Key signature: Cmajor
Submitted on December 12th 2011 by mrkelahan.
This tune has been added to 10 tunebooks.
Also known as Ag Úirchill An Chreagáin, Ag Uirchill An Chreagain, Creggan Churchyard, Úirchill An Chreagáin, Uirchill An Chreagain.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Uirchill A' Chreagain
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: waltz
K: Cmaj
|: G2 | c4 dd | cA2 G3 | GA cc3 | d/e c2c G3/2 | A4 {d}e2 |
e3 ef/e/d/c/ | g4 e2 | ed cc3 | d/e c2c3/2 G | A4 e2 |
dc3 dd | cA2 G3 | GA cc3 | d/e c2c3/2 G | A4 {d}e2 |
e3 ef/e/d/c/ | g4 g2 | ed c3d | c4 dc/B/ | c4 :|
Uirchill a Chreagain
From "The Fiddler's Companion"-
CREGGAN CHURCHYARD (Uir-chill a' Chreagain). AKA - "The Fair Graveyard of Creggan." Irish, Air (3/4 time). Ireland, Northern Ireland. G Major. Standard. One part. According to O'Canainn (1978) this is one the great airs of the Northern tradition (it has been called 'the National Anthem of South East Ulster' by Maire Nic Domhnaill Gairbhi). It is a song of the 'Aisling' or 'vision' genre in which a maiden appears to the poet and prophesizes a return to Irish glory, and appears in Sean O'Baoighill's "Cnuasacha de Cheoltai Uladh". Creggan is a large parish that contains portions of two counties in Ireland, Louth and Armagh. The churchyard contains the ancestral burial ground of the O'Neill's, lords of Ulster.
The composer of the song "Uirchill an Chreagain" was Art MacCumhaigh (1738-1773), bard to the O'Neills of Dunraeva, who was called Art na gCeoltai. Henry Morris, in his book "The Modern Irish Poets of Oriel, Breffni, and Meath" (1906, County Louth Archeological Society) wrote that MacCumhaigh was on the run from the 'powers that be' and was bein actively hunted. He found refuge for a night in the O'Neill vault in Creggan graveyard, and thus the opening line (that he slept the previous night in Creggan Churchyard) is literally true. When MacCumhaigh died he was buried at Creggan and the last line of his famous song was carved on his headstone:
Gurbh ag Gaeil chumhra an Chreagain a leagfar me i gcre faoi fhod.
(That with the fragrant Gaels of Creggan I will be put in the clay under the sod.)
O'Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 113, pg. 96.
# Posted on December 12th 2011 by mrkelahan
I transcibed this tune from Cillian Vallely's playing on "On Common Ground" and have left it in Cmaj.
# Posted on December 12th 2011 by mrkelahan
Probably no surprise that they hunted him if he went around calling people "fragrant".
# Posted on December 12th 2011 by mrkelahan
Song?
'c' sent me this, two other versions differing mostly in the key and phrasing-
T: Ag Úirchill An Chreagáin
K: GMaj
D2 |\
G4 AG | ED- D2 DE | G2 G2 B2 | A4 G2 | E4 BB | c4 BA | Bd- d2 BA | GG- G2 BB | A4 G2 | E4 BA |
G4 AG | ED- D2 DE | GG- G2 BB | A4 G2 | E4 BB | c4 BA | Bd d3 c | BG B3 A | G4 G2 | G4 |]
Cas Amhran – page 92
T: Úirchill An Chreagáin
K: BbMaj
F2 |\
B4 cB | G/G/F FG | BB- B2 cd | c4 B2 | G4 ze | e4 dc | df- f2 dc | BB- B2 cd | c4 B2 | G4 dc |
B4 cB | G2 F2 FG | BB- B2 dd | c4 B2 | G4 ze | e4 dc | df- f2 fe | dB d3 c | B4 B2 | B4 |]
They come from an illustrated collection of Irish compositions by Michael O'hEidhin, available at Litriocht, here-
http://www.litriocht.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=2432
A little more of a difference between these and the air that I transcribed from Cillian's recording; more hesitant phrasing and slight reharmonization.
Lyrics anyone?
# Posted on February 11th 2012 by mrkelahan