Key signature: Gmajor
Submitted on May 25th 2001 by Jeremy.
This tune has been added to 2697 tunebooks.
Also known as The Castle, Dean Lloyd's Jig #2, Kerrigan's, Kesh, The Kesh Mountain, The Kincora, The Mountaineers' March, Salty Dog, Th Cash.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Kesh, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
|:G3 GAB| A3 ABd|edd gdd|edB dBA|
GAG GAB|ABA ABd|edd gdd|BAF G3:|
B2B d2d|ege dBA|B2B dBG|ABA AGA|
BAB d^cd|ege dBd|gfg aga| bgg g3:|
This tune one of the more popular jigs at sessions just about everywhere. However, that doesn't mean it's necessarily easy to play.
The very last phrase of the second part can be a bit tricky because it goes up to that high B note. Try playing this phrase by itself over and over 'till your fingers have it memorised.
# Posted on June 2nd 2001 by Jeremy
Bothy
This is the tune that opens the first Bothy Band album, and it sounds incredible there.
# Posted on October 3rd 2002 by glauber
Save the Kesh
I'm really getting tired of that trendy despise showed towards old standards. Particularly towards that poor old Kesh! I've learned it while listening to the first Bothy Band record in 1975 and I've been playing it since. And even if I'm the last one, I will keep on play it . Even if it's not fashionable, and if the world of sessioneers is laughing at me! I'll be the last of the Kesh players. As in other fields I don't care about fashion in music, Long life to the Kesh!! Join the Save the Kesh World Wide Committee!
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by paul95
Hear, Hear
Paul ...
Count me in!
And while we're at it, let's save "The Maid Behind The Bar" and "Harvest Home"!
Aidan
(Does this make me Deputy President of The Save The Kesh World Wide Committee?)
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by Aidan Crossey
Re: Save the Kesh
Paul, I guess I'm not in trendy surroundings ......; no despise towards the Kesh to be heard at all...; even The Irish Washerwoman is played some times
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by Henk Bos
Re: Save the Kesh
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/39
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by gian marco
Re: Save the Kesh
Maybe it's time it came back into session fashion again, after being cast out in the wilderness for the best part of a decade.
Personally, I've heard it enough in the past for it to stay in the wilderness for another decade, similarly the harvest home. I don't have quite the same contempt for the Maid or the Washerwoman though.
I have been guilty of reintroducing the hackneyed Bluebell polka, so have nothing against reinstatement initiatives in principle, but am not ready yet for the Kesh!
Danny.
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Save the Kesh
absolutely!!! .... and I think I
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by crannog
Re: Save the Kesh
Have a look at this thread: http://thesession.org/discussions/display.php/1577
I didn't like the tune at first, but I discovered its greatness as my playing improved. It just shouldn't be taught as a piece for beginners.
I'm personally an admirer of Trippin' Upstairs. I didn't know anything about ITM when it was popular. I'm fed up with Jackie Coleman's and Mt Road, but, in my opinion, TU is eternally great tune like Connaughtman's Rambles.
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by slainte
Re: Save the Kesh
i can quite understand that after having over played a tune one gets bored. For myself, back in my guitar finger picking years, i played Anji at nauseum, and i'm not ready to play it again . But what i can't accept is the trendy side of thing!. Why should we let a bunch of pretentious truth holders tell us what we should play or not?
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by paul95
The Truth
Some tunes push some people's buttons ... others don't. That's the way it goes. If a tune grabs me, but doesn't grab others, I'll put it out and I'm ogten surprised at the reaction.
An example is "Bill Hart's Favourite" which, I've been told was one of those done-to-death tunes which lapsed out of fashion. I freally like its drive and bounce and the fact it can slot into just about any jig set regardless of the key of the preceding tune and give new energy. However a lot of recent players have never heard of the tune and find it infectious!
Anyway ... fashion, snobbishness, whatever, be damned! If it feels good, do it and never mind the begrudgers.
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by Aidan Crossey
Re: Save the Kesh
Each of the tunes mentioned so far in this thread is an example of an ABA.
Trevor
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Save the Kesh
What have ABA got to do with The Music?
Paul -"Trendy" is just a word. Also I don't know any players who'd set themselves up as "pretentious truth holders" - yet you said it yourself once you've played a tune ten jillion times it does get subjectively jaded...if this is an experience shared with a group of players in a session, or even a group of sessions within the same city or region, where there is cross-fertilisation occurring as players go from one session to another, then maybe the Kesh etc., does get a bit over done. But I don't care if people want to continue to do it, or similar tunes, now and again... as long as there's plenty scope for fresher tunes to get an airing.
Danny
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Save the Kesh
i think the problem begins when contempt for a tune turn into contempt for the one who plays it: " look at him the poor guy doesn't know that this tune is not played any longer nowadays!"
