"associated with"

[Brus]

In the OAIM lessons, certain tunes are mentioned as being "associated with" a certain player, or with a certain part of Ireland.

For example, the tune "Tripping to the Well" is described as "associated with" John McKenna.

The tune "Shoe the Donkey" is described as "associated with" Donegal.

Does this mean anything more than "John McKenna played this tune a lot" or "trad players in Donegal play this tune more than in other areas"? Does it refer to origination?

[busterbill]

You are correct in assuming that "associated with" means person X played that tune a lot and was famous enough that we still remember that, or it had been very popular in a particular place. That is the case for many of the tunes we call by a person's name, or a place name. Occasionally a tune will be known by a place name or a person's name and a number such as Brosna Slide No. 1, 2, or 3 or Christy Barry's #2. In most cases the tunes have actual names. Christy Barry's #2 is also called The Butlers of Glen Avenue, for example. And you can have lots of fun figuring out which tunes called by a person's name are their compositions or mostly played by them. I do believe there is a bit of a discussion regarding Christy Barry's #1 for example. Some more recently composed tunes become known by the name of the person who wrote them down, even if there was an intended name. Or some tunes, such as Tommy Coen's Reel became named by accident. There is a story that the name for that particular reel AKA Tommy Coen's #1 came because he played it live on a radio show on Dec. 24. So we don't have to apologize to each other when we want to play that tune in July. As you play more lots of these details may become fascinating to you, or just plain irrelevant. But the tiny details can be part of the fun.

The tune that Kevin Crawford teaches in his OAIM section called John McKenna's Jig actually has a name, Behind the Bench of Rushes, and is one of many tunes he recorded. But it took some listening to the recently released "Buck from the Mountain" CDs to dig out that info. It can be fun to sort of geek out on this stuff for some of us. While others just want to play already...

[Nanohedron]

Christy Barry's #2 is also called The Butlers of Glen Avenue, for example.

Not in my neck of the woods, it isn't. Here are CB's #2 and TBoGA as I know them (the latter slathered with reverb for your listening pleasure):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78EI81nGdFc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLrEdj2Mkkk

But I did a quick check over at The Session, and in the entry for The Butlers of Glen Avenue, they have versions of the tune I know as Christy Barry's #2. Fie, I say. Fie.

Apparently the tune I've always known as The Butlers of Glen Avenue is also known as The Roaring Barmaid.

[dunnp]

Butlers of Glen Avenue/
Roaring Barmaid / Christy Barry’s confusion.
Lunasa used the wrong name on a recording if I remember right.

[Nanohedron]

Lunasa used the wrong name on a recording if I remember right.

Ah, right, then. I've seen mistakes like that before on recordings by other artists; all the more reason not to cling to names.

[kenny]

I have just added the following to the "Youtube" whistle version of so-called "Christy Barry's #2" :

The correct title for this jig - as given by the composer Tony "Sully" Sullivan - is "The Butlers Of Glen Avenue".
"Sully" published this jig in "Sully's Irish Music Book", printed in 1979. He recorded it on an LP record "Sully's Fancy" in 1981. Sleeve notes say : "The title refers to Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Butler, friends of mine in Manchester".
The only reason it is mistakenly known as "Christy Barry's" is that Christy recorded it on a CD - a number of years after 1979 - without knowing that "Sully" had written it.
Fair play to Christy for popularising it, but credit is due to the actual composer.