Piper Robert P. Lynch prepared and played this arrangement of the traditional Irish air “Siobhán Ní Dhuibhir” to pipe as a lament at the Easter Monday Commemoration streamed online in 2020 during the Covid-19 health crisis. Click here to view and listen to Robert P. Lynch piping this tune.
Listen to “Robin Adair”:
Click here for sheet music for “Robin Adair”
Listen to “Will You No’ Come Back Again:
Click here for sheet music for “Will You No’ Come Back Again”
A list of Various Tunes and Sheet Music we have played over the years.
Sean Ceann Doncad
This is a slow air. The title (pronounced “shan cyan duncah”) translates as “The Old Head of Denis” but might be better known in English as “The Meeting of the Waters” (not to be confused by the Scottish march of the same title!) since it is used as the music to Thomas Moore’s song “The Meeting of the Waters”. It was also used for a number of hymns and ballads, including many cowboy songs such as “The Dreary Black Hills” and the Catskill Mountain (New York) collected “Rock Island Line”.
The Meeting of the Waters
There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet
As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet
Oh the last rays of feeling and life must depart
Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart
Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart
Yet it was not that nature had shed o’er the scene
Her purest of crystal and brightest of green
‘Twas not her soft magic of streamlet or hill
Oh No ’twas something more exquisite still
Oh No ’twas something more exquisite still
‘Twas that friends, the belov’d of my bosom were near
Who made every scene of enchantment more dear
And who felt how the best charms of nature improve
When we see them reflected from looks that we love
When we see them reflected from looks that we love
Sweet vale of Avoca! How calm could I rest
In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best
Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should cease
And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace
And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace
Download the Sheet Music for Sean Ceann Doncad
An Ghaoth Aneas (The South Wind) Pronounced “an gwee onyesh”
This air may be from County Clare. Bunting credits it to one Domhnall Meidhreach Mac Conmara and it has been identified with a similar melody called “O Have a Secret to Tell Thee”
A Ghaoth Aneas!
A Ghaoth Aneas na mbraon mbog glas
A ní gach faiche féarmhar
Bheir iasc ar eas is grian i dteas
Is líon is meas ar ghéagaibh
Más síos ar fad mar mbínn féin seal
Is mianach leat-sa séide
Cuirim Rí na bhFeart dhod chaomhaint ar neart
‘S túir don tír sin blas mo bhéil-se!
Sínim aneas ag díonamh cleas
Nach ndíonann neach san saol so
Mar íslím gaimh is scaoilim leac
Is díbrim sneachta as sléibhte
Ó taoi tú ar lear go bhfuí tú mo neart
‘S gur mian liom do leas a dhéanamh
Go bhfúigfe mé mo bheannacht ins gach aon tslí ar mhaith leat
Is choíche i gCathair Éamoinn!
A Chonnachta an tseoid, an tsuilt ‘s an spóirt
I n-imirt ‘s i n-ól an fhíona
Sin chugaibh mo phóg ar rith ins an ród
Leigim le seol gaoithe í
Tá mise beo i mboige na seod
Mar a mbrúitear gach sórt bídh dhom
Ach is mian liom fós tarraing d’bhur gcomhair
Muna gcluine mé ach ceól píopa!
O South Wind!
O South Wind with the soft clear drops
You that make every sword grassy
Bring the fish to the waterfall, give heat to the sun
And abundance of fruit to the branches
If it is far to the north where I once lived
That you are minded to blow
May the King of Power preserve your strength
And give the taste of my mouth to that country!
I blow from the south, performing feats
Which no one else on earth can do
For I lay winter low and scatter the ice
And banish the snow from the mountains
Since you are in need you shall have my strength
And I want nothing more than to help you
I shall leave my blessing in every place you choose
And always in Cathair Éamoinn!
O blissful, joyous, sporting Connacht
Home of gaming and of wine-drinking
Here goes my kiss to you rushing along the road
I send it on the wings of the wind
I am living in splendid luxury
Where every kind of food is dressed for me
But yet I am fain to draw towards you
If I should hear but the music of the pipes!
Download the Sheet Music for An Ghaoth Aneas (The South Wind)
Owen Roe O’Neill
This is a “retreat march”. Retreats are usually in 3/4 or 9/8’s time; the term “retreat” does not imply defeat, but in military parlance is a tune played at the end of the day to signal movement to a defensive position for the night.
Portrait of Owen Roe O’NeillOwen Roe O’Neill was an Irish chieftain who lived from 1590?–1649. The nephew of Hugh O’Neill, 2d earl of Tyrone, he left Ireland after the “flight of the earls” in 1607 and spent 30 years in the Spanish army. He returned to Ireland in 1642, superseded his kinsman Sir Phelim O’Neill as leader of the O’Neill clan, and for the next seven years led the intermittently successful rebellion against English authority. O’Neill’s death removed the only Irish general who might have been capable of resisting Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell landed at Ringsend, Dublin, in August of that year and began the swift, terrible and decisive campaign that reduced Ireland to the status of a conquered colony.
The description “Roe” is an Anglicization of the Irish word “Ruadh”, and might apply to red-complexioned or red haired. The “caubeen” worn by Irish pipers’ bands are modeled after the cap O’Neill is shown wearing in the above portrait.
Flag of LeinsterThe familiar use of a gold harp on a green background in Irish flags (such as in the flag, shown here, of the province of Leinster) is also attributed to O’Neill, who flew ‘the Irish harp in a green field, in a flag’ from the mast top of his ship, the St Francis, as she lay at anchor at Dunkirk during his return to Ireland in 1942.
Download the Sheet Music for Owen Roe O’Neill
March of the King of Laois
Máirseáil Rí Laoise
This tune fits perfectly on the big pipes and may well have been composed specifically to be played on them. It is a stately air and as such is an excellent (arguably the best in the traditional repertoire) choice for a wedding march and for other ceremonial processions and occasions. A very effective way to begin the tune is by starting from a “low a” after starting the drones, rather than the customary “e”. The common ending to both parts (see line 5) can be used as a dramatic introduction, and playing the first two lines one final time before finishing the tune can be an interesting conclusion.
This ancient melody has been associated with the O’Moore family and may have been composed in praise of Ruairi Og O Mordha (Rory O’Moore), a head of the family during the 16th century and a famous Irish hero of the resistance to English colonization of the time. “March of the King of Laois” first appears in Bunting’s 2nd collection of 1809 set in 6/8 time with the title “Rory O Moor: King of Leixs March.”
Download Sheet Music for Maríh of the King of Laois