Danny, the Kesh can be played on the G/D box.
By the way what is an ABA?
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by paul95
Re: Save the Kesh
This process is not really about the tunes, but the players defining an "in crowd", so that when you go to one of "their" sessions and play one of last years tunes they can smile smugly at each other and feel safe.
Long live the Kesh.
All the best PP
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by Pied Piper
An ABA is Another Bl---y Acronym
Trevor
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
From my observations I think that the only thing wrong with The Kesh is that it's too frequently pushed at beginners (or early improvers) on the fiddle before they're technically ready for it. There are some aspects of the bowing that aren't particularly easy until the player has acquired some fluency in technique.
Trevor
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Many Irish tunes are quite simple, which is very different from easy. You can play almost any tune in a wide range of levels. I could happily listen to Kevin Burke, James Kelly, Liz Carroll, Paddy Keenan, any of the greats, play the Kesh.
The Kesh is a good tune to give to beginners because it is catchy (and so they can learn it fairly easily by ear), it swings easily (so they can start learning feel), and, if you have learned well and know what you're about, you can make it a less simple tune as your skill level rises.
Zina
# Posted on May 14th 2003 by Zina Lee
Zina don't tell that to bb - she hates it!
# Posted on May 14th 2003 by Dr. Dow
LOL -- well, it's her own fault then! *grin* And you can tell her I said so. That said, I don't play it very often myself.
# Posted on May 14th 2003 by Zina Lee
Actually, there's a few tunes I know she hates with a passion. We could do her head in by playing them all as one big set in Helena. I should work up a daggy set and e-mail it to you
# Posted on May 14th 2003 by Dr. Dow
What a good idea! *grin*
# Posted on May 14th 2003 by Zina Lee
Thoughts of Kesh
Having just played it for the first time not but thirty seconds ago (kid you, I'm not)... i like it.
# Posted on January 2nd 2004 by Pádraig
A single Kesh thought
_after 25 odd years i've come back to it _along with The
Banshee and Miss McClouds . . . give these things time . . .
# Posted on November 14th 2004 by lisaniska
The Kesh Jig: this is the most well-known Fermanagh tune, isn't it?
One of my favourite places in Ireland is Co. Fermanagh: I stayed in Enniskillen several times and enjoyed exploring around Louch Erne. The only thing I've always failed to do is visit a village called Kesh, which seems so trivial that Lonely Planet doesn't mention it at all, and play the tune of the same name there. I know there're a couple of places called Corofin, but believe there isn't any other place called Kesh in Ireland. Have any of you ever visisted there?
# Posted on December 5th 2004 by slainte
Kesh Information Online
http://www.britinfo.net/index_Kesh.htm
# Posted on February 2nd 2005 by slainte
An set of 'over-played'
I love the Kesh and I've played in since I first started learning fiddle, and it's just gotten more interesting. We don't play the Kesh jig that much in sessions anymoreas it used to be over-played, but I've been trying. My dad and I play this in a set starting with Morrison's, Road to Lisdoonvarna, and then the Kesh. The first two also are classed as overplayed old tunes, but it's fun to bring them out again all in a set and remind people what good tunes they really are.
# Posted on August 21st 2005 by irishimp
RE: Save The Kesh
well actually, i love this tune and i play it a lot.
My teacher also just taught me the Harvest Home, which i hear a lot on
NPR, being played by a great band!
just wanted to let you know
# Posted on September 10th 2005 by CELTICCHEF83
A scottish smallpipe version
X:1
T:The Kesh Jig
C:Traditional
M:6/6
K:D
|: {g}A{d}A{e}A {g}ABc | {g}B{d}B{e}B {g}Bce | {g}fe{A}e ae{A}e | {g}fec {g}ec{d}B |
%
| {g}A{d}A{e}A {g}ABc | {g}B{d}B{e}B {g}Bce | {g}fe{A}e aec | {g}B{d}A{e}A [1 {GAG}A3 :| [2 {GAG}A2 B|
%
|: {g}c{d}c{e}c {g}ece | {g}faf {g}ec{d}A | {g}c{d}c{e}c {g}ec{d}A | {g}B{d}B{e}B {g}B{d}A{e}B |
%
| {g}c{d}c{e}c {g}ece | {g}faf {g}ec{d}A | {g}ce{A}e {g}ece | {g}fa{g}a [1 A2 B :| [2 A3 |
# Posted on May 3rd 2006 by patrickmclaurin
Always loved it
I've always loved this jig, but didn't know the name (or couldn't remember the name) until I found it here...it's great in sessions, but also everywhere else, it really always makes me feel like dancing.
