Coleman's Cross
Notation:
Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
traditional
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Irish
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Coleman's Cross", in Gaelic "Crosbhóthar an Cholmánaigh", is an Irish<br> reel in E dorian. The parts are played AB (Black) or ABB (Breathnach, Brody).<br> The name "Coleman's Cross" was applied to this reel on New York fiddler<br> Kathleen Collins' Shanachie LP. Collins told New York musician Don Meade<br> that she had picked it up during the time she was living in Ireland in the<br> 1960s from a Sligo musician whose name she could not recall, probably<br> fiddler Tommy Flynn, whose playing of the tune on a tape from the 1960s<br> was issued on a Comhaltas LP of the McDonagh brothers of Ballinafad and friends.<br> The name used on Kathleen Collins' LP commemorates a favorite spot for<br> crossroads dancing in south County Sligo. Mary O'Beirne, who emigrated from<br> Killavil, County Sligo in 1930 and married the famous New York fiddler<br> James "Lad" O'Beirne (also originally from Killavil) remembered:<br> We danced a lot in Ireland. There was always house parties and we'd get up<br> and do the four-hand reel...On a Sunday evening, everybody knew that there<br> was always music at the Coleman's Crossroads. So people would come from<br> Gorteen, Bunninadden, Tubbercurry, all the townlands. And boys and girls<br> would ride the bicycles and just stop there and the next thing you know,<br> there'd be music right at the Crossroads.<br> (excerpted from Rebecca Miller, Irish Traditional and Popular Music in<br> New York City, The New York Irish, 1996, ed. by Bayor & Meagher).<br> It was printed in Black's Music's the Very Best Thing (1996),<br> Breathnach's Ceol Rince na hÉireann III (1985) and<br> Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983).<br> It was recorded by Oisíin McAuley on From the Hills of Donegal (2007),<br> Kathleen Collins on Kathleen Collins (1976),<br> Kevin Burke on Sweeney's Dream (1977),<br> Tommy Flynn on The McDonaghs of Ballinafad and Friends Play Traditional<br> Music of Sligo (c. 2000) and<br> Wendy MacIsaac on Timeline (2003).<br>
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