Monday 4 December 2017
Tune of the Day: Mama's Pet
Traditional Irish reel
Francis O'Neill printed a few versions of this tune in his books, under different titles. In Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922) he explains:
In boyhood days I memorized the first part of this reel from the fiddle playing of Mr. Downing a gentleman farmer who taught me the rudiments of music on the flute. Thirty-five years later the second part was supplied by A.S. Beamish, another West Cork musician. Being without a name the tune was called “Timothy Downing” or “Downing's Reel”, in the O'Neill Collections. With a third part obtained from the famous fiddler John McFadden of Mayo, this tripartite reel is presented under its presumably true name.