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Din Tarrant’s (D)

“Din Tarrant’s” polka is sometimes called “I Have a Bonnet Trimmed in Blue.” Whatever the name, this polka is from the Sliabh Luachra region (on the Cork-Kerry border). Din Tarrant was a Sliabh Luachra fiddler, and an exponent of the “house party” style of fiddling (less ornamentation in the left-hand, less slurring with the bow) as contrasted with the more famous Sliabh Luachra style of fiddling typified by Paddy O’Keeffe, Dennis Murphy and Julie Clifford.  The latter respected his style and recorded a number of his tunes.  There are a number of tunes that can, and do go by the name “Din Tarrant’s” as he was a popular player in the region, especially for his polkas.  In fact, on Julia and Billy Clifford’s Ceol as Sliabh Luachra (1983) the tune entitled “Din Tarrant’s” (track 16) is actually two polkas each played twice through AABB.  Billy is Julia’s son, by the way, and if you get a chance to listen to the album (which is free here) notice how the flute syncs with the fiddle so perfectly, it’s really something to hear.  While one of the tunes is named for this album on thesession.org as “Din Tarrant’s” it is not noted there that the track has another tune on it.   Some people  aren’t bothered by multi-named polkas or multi-polka names because they believe, as one person mentioned to me a while back “Well. . . polkas never really have names anyway.”

Chords:

 

Din Tarrant’s Polka,

 

Din Tarrant’s Polka,

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