O'Connor Donn's

reel

Key signature: Gmajor

Submitted on May 15th 2003 by Kenny.

This tune has been added to 31 tunebooks.

Also known as Connor Dunn's.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

• Aontas by Aontas
• Fidil by Ciarán Ó Maonaigh And Aidan O'Donnell
• Flute Tunes by Peter Woodley
• Martin Hayes by Martin Hayes
• The Best Of Irish Jigs And Reels Vol.1 by Various Artists
• The Piper's Broken Finger by Boys Of The Lough
• The Pipes Are Calling by Peter And Noel Carberry
• Three Shouts From A Hill by Cian
• Tony McManus by Tony McManus
• Weeds In The Garden by Muintir Lewis

X: 1
T: O'Connor Donn's
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|: B2 AG dGBA | GABG A2 AG | FADF Adag | fdcA GFGA |
B2 AG dGBA | GABG A2 AG | FADF Adag | fdcA G4 :|
|: faaf dafa | afdf af d2 | faaf dffd | egfa g2 ag |
fada fada | faaf af d2 | faab c'bag | fgaf g4 :|

O'Connor Donn's

A lovely reel which could be described as "semi-traditional". It's story is as follows. Cathal McConnell heard a wax cylinder recording from around the early 1900s of a piper named Martin Reilly playing a reel called "O'Connor Donn's". The quality of the recording was so poor that some sections of the tune were missing, so Cathal " filled in the gaps". He recorded it with "Boys Of The Lough" on the "Piper's Broken Finger" LP. Since then it has also been recorded by "Muintir Lewis" - ("The Weeds In The Garden" LP), and more recently by Martin Hayes, who has changed it slightly. This is as close to Cathal's version as I could get.

# Posted on May 15th 2003 by Kenny

Great tune, and thanks Kenny for reminding me of it. I've got it on yet another album called Traditional music of Ireland, don't ask me who, but some skins playing concertina, flute, mandolin and fiddle, lovely version. Shame Hayes had to get his hands on it... he used to be such a nice player, as well.
It's best played very plain and direct, as it's got enough of it's own character it doesn't need over-ornamentation.

# Posted on May 15th 2003 by Rudall the time

There's a nice version of it here too http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/2541.

# Posted on February 8th 2007 by Dr. Dow

Martin Hayes is *still* a great fiddler. His playing of this tune is lovely. His variations are perfectly appropriate. If you don't think he's still a "nice player" you haven't listened to enough ITM. He is solidly within the tradition. You may not like his playing and you can certainly say so. But that's just a statement about your own feeling. You offered an evaluation of his playing, to your own discredit.

# Posted on January 11th 2008 by David Levine

Hayes...

Agree with "cocus" here. I love Martin Hayes' playing of this tune.

# Posted on April 10th 2009 by Kenny

Lovely

Nice tune indeed.

# Posted on July 16th 2011 by greepo

Here's what appears to be a different setting of this same tune. I got it off Kilkenny box player, Joe Dowling in a set of tunes, I think he calls 'Jody's'. Says they'd be played as slow reels. Joe has his music from all sorts of places including his father who was a well known box player back 70 years ago.

X: 1
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|:B2AG FGAG|B2AG BAAG|FADA FAfe|dcBA B2GA|B2AG FGAG|B2AG BAAG|FADA FAfe|dcBA G4:|
|g2fa d2fa|d2fa d3g|faaf d3d|egga g3a|fada fada|faag fddg|faab c'bag|fgaf g4|
fgaf d2fa|d2fa d3g|faaf d3d|egga g3a|fada fada|faag fddg|faab c'bag|fgaf g4|

# Posted on August 26th 2011 by the wounded hussar

When I write it down more carefully, this is closer:
X: 1
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|:B2AG FGAG|B2AG BAAG|FADA FAfe|dcBA B2GA|B2AG FGAG|B2AG BAAG|FADA FAfe|dcBA G4:|
|f2af d2fa|d2fa d3d|faaf d3d|egga g3g|fada fada|faag fddg|faab c'bag|fgaf g4|
faaf d2fa|d2fa d3d|faaf d3d|egga g3g|fada fada|faag fddg|faab c'bag|fgaf g4|

# Posted on August 29th 2011 by the wounded hussar