Coleman's Cross (1)

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 Theme code Index    1H53b3b 23b41
 Also known as    
 Composer/Core Source    
 Region    Ireland
 Genre/Style    Irish
 Meter/Rhythm    Reel (single/double)
 Key/Tonic of    E
 Accidental    2 sharps
 Mode    Dorian
 Time signature    4/4
 History    
 Structure    AB
 Editor/Compiler    Biography:Breandán Breathnach
 Book/Manuscript title    Book:Ceol Rince na hÉireann vol. 3
 Tune and/or Page number    No. 205, p. 91
 Year of publication/Date of MS    1985
 Artist    Biography:Kathleen Collins
 Title of recording    Kathleen Collins
 Record label/Catalogue nr.    Shanachie 29002
 Year recorded    1976
 Media    
 Score   ()   


COLEMAN'S CROSS [1] (Crosbhóthar an Cholmánaigh). Irish, Reel. E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Black): ABB (Breathnach, Brody). The name "Coleman's Cross" was applied to this reel on New York fiddler Kathleen Collins' Shanachie LP. Collins told New York musician Don Meade that she had picked it up during the time she was living in ireland in the 1960s (and married to accordionist Joe Burke) from a Sligo musician whose name she could not recall. A likely suspect would be fiddler Tommy Flynn, whose playing of the tune on a tape from the 1960s was issued on a Comhaltas LP of the McDonagh brothers of Ballinafad and friends.

The name used on Kathleen Collins' LP commemorates a favorite spot for a crossroads dancing in south County Sligo. Mary O'Beirne, who emigrated from Killavil, County Sligo in 1930 and married the famous New York fiddler James "Lad" O'Beirne (also originally from Killavil) remembered:

We danced a lot in Ireland. There was always house parties and we'd get up and do the four-hand reel...On a Sunday evening, everybody knew that there was always music at the Coleman's Crossroads. So people would come from Gorteen, Bunninadden, Tubbercurry, all the townlands. And boys and girls would ride the bicycles and just stop there and the next thing you know, there'd be music right at the Crossroads. (excerpted from Rebecca Miller, Irish Traditional and Popular Music in New York City, The New York Irish, 1996, ed. by Bayor & Meagher).

Source for notated versions: fiddler Kathleen Collins (Ireland) [Black, Breathnach, Brody].

Printed sources: Black (Music's the Very Best Thing), 1996; No. 11, p. 6. Breathnach (CRÉ III), 1985; No. 205, p. 91. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 70.

Recorded sources: Compass Records 7 4446 2,Oisíin McAuley - "From the Hills of Donegal" (2007). Shanachie 29002, "Kathleen Collins" (1976). Folkways FW 8876, Kevin Burke- "Sweeney's Dream" (1977). CCÉ CL53 (CD), Tommy Flynn on "The McDonaghs of Ballinafad and Friends Play Traditional Music of Sligo" (c. 2000). WS 031703, Wendy MacIsaac - "Timeline" (2003).


X:1
T: Coleman's Cross
S: Kathleen Collins
Z: transcribed by B. Black
Q: 350
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Edor
edBA GFGE | DEGB AE E2 | GEDB, DEGA | BABd efgf |
edBA GFGE | DEGB AE E2 | GEDB, DEGA | Bdgf e2 ef ||
g2 gf gfed | Bdef edBd | gbaf gfed | Bdgf e2 ef |
g2 ge f2 fd | eafd edBd | dBAF GFGA | BABd efge ||