DROGHEDA LASS/LASSES [1], THE ("Na Cailinide Ua Droicild Ata" or "Cailini Droiciod-Ata"). AKA and see "Hand Me Down the Tackle," "Hielanman's Kneebuckle (The)," "Jolly Hammerman (The)," "Miss Flannagan," "Pure Drop (2) (The)," "Reidy Johnson's (2)," "Road to Drogheda (The)," "Tom Steele (1)," "Tomm Steele." Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill/1850 & 1001): AA'BB' (O'Neill/Krassen). Drogheda is a Gaelic word for 'bridge by a ford'. Breathnach prints a version of this tune as an untitled reel from Frankie Gavin in his Ceol Rince na hÉireann, vol. III (No. 189).James Kennedy is standing in the back row, extreme right. County Leitrim piper and fiddler Stephen Grier (c. 1824-1894) entered a very close version of "Drogheda Lasses" into his c. 1883 music manuscript collection under the title "Miss Flannagan." "Callan Lasses (1) (The)" is a similar tune, probably related.
Additional notes Source for notated version : - "Kennedy" [O'Neill]. Chicago fiddler James Kennedy had the tune from his father, Peter (born c. 1830), a celebrated local fiddler from Ballinamore, County Leitrim, where he farmed. James Kennedy was born in the early 1860's and emigrated to the United States, where he found employment in the city's police force. O'Neill called his played 'sweet' and 'expressive', but after the Chicago Irish Music Club broke up in the first decade of the 20th century, O'Neill believed he seldom played. In 1912 Kennedy returned to Ireland to visit, and O'Neill records he found "a deplorable state of affairs as far as music was concerned. There were neither fiddlers nor fiddles of any consequence" [Irish Minstrels and Musicians, 1913, p. 368]. The formerly robust community music-making seems to have submerged, and speculators had swooped into the area to buy up the old instruments, leaving the area with fewer resources for keeping instrumental music alive. In a 1906 letter to Alfred Percival Graves in 1906 (printed in "A Few Gossipy Notes" in the Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, London), O'Neill wrote: "James and Ellen Kennedy, Ballinamore, Leitrim, fine violinists: father a noted player, said to be the best in the country–James is remarkable for his smooth, round tones, and the entire absence of scratching of bow."
Printed sources : - O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 113. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1292, p. 243. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 557, p. 103.
See also listing at : Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]
