Hi, fiddlers!
I'd like to submit a poignant slow air/march for consideration for our repertoire:
Mo Ghille Mear, an Irish Jacobite song from the 1700s, written in honor of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
You can hear and watch Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas play an arrangement of it online:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffHz3wry5Nc&mode=related&search=
One source suggests:
The Original Gaelic version, by the 18th-century poet Seán Clarach MacDomhnaill, is one of the many Irish Jacobite songs written in honour of Prince Charles Stewart ("Bonnie Prince Charles). The air is, appropriately, of Scottish origin, a version of The White Cockade. Jim Connell, a 19th-century Irish exile in Scotland, originally set the words of The Old Red Flag to the same tune.
The tune also has words and is often sung. Here is a clip of Mary Black singing the tune:
The Chieftains do the song on Wide World Over, with Sting singing verses in English:
http://play.rhapsody.com/thechieftains/thewideworldovera40yearcelebration/moghilemearwithsting?didAutoplayBounce=true
The lyrics can be found here:
Here is a version of the lyrics with translations of the Gaelic and suggestions for pronunciation. Click to enlarge.
