In an attempt to clarify origins of St. Anne's Reel - it is a French Canadian fiddle tune. My mother said she remembered her father playing it in Winnipeg in the 1920s. He learned it from a fiddler from Quebec. Nobody seems to know the actual composer, although Joseph Allard, a French Canadian fiddler, made it popular and more universally known in the 1930s. Since then it has been recorded by many musicians, and Country of Origin claimed by many. Some say it was named for St. Anne's, a suburb of Montreal, others point to St. Ann's Bay in Nova Scotia.
fiddlermoth Very popular in French Canada, I always tought that was a mazurka from County Donegal which had travelled through the Irish Migrants in Lower Canada (now Québec). My guess is that a French-Canadian fiddler must have «up-tempoed» it to what it is today. It's only an intuition of mine, though.
I learned it as a French-Canadian tune. Then an Irish fiddler I know broke it out at a session. The fiddler was a trove of Irish tunes but little beyond that. Perhaps the tune has had a more circuitous route than I’ve realized.
Totally stunning musicianship it's wonderful to see lads playing like that, notes rolling off fingerboards and the great thing they love doing it. Methinks I need to practice more on me Guitar. Blown away by the playing. Well done lads
This sooo flippin' good! These guy's are the man! I've just started learning this song on guitar except in a less complicated version. It's such a lovely song.
These videos have made me realise how much I enjoy watching (ie not just listening to) people play great music. This is what live music should be like, as if you're sitting in amongst them being able to see every finger movement, it's magical. I've just got to become a world-class instrumentalist first...hmm.. p.s. "whopee!" - Class.
Keep practicing kids! Who knows? By the time you're 60, you may play almost half this well! Aly Bain so awesome and Jerry Douglas - how can anyone get that good in a mere lifetime?? Amazing!
Tim try and find Ricky Skaggs ,Paddy Glackin and Mark O'Connor's version on volume two of Bringing it all back home, You might change your mind, It is a hard cd to find though.
Wow, kirsty, I'm glad you mentioned that. I thought it was aimed at me... I'm quoting lyrics from a song based on this tune, called "The Ballad of St Anne's Reel".
@txmacartist In that vein, I like Mark O'Connor's answer to the difference between a violinist and a fiddle player: I know of a lot of ex-violinists; I don't know any ex-fiddle-players.
@clarebannerman : Hello Clare, Reel Saint-Anne has been played all the maritimes and is also part of the French Canadian repertoire. I'm not sure of its origin. I would say it is the most known reel in Canada overall.
I've heard that tune before somewhere but I can't remember when. Was it on some other friendly shore, did I hear it on the wind? Was it written in the stars above? I think I heard it from someone I love, But I've never heard it sound so sweet since then.
Hi there all bluegrass-reel-and picking fans ! l know St Anne's Reel is most likely all genuine irish, and I've heard someone even refering to it as being of celtic origin, to which I though must have to object; nothing at all about the melodic structure bears much resemblence to what would be expected from a celtic tune. I'd like to point out that to me and many others from around these parts, St Anne's Reel always sounded arch - Scandinavian, especially Danish/Southern-Swedish, like if a standard piece of our common folk(e)musik heritage,so totally in line with our tradition. Very homely to listen to.
Well, a lot of Norwegian music has Irish traditional melodies, but with Norwegian texts. "Gje meg handa di, ven" is set to "Down by the Sally Gardens" for example. However, whereas the Irish text is essentially "Fuck Her Gently" from the 1800s, the Norwegian text is a lot more wholesome to say the least. Hell, going over old sheet music, a lot of the melodies are credited as "Irish trad."
Regardless of origin, this reel is common in Bluegrass and Irish recordings and sessions. So much so that Canadian or Scottish renditions are overshadowed. It is understandable that people hearing it at an Irish session or on many Irish performer recordings would start to call it an Irish tune, however incorrect that would be historically. (Chieftains, Dubliners, Micho Russell, etc). It is similar to the misnomer "Jazz Standard" where great Tin Pan Alley or Broadway Show tunes are performed by jazz bands, sometimes to the dismay of the creators of those tunes (Kern, Rodgers).
Absolutely! And had my stepdad, not to mention the school violin teacher, played like Aly Bain, I may have become more interested when Mother sent me off to school for violin lessons.
@sisteraba actually a 'fiddle' has a different bridge. The bridge on a violin for classical playing typically has a higher arch for more precise playing, and the bridge for folk or traditional playing typically is a 'fiddle bridge' that is flatter. It's not a huge difference but other than how it's played that's the only real way for there to be a difference. I play fiddle style but my new violin has the classical arched bridge, I have to get a fiddlin bridge put on it.
I have a 12-string classical guitar that I use for a slide and a guitar teacher who plays fab despite his wrist injuries that he sustained years ago. When I get the chance, I will ask him to teach me some more slide, so I can be as good as Jerry :)
Although some Irish claim St. Anne's, I am certain that it is a French-Canadian reel that crossed back to the British Isles. Peace, you Hibernians--Ireland was British back when St. Anne's landed there.
