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Issue 3088: "Sally Gardens" in recording for "Orchards of Co. Armagh"

Object
The Orchards of Armagh (Recording)
Submitter
Lyle Ramshaw (LyleRamshaw)
Assigned to
Murrough Landon
Priority
Normal
Disposition
Being handled
Description

Your page

https://my.strathspey.org/dd/recording/9989/

for Marian Anderson’s recording of the strathspey “Orchards of Co. Armagh” claims that the second tune is the trad tune “The Sally Gardens”,

https://my.strathspey.org/dd/tune/1566/

for which you point to Ho-ro-gheallaidh as a printed source. That is indeed a trad tune, but it’s a reel in G-major, not a strathspey. The tune that Marian’s band actually plays is the air in D-major more properly titled “Down by the Sally Gardens”:

http://tunearch.org/wiki/Down_by_the_Sally_Gardens_(2)

The Traditional Tune Archive claims that a printed source for that air is Number 93 on page 80 in “Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland”, edited by Tomás Ó Canainn. I haven’t been able to check that, since I don’t own that book.

Lyle

Previous Actions

  • Date  March 23, 2023, 3:31 p.m.
  • User  Lyle Ramshaw (LyleRamshaw)

New issue submitted

  • Date  March 23, 2023, 4:24 p.m.
  • User  Murrough Landon (murrough)

Assigned changed to »murrough« (previously »None«)
Disposition changed to »Being handled« (previously »New«)

Thanks. I have the CD and the insert just has “Sally Gardens (trad)” for the 2nd tune, so it was entered following what the musicians reported.

However I can see that most (but not all) other recordings claiming “The Sally Gardens” are reels, whereas those claiming “Down by…” are strathspeys. So I have changed it for this recording.

The recordings of Kilkenny Castle (Frank Reid) and Strathmore (Iain MacPhail) currently also claim to use “The Sally Gardens”. Lyle, are you able to check those as well?

  • Date  March 23, 2023, 8:50 p.m.
  • User  Anselm Lingnau (anselm)

I checked the Strathmore recording by Iain MacPhail on the Book 43 CD, and it is indeed “Down by the Sally Gardens” rather than “The Sally Gardens”. I changed the database to fix this, by adding “The Sally Gardens” as an unofficial alias to “Down by …” and amending the tune list on the recording so it shows “Down by the Sally Gardens (as ‘The Sally Gardens’)”.

I don’t seem to have the Frank Reid album (unless it is sitting in the large box of LPs that Meinhard gave me and that I haven’t been able to look at yet).