Key signature: Gmajor
Submitted on March 22nd 2002 by B Rad .
This tune has been added to 186 tunebooks.
Also known as An Ceannabhan Ban, Bog Cotton, Ceannabhan Ban, The Cotton Grass Flowers, The Cottongrass, The Little Fair Canavans, Little Fair Cannavans, The Little Fair Cannavans, Na Ceannabain Bana, Na Ceannabh, Na Ceannabhain Bana, Na Ceannabháin Bhána.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Na Ceannabhain Bhana
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: Gmaj
B2 G AGE GED |E/F/GE DEG A2 c|BAG AGE GED| E/F/GE DEF G2 A :||
Bd/d/d edB BAG |Bd/d/d edB A3|Bd/d/d edB BAG |GED DEF G3 :|]
I'm not one for repetitive tunes but this one has something going for it. I have no idea what the title means. My guess is something along the lines of the "First Woman" or the "Well-Mannered Woman" but as I said those are just guesses. I picked this up from the Paul McGratten & Paul Shaughnessey Album "Within a mile of Dublin" but rarely get to play it with others.
~b
# Posted on March 22nd 2002 by B Rad
My knowledge of the Irish language is shamefully limited. However, I have been, I think, reliably informed that the title refers to the 'cotton grass' or 'bog cotton' - a group of species of grass which grow abundantly on the bogs of Ireland, bearing little white fluffy cotton-like flowerheads. The 'ban' or 'bhan' bit means 'white' or 'fair' (light-coloured).
# Posted on March 23rd 2002 by CreadurMawnOrganig
That would make sense David, I had asked an Irish speaker about the title & he thought the title refered to what I had mentioned, but he wasn't sure.
# Posted on March 23rd 2002 by B Rad
Na Ceannabhain Bhana does indeed refer to "White Bog Cotton" according to my Irish English Dictionary. What threw me of was that it was spelled differently in the dictionary. Thanks David I was always curious about what that title ment.
# Posted on March 24th 2002 by B Rad
White -headed Cannavans
In the liner notes for Cran's great CD, Lover's Ghost, this tunes is identified as a popular Connemara nonsense song. There are words to it though:
Good for you, Mical and Maire!
They are the white headed Canavans.
I will send you up to Sean's Sive
And she will put a spancel on you in the glen.
Evidently the Canavans were a family with very fair colored hair.
Shaskeen
# Posted on March 24th 2002 by shaskeen
Canavans, revisited
One more thing - the words are in Gaelic, so it might be a bit frustrating to try to set those lyrics to the tune!
# Posted on March 24th 2002 by shaskeen
Canavans, English title
I recently heard this tune on a cd by a group called Shantalla, called Seven Evenings, Seven Mornings. The call it The Little Fair Canavans. The sleeve notes on the cd say the group 's piper, Michael Horgan, heard the tune played many years ago by Seamus Ennis, so I suppose he must have called it the same.
# Posted on April 27th 2003 by Egbert Menger
Seamus Ennis collected the tune from a woman who used it as a dandling song for her newborn twin boys - she sang it to put them to sleep. "The Little Fair Cannavans" is Seamus's own more elegant translation of Na Ceannabhain Bhana.
BTW I love the Cran rendition of the song, and the version of "The Black Rogue" which follows it on the flat pipes. That whole album just gives me goose bumps.
# Posted on July 25th 2003 by Hanley
Cathy and Seamus do a very nice version of this on Spirit.
# Posted on March 29th 2005 by Pádraig
I think this is among the most common slip jigs in sessions and concerts. It's actually much more beginner-friendly than The Butterfly. I often hear it played with double jigs, but you should be careful not to confuse this with Willie Coleman's.
# Posted on March 29th 2005 by slainte
Some London musicians play this tune in A.
# Posted on July 9th 2005 by slainte
Duplicated
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1968
# Posted on March 6th 2006 by Dr. Dow
The lyrics 'as gaeilge'
i learnt this as a song before i 'learnt' the tune.
here are the lyrics
gairm fhéin,gairm fhéin,gairm fhéin,
gairm fhéin Micil is Máire
gairm fhéin,gairm fhéin,gairm fhéin,
Seo iad na ceannabháin Bhana
Cuirfidh mé,Cuirfidh mé,Cuirfidh mé,
Cuirfidh mé suas ag sadbh Sheáin thú
Cuirfidh mé,Cuirfidh mé,Cuirfidh mé,
Is Cuirfidh sí buirín sa ngleann ort
# Posted on July 28th 2007 by Mrs.Lonal Dunny
Patrick Street's version
I just learned this from the new Patrick Street CD "On the Fly"
X: 2
T: Na Ceannabhain Bhana
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: Gmaj
B2 G AGE GED |EGD DEG A2 c|BGG AGE GED| EGD DEF G2 A :||
Bdd edd BGG |Bdd edB A2 c|Bdd edd B2A |GED DEF G3 :||
"variation last time through B part"
c | Bdd edd BGF | GBd gdB A2 c | Bdd egd B2 A | GED DEF G3 ||
# Posted on February 17th 2008 by airport
First tune
Tommy keane taught this to me as my first proper tune on the uilleann pipes.. Lovely little slip jig and im still doing it a great injustice!!!
# Posted on October 23rd 2008 by sarahlavelle
Bothy Band version
This is, surely, the slip jig the Boithies play after the kesh in that very famou set.
# Posted on April 17th 2010 by Fliúiteadóir