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Annotation:Siege of Ennis (1) (The)
X:1 T:Siege of Ennis [1], The R:Polka, Set or Long Dance M:2/4 L:1/8 B:Roche – Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 3 (1927, No. 139, p. 43) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G (D>E)(DB,)|(D>E)(GA)|(Bd) (AB/A/)|(GE) (3EGE|(D>E)(DB,)| (D>E)(GA)|(Bd)(A>B)|1 G/D/G/A/ B/d/g/e/:|2 [G2g2]G z!fermata!|| |:(Bd)(dB)|(ce)(ec)|(Bd) (AB/A/)|(GE) ~(ED)|(Bd)(d>B)| (ce)(e>f)|(ge)(fd)|1 e/g/f/e/ d/e/d/c/:|2 e2-e(e/f/)||gefd|e/f/e/d/ BA| (Bd) (AB/A/)|(GE) (3EGE|(D>E)(DB,)|(D>E)(GA)|(Bd)(AB)| G2-G|| A|BdBd|(Bd)d2|~(ed)(Bd)|(ed)d2|BdBd|(Bd)d2|~(ed) ((3B/d/B/A)| (AG) Gz/D/|(GB) d2|~(ed) {B}c2|~(dBG)B|{d}(BA)A>D| (GB) d2|~(ed) {B}c2|~(dB) ~(GE)|((3E/G/E/D) Dz/A/|BdBd|(Bd) d2| ~(edB)d|(ed) d2|BdBd|(Bd)d2|~(ed) ((3B/d/B/A)|(AG)(GE)||
SEIGE OF ENNIS [1], THE (“Ionsai na Hinse” or “Suidé na h-Inse”). AKA and see "Banks of Inverness." Irish, Polka (Set or Long Dance). Ireland, West Kerry. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABC (Prior): AABBCD (Roche): AABBCCDD (Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham). The tune, which goes by a variety of titles but usually known as "Banks of Inverness" is used for a group dance called The Siege of Ennis, and, as often happens, the tune tends to assume the name of the dance through association. See also mention of Siege of Ennis in the note for “annotation:Lark in the Morning (1).” Mac Accordion player Joe Burke (b. 1939), originally from Coorhoor, above Loughrea in County Galway, remembers playing with the Leitrim (parish) Céilí Band for set dancers in the 1950’s at Irish dance venues in London, and was impressed by the “thousands of people” who danced the sets and old-time waltzes at the halls. Later he played gigs in New York, Chicago and Boston, playing on a circuit for Bill Fuller’s dance halls along with piano player Felix Dolan and fiddler Paddy Killoran. They dressed formally and had a fifteen minute spot between the Fintan Ward Band’s sets, giving them time to play “The Siege of Ennis,” “Stack of Barley” and an old-time waltz (Vallely & Piggott, Blooming Meadows, 1998). It should be noted that the Seige of Ennis is the name of a céilí dance, and that any group of three reels (or less frequently polkas) will suffice as the vehicle for the dance.