# Posted on August 3rd 2006 by possumawesome
Great tune
I love this tune, i can never play it enough! I also like going into this song from Blarney Pilgrim. Just my opinion, but i think they sound great together. Also, i think the best way to play The Kesh is at lightning speed, or faster! LOL
# Posted on August 27th 2006 by fiddlertracy
The Kesh Jig
Who, if anyone, played /recorded this tune before the Bothies made it a hit round 1975? Its earlier history remains unknown to me.
# Posted on September 29th 2006 by nicholas
"...but believe there isn't any other place called Kesh in Ireland. Have any of you ever visisted there?"
Yes, it's just outside Ballymote, in Sligo Co. Sometimes spelled Keash it seems.
# Posted on December 9th 2006 by ballyfingers
Yep... it's a townland. Basically a few houses and a barn maybe as I recall it having stumbled upon it when I was lost on the roads in that part of Sligo once. I asked an older flute player at a session in Gurteen where the Shaskeen got it's name. He told me a piper who lived there used to play it. I suspect that's how a lot of these tunes got their names.
# Posted on December 9th 2006 by Phantom Button
"The Kesh Jig" ~ another take on it and a few more choices
X: 1134
T: The Kesh Jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: G Major
|: D |
G2 G GAB | A2 A AB/c/d | edd gdd | edB dBA |
GAG G2 B | AA/A/A ABd |edd gdB | AGF G2 :|
|: d |
B2 B dB/c/d | e/f/ge dBA | ~B3 BA^G | ~A3 FGA |
B^AB d^cd | ege dBd | g2 g a^ga | bgf g2 :|
# Posted on June 10th 2007 by ceolachan
This is not "The Castle" in Music at Matt Molloy's.
# Posted on June 27th 2007 by MarcoTam
Luka Bloom uses the Kesh Jig
Hey, My Irish band, The Langer's Ball, was just learing Luka Blooms "You Couldn't have come at a better time" form his Riverside album, and the Kesh Jig is in there as well. Just thought I'd mention it.
# Posted on November 30th 2007 by greazer
THE KESH PLAYED BY THE BOTHY BAND SOUNDS INCREDIBLE...!!!!
# Posted on December 30th 2007 by CORK
Tune wanted
Any suggestions for a tune to go after the kesh ?
# Posted on January 19th 2008 by tony b
Re: Tune wanted
tee he
# Posted on January 19th 2008 by ...
the Kesh
anyone got any suggestions for a nice tune to go after the Kesh ?
# Posted on January 19th 2008 by tony b
Re: the Kesh
The Kincora Jig
# Posted on January 19th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: the Kesh
Isn`t that the same tune ?
# Posted on January 19th 2008 by tony b
Re: the Kesh
It would be a lot harder to find a nasty tune to go after the Kesh, so many nice ones fit the bill. You could try Morrison's Jig in E dorian and come back to G major with Out On The Ocean, for example.
# Posted on January 19th 2008 by nicholas
Re: the Kesh
Ok, tony, sorry for being silly. Try something more colourful like the Swan Among the Rushes, or the Cat's Miaow. It's just that I hate the kesh/kincora after playing it nearly every week for twenty odd years.
# Posted on January 19th 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: the Kesh
Ha ha, maybe I will feel the same after twenty years, if I last that long !
# Posted on January 19th 2008 by tony b
Tune to go into
I think it goes well into "the cliffs of Moher" in Am.
I know of at least three places called kesh but always thought it was associated with keash in sligo which has a fascinating history. Every garland sunday (last one in July) there is a great gathering for sports and games that has been going on for hundreds of years maybe longer.
By the way I like this tune.........
# Posted on August 27th 2008 by blackstuffman
Kesh-Cooleys
It seems to me, that the Kesh Jig and Cooleys reel are some of the most well known tunes in irish traditional music.
# Posted on April 6th 2009 by KonradA
3rd section?
could someone please post the abc for the 3 section?
# Posted on September 22nd 2010 by Reeds Munson
Eh........?
As far as I know - and I've been hearing and playing the tune since the "Boys Of The Lough" recorded it as the "Kincora" jig in 1975 [ probably only a few months before the "Bothy Band" ] - it's never had a third "section"?
# Posted on September 22nd 2010 by Kenny
Kesh Jig Set
Looking for a great jig to follow the Kesh jig ....any ideas?
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by Kess
Re: Kesh Jig Set
On the pipes I might add.
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by Kess
Re: Kesh Jig Set
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/5
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by Prof. Prlwytzkofski
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Morrison's might do the trick.
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by -Abraxas
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Play it again in A
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by SmashTheWindows
Re: Kesh Jig Set
I often play it after Morrison's
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by hotsauce
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Didn't Bothy Band used to play the slip jig Give Us A Drink of Water after the Kesh?
Usually, we use it to end sets, not begin sets.
