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"Byrne's Hornpipe" (in Gaelic "Cornphíopa Uí Bhrion" or "Crannciuil Ui Broin"), also
known as "Bryant's Favorite Hornpipe" or "Tommy Hill's Favorite" is an Irish hornpipe
in D Major or D Mixolydian. The parts are played AABB.
The alternate title "Bryant'sFavorite" comes from early recordings by New York accordion player John J. Kimmel. Renowned County Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman (1891-1945) recorded the tune in New York in 1927, the first tune in a medley with "Tommy Hill's Favourite" by which name it is sometimes (erroneously) called. It was also recorded on a 78RPM by the old Ballinakill Ceili Band of Galway in the early 1930's. Flute player Mike Rafferty says that Byrne was from the same east County Galway parish as were the Rafferty family. The reel was collected in the Slieve Gullion region of south County Armagh by the Rev. Luke Donnellan (1878-1952), a rector at Dromintee, who published a collection of over 100 tunes, mostly reels, in 1909 in an article entitled "Oriel Songs and Dances" in The Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society vol. II, No. 2. It was printed in Anderson's Anderson's Budget of Strathspeys, Reels & Country Dances (1820) (as "Birnes Hornpipe"), Kerr's Merry Melodies vol. 3 and Williamson's English, Welsh, Scotch and Irish Fiddle Tunes (1976). |