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Tag Archives: Shetland

Atholl Highlanders (Amix)

The four-part jig “Atholl Highlanders” is originally a Shetland tune, and originally called “The Three Sisters.”  I don’t think anyone has called it by the original name for a very long time, however. It is a characteristic Scots pipe march, though there are some odd things about it. As a pipe march it is known […]

Willafjord (D)

Willafjord is the Shetland reel often played in Scottish sessions with Spootiskerry. This tune is in Tom Anderson’s Haand me doon da fiddle  (1981) tune book, where he writes (in dialect): If du imagines some een gaen wij wan fit ida stank an de idder een on a broo an gaein a lunk as dey go alang, […]

Far From Home (G)

There is some confusion about the reel “Far From Home” (G).  Some say it was written in 1998, some say it is much older.  The latter are correct.  I know because the tune is #1261 in O’Neill’s 1850 (1903).  Some say the tune is from Shetland, while others deny it.  It does seem odd that […]

The Bonnie Isle O’ Whalsay (A)

The reel “The Bonnie Isle O’ Whalsay” has sundry variations. This is (arguably) a Shetland reel, as Whalsay is a small island in the Shetlands.  Of course, a tune and its name can have very different origins, so tune names alone are a poor basis for determining tune ontogeny.  However, this tune does also have a certain Shetlandishness about it, […]