford area Reilly family as "Reavy's No. 3" or "Reavy's Long Reel." Back then, he explains, the Reavy tunes were becoming popular and circulated without names; instead numbers were assigned to the various compositions.
Additional notes
Source for notated version: - Francie and Mickey Byrne (County Donegal) [Feldman & O'Doherty].
Printed sources : - Feldman & O'Doherty (The Northern Fiddler), 1979; p. 171 (appears as third and fourth part of "Untitled Reel"). Reavy (The Collected Compositions of Ed Reavy), No. 27, pp. 28-29. Taylor (Traditional Irish Music: Karen Tweed's Irish Choice), 1994; p. 15.
Recorded sources: -DMPCD 9401, Karen Tweed - "Drops of Springwater" (1994). Green Linnett SIF1041, Kevin Burke - "Portland." Green Linnett GLCD 1166, Eileen Ivers -"Wild Blue" (1996. Not the usual reel setting, but rather a slowed down version of the tune). Green Linnet SIF3051, Frankie Gavin - "Frankie Goes to Town." Shanachie 29009, Andy McGann & Paul Brady - "It's a Hard Road to Travel" (1977. Appears as "Reevy's"). Tara 2006, "Tony Linnane & Noel Hill" (appears as "Ryans," following "The Drunken Landlady"). Natalie MacMaster - "In My Hands."
See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [3]
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [4]
Hear fiddler Martin Byrnes play the tune at the Comhaltas Archive [5]
Hear fiddler Peter Fitzpatrick play the reel at the Comhaltas Archive [6]
