Shanghai
Notation:
Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
traditional
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Shanghai" is an American reel in 4/4 time and A Major. The parts are played ABCC'CC'<br> or ABCC'DD'.<br> There was a tune called “Shanghai” in the repertoire of West Virginia fiddler<br> Burl Hammons.<br> Gerry Milnes (Play of a Fiddle, 1999) speculates that the title may be associated<br> with a winter solstice tradition of the same name in eastern West Virginia<br> (the tradition survives in Lewisburg, Greenbriar County, W.Va., which hosts a<br> Shanghai Parade every New Years Day, featuring costumed marchers banging pots<br> and pans). Akin to British Isles mumming, the tradition involves dressing up in<br> masquerade and going from house to house making mischief and/or “begging” for food.<br> In Pendleton County the event was staged the week before Christmas. Milnes believes<br> the word "Shanghai" evolved from the Gaelic "sean aghaidh", or "old face", which he<br> believes associates it with the masquerading essential to the tradition.<br> Source for the notated version was Walter Neal, a fiddler from Armstrong County, Pa. in<br> 1952. Neal learned the tune from Abel Browning, a fiddler from Garrett County,<br> Maryland who was famous in the Md./southwestern Pa. area.<br> It was printed in Bayard's Dance to the Fiddle (1981).<br>
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