Annotation:Sillocks and Tatties

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SILLOCKS AND TATTIES. Shetland, Shetland Reel (whole time). D Mixolydian ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. A Shetland reel "well known over the most of the country districts of Shetland" (Anderson); though Cooke credits it to the district of Nesting. Sillocks and tatties refers to a greyfish, pollock, or coalfish, and potatoes. An article in The Food Journal of July 1, 1872, contains:

Coalfish, sillock, pollock, billet.

In taking their meals, the Shetlanders do not arrange themselves around a table, but each person sits wherever he finds most convenient. The pot, with the potatoes, stands near the fire, and the fish is laid upon a square wooden platter with raised sides, called a "trough," and placed upon a small table. No knives or forks are used, but every one helps himself with his fingers, and holds a bit of fish in one hand and a potato in the other. [p. 212].



Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - Anderson (Ringing Strings), 1983; p. 92.

Recorded sources: - Greentrax Records, "Scottish Tradition 4: Shetland Fiddle Music" (1994).



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