Na Píobairí Uilleann

Chairman, NPU

An Píobaire

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6 5 20 20101217 20 T he chancel of Buttevant Abbey, being built on a steep bank of the Awbeg, is raised to the level of the nave by three crypts or vaults, the middle of which is sup- ported by a single pillar, so constructed as to resemble four, with fanciful and well-wrought capitals. – Close to the entrance of the abbey is a large square pile of skulls and bones, the relics of those who perished at the battle of Knockinoss, five miles distant from hence. It was fought on the 13th of November, 1647, between the English or parliamen- tary forces under the command of Lord Inchiquin, who was complimented by a pecuniary vote for his conduct on that occa- sion, and the Irish under Lord Taaffe; the latter were completely routed, and four thou- sand (half their number) left dead on the field. A party of Scotch highlanders, in the Irish army, headed by Sir Alexander Mac Donnell or Mac Allisdrum, contested their ground in the most determined and gallant manner, and were inhumanly butchered by the victors. The spot of Mac Allisdrum’s assassination is pointed out by the country people to this day, who pretend to show the stains of his blood. That wild and monstrous piece of music known by the name of Ollistrum’s March, so popular in the south of Ireland, and said to have been played at Knockinoss, should not, it appears to me, be considered an Irish air. Mr. Walker, in his History of the Irish Bards, justly remarks its similarity to the pibroch or war tune of the Scotch; and had he more care- fully perused the passage in Smith, alluded to by him, he would have had no hesitation in assigning to this singular strain its northern origin. The estimation in which it is held in Ireland is wonderful. I have heard this march, as it is called, sung by hundreds of the Irish peasantry, who imitate the drone of the bag- pipe in their manner of singing it. On that instrument I have also frequently heard it played, and occasionally with much pleasure, from the peculiar and powerful expression given by the performer. “It was not without much difficulty,” said the lady who gave me the annexed copy, “that I took down Ollistrum’s March, from the manner in which it is played. Not one of our native musicians understand a note of music, as the pipers in general are blind, and yet the air has been handed, or rather (if I may use the expression) eared down, I imagine, with very little alteration, having heard numbers per- form it in the same irregular way. I set down the notes used by these blind minstrels, though they vary but little in all the move- ments and manner of playing; however, I have done my best to retain the character. In Walker’s Irish Bards, provincial cries, strong- ly resembling the lamentations of the Munster and Leinster women, are well given.” Buttevant Abbey The music and text above is taken from Thomas Crofton Croker’s Researches in the South of Ireland (London 1824) pp115-7. It is given here for the record. James Goodman con- sidered this setting defective and his version, notat- ed from tradition, can be found in Tunes of the Munster Pipers (ITMA, Dublin 1998). Breandán Breathnach’s overview of the history and publish- ing history of the piece was published in Vol 3 of Ceol in the 1960s, and re-published in The Man and His Music (NPU, 1996) which is available though our online shop.

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2011-02-24T00:00:00

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