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by AlBrown
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Should have checked the tune database first. On this site, what the Bothy Band called Give Us a Drink of Water is called The Swaggering Jig.
And the Prof's suggestion is a good one, although when we play it with the Kesh, Blarney Pilgrim comes first.
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by AlBrown
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Yep, Al, followed by 'The Flower of the Flock' and 'The Famous Ballymote' (though 'TFotF' doesn't appear on 'Afterhours').
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/293, http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/5 and http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/11
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by MacCruiskeen
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Cherish the Ladies would be a nice one to follow The Kesh. Never tried it, but it just popped into my head.
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Kesh Jig Set
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/590
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Or even better, play it in Gmin...
I usually play the Blarney Pilgrim first, but it works either way
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by SmashTheWindows
Re: Kesh Jig Set
I play The Kesh, Jim Wards', and Lost and Found in a set, and The Kesh sounds pretty cool(to me) after Jim Wards'. They both start with the same first bar but Jim Wards' goes lower.
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by fiddlelearner
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Our chaps do Shandon Bells/Rakes of Kildare/Kesh Jig, though one of 'em prefers to drop Kesh and do Irish Washerwoman instead. No comment from me!
And I've just realised that I haven't answered your question.
# Posted on May 15th 2012 by Steve Shaw
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Dia dhuit a Kess! Hi Kess!
In Liverpool, one of your great sister cities, we alawys played "The lark in the morning" after "The Kesh".
I note from your profile you like paced music. Believe me when you get a group of musicians all in the groove so to speak, "The Lark" is still one of the great jigs.
Interestingly MacC when Paddy K was out here last year he invited me up to play so I did a few sets with him, no rehearsal, just get up and play.
And what did we do? Well "The Kesh Set" it was and it was all on automatic. I hadn't played "The Swaggering" or "Flower of the Flock" in maybe twenty odd years and it just rolled out!
All the best
Brian x
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by briantheflute
Re: Kesh Jig Set
I know of a session that plays Smash the Windows/Kesh/Swallowtail
I don't like it, but they do it....
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by cboody
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Lately I've been following it with Banish Misfortune.
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by Newborn Elf
Re: Kesh Jig Set
We play Patsy Geary, Hare in the Corn, the Kesh. I know you asked for a tune to follow, but the Kesh is one of those tunes that is great to end with.
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by gam
Re: Kesh Jig Set
a usual set of our session is Kesh Jig, Connaughtman's Rambles, Dusty Windowsill
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by Nikita Pfister
Re: Kesh Jig Set
We follow it with "Yes We Have No Bananas" and then "The Ride of the Valkyries".
Come back Mr Gill, all is forgiven.
Surely you don't need advice on compiling sets.
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by Weejie
Re: Kesh Jig Set
As a fiddler, I play The Kesh in G, so I'd go for a rhythm change and play a cracking reel in the same key - e.g. Sheehan's Reel.
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by jjfiddler
Re: Kesh Jig Set
"Come back Mr Gill, all is forgiven."
yeah, where did he go?
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by SmashTheWindows
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Kess
You've been playing trad flute for 12 years - what would YOU put after the Kesh?
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by domhnall.
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Ha ha Domhnall, I know.
But I think the Kesh is the perfect jig in G and Im looking for the perfect follow up (yes I could play 20 others which sound good) but 'good' isnt good enough!!!
... yes I need to get out more
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by Kess
Re: Kesh Jig Set
So a bunch of random people on the internet can put together a "perfect" set?
I recommend "Puff the Magic Dragon."
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Kesh Jig Set
I'd second (or third) the proposal to put it at the end. It is one of this tunes that are so common that when listeners (who know tunes) hear it at the beginning of a set, they think "oh, not the Kesh again?" - on the other hand it goes well enough as a "dessert". Also, in a session, the less experienced players who might not know so many tunes will be happy when the Kesh comes up.
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by sixholes
Re: Kesh Jig Set
The Kesh is one of those bare-bones jobbies that you can really go to work on and do a bit of variation. Tunes that get played a bit too much get played a bit too much because they're good tunes. Buy me a pint and I'll even do Danny Boy. Buy me two and I might even enjoy it.
# Posted on May 16th 2012 by Steve Shaw
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Commonly known tunes do well at the end of the set because the volume goes from low to higher. Sometimes it does sound nice when everybody but a couple players drop out in the middle of a set but the last tune should be one lots of people play or the set loses it's energy.
# Posted on May 17th 2012 by Earl Cameron
Re: Kesh Jig Set
i found the perfect set ....... drum roll...
The Kesh...... Cliffs of Moher.....Pay the Reckoning!
Thanks guys
now on to the reels
k
# Posted on May 17th 2012 by Kess
Re: Kesh Jig Set
Jimmy wards then Blarney Pilgrim
# Posted on May 17th 2012 by zippydw