9 thoughts on “Transcriptions of 10 tunes from the Campbell Canntaireachd”

  1. Very nice to see these tunes clearly transcribed into staff notation; well done Allan.

    The one called ‘Sad mar sho tha shinn’ has long intrigued me because it is the oldest appearance of this name (too long like this are we, aka ‘Too long in this condition’) and therefore has a good claim to being the original of that name, which in subsequent collections has migrated to another piece known formerly as ‘Togail nam Bo’ (Cattle-rustling)’.

    There is a tradition that this was the tune composed by Clanranald’s piper to awaken the Jacobite troops on the morning their leaders, apart from Prince Charles Edward Stuart, elected to return northwards from their march towards London, on the grounds that promised English support had been minimal in appearing, and large forces were advancing towards them. Clanranald had asked his piper to come up with something that would alert the men that a change was occurring. The Gaelic title fits this role. It is also noteworthy that the Jacobite General was Lord George Murray, whose brother was The Duke of Atholl (an alternative name given this piece being a salute to him); the change of name may have come about because the Duke was not involved in the ’45 Rebellion and the original name had dangerous Jacobite associations, which later evaporated as the whole affair faded and became the stuff of romance.

  2. In the second tune ‘Hiharin himtra’ the third group of notes (on ‘C’), I interpret as echo beats. I play this group with the same rhythm as other echo beats. I heard a piper on the Piobaireachd Society play this tune. He did EVERYTHING he could to play them as NOT echos.

    Everyone knows there are no echo beats on ‘C’. Only on ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘D’, ‘E’, ‘F’, ‘G’ and one or two tunes on ‘High A’ (/sarcasm)

  4. Mike raises an important point. We need a database of transcriptions so we don’t need to transcribe tunes individually and so the tunes which are transcribed can be checked by others. It’s easy for me due to practice, but it is time consuming , and I have other piping interests I would rather spend time on. Memo to Piobaireachd Society ‘We are doing your job’.

    1. Well, one easy answer is make them available on the Tunes pages of the Musical Materials site. I think I’d want clearer (non-parallax, flattened sheet) pictures before posting there, but I don’t see why Alt Pibroch Club couldn’t sponsor and publish such things.

      Don’t worry about the Piobaireachd Society. They have their work cut out for them, and the Music Committee may not be in a position to take on such a task.

      Besides, this is OUR area of expertise: resurrecting these precious, overlooked materials.

  5. Does anyone have a solution to the difference between ‘dari’ and ‘bari’? I am not convinced of the somewhat unsatisfactory interpretation given by the Piobaireachd Society in their books.

  6. In working with me on a new trasncription of Slan Fuive, Allan MacDonald sent me the following email:

    ***************************
    21 Called Slanffuive

    1st Himotrahotraho hiohotra hiharin three times

    himto dari chelalo dari hihorodo three times

    2d Himotrahotraho hiohotra hiharin three

    times himto hinda himto drea himto hinda

    hihorodo hihorodo himto dari chelalo dari hihorodo three times ~

    3d Himotrahotraho hiohotra hiharin three times

    himto dari chelalo dari hiotra bari

    bare bari bare bari bareo hiharin three times

    From this ground, something has enlightened me regarding the differentiation between the ‘throw’ and the ‘grip’ form of these throw/leumludh figures:

    ‘dari’ is a throw on high G and when it changes to ‘bari’ I have concluded, from a performance perspective, that the ‘dari’ represents a ‘throw’ whereas the ‘bari’ represents a ‘grip’ to high G.

    ***************

    Maybe this helps?

    1. I’ve been playing ‘Slanfuive’ for several years and agree with the interpretation about ‘dari’ and ‘bari’, which is paired with ‘bare’ so there is a rhythmic parallel.

      The reason behind the shift from ‘dari’ to ‘bari’ is perhaps greater emphasis, to make this last phrase where ‘bare bari’ occurs twice, ring out. My suspicion is that there was a verbal effect intended, a sort of shout of ‘SlanFUIVE, SlanFUIVE’, and that the three ‘Hiharins’ are an imitation of the popular Spanish guitar being strummed, Gypsy style - assuming this tune to date from the early 1600’s, when many highlandmen fought in the Thirty Years War in Germany and would have met the Spanish forces there. The tradition of imitating other people’s music heard during wars was continued in the Crimean campaign, when ‘The Green Hills of Tyrol’ was picked up from an Italian band.

      The phrase of three ‘hiharins’ in a row is most unusual and untypical. It is a highly emphatic device, and a similar effect can be heard in an early guitar composition by Tobias Hume for King James 6th, called ‘In the Spanish manner’, where it clearly evokes a Spanish flavour.

      It is also noteworthy that ‘bare bari’ occurs frequently in another of Campbell’s tunes, ‘One of the Irish Piparich’, in variation one. Although Angus MacKay also recorded this as ‘The Bard’s Lament’, it may not have been a lament as far as Campbell was concerned, and his is the earliest record. The connection with ‘Irish’, is intriguing, and it may be this motif was associated with the ‘Irish’. On that score,, it is also noteworthy that the men who fought with The Marquis of Montrose under the leadership of Alastair MacColla (‘Colkitto’) were mostly from Ireland and were generally referred to as ‘Irish’ in contemporary writing; the term also included people of the west highlands and their language. These men were notorious for plundering and sacking (as were their opposites, let it be said) and the Thirty Years War was an orgy of such bad bahaviour. It seems a reasonable stretch of the imagination to guess that this tune is connected with that era, and further, that a possible translation of ‘Slanfuive’ should consider the word ‘faobh’ = plunder. Thus, it may be a celebration of the rewards of war: enriching oneself at the enemy’s expense. That plunder was popular with highlandmen was a reason for their unpopularity in Lowland Scotland; and is the theme of that well-known paean in praise of cattle-rustling, ‘Togail nam Bo’.

      A further consideration is the motif ‘chelalo’ in the second phrase - which we known in ‘Lament for the Viscount of Dundee’, a tune Joseph MacDonald called ‘martial’; here it is again, in a possibly martial context, reinforcing his identification.

      One might also note that the Piobaireachd Society is in process of transcribing all of Campbell’s tunes, work being carried out by Patrick Molard, who has posted this tune on their site. He also plays each on his pipes, a reproduction Donald MacDonald set.

      1. Regarding ‘double echoes’, the late Frans Buismann did some detailed analysis of the Nether Lorn Ms, and concluded that a ONE two THREE emphasis was intended in the various motifs (horodo, cherede, herede, etc, and this included the ‘hiharin’ which sometimes seems to sound better when played with that rhythm (HIN din DIN). The modern ‘double echo’ style is congruent with this, and a degree of interchangeability seems possible; either style can be tried.

Leave a Reply