9th of September, 2019

Fanny Power

Air in G

A tune by the great blind harper Turlough O’Carolan. This was written near the end of his life in the 1730s after one of his patrons, of whom O’Carolan sung “I hope I live to dance at her wedding”.

This is a great repertoire piece and I’m glad I have had the opportunity to practice it. If an O’Carolan tune gets played at a session, you can bet it will be this one. I’m calling it an air here for lack of any other classification. It is in 6/8 time but it predates the jig format as a dance tune, and it’s certainly too fast to be played 3/4 as a waltz. So even though it is metered, I’m calling it an air.

Melody on mandolin with accompaniment/counterpoint on bouzouki.