Tags: fiddle  folk  irish  planxty  scottish  song  tune  
Channel: Music
Uploaded: May 17, 2008 at 1:02 am
Author: raymondcrooke
Length: 02:22
Rating: 4.64
Views: 542
"Planxty Fanny Power" is a popular tune by Turlough O'Carolan. Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin (1670 - 1738) was an itinerant Irish harper. He was blinded by smallpox at about the age of eighteen and learnt to play the harp rather than continue his formal education. He became one of Ireland's most important composers, and his tunes form an important part of the traditional Irish repertoire.The Power family was indeed a power in society, and, being rich and famous, very attractive to O'Carolan, who performed in the great houses and castles of Ireland. He often wrote planxties to honour them, in particular the ladies of the family. (The word "planxty" is apparently a corruption of "Slainte!", Gaelic for "Good Health!")Jim McLean wrote the words and melody of the Scottish song, "Ballad of Glencoe" in 1963. It is not a traditional song as is often assumed. The song is about the attempted genocide of the Maclans, a branch of the Clan Donald, by government soldiers in 1692, led by Captain Robert Campbell of Glengoyn, despite the Highland hospitality earlier provided by the Maclans.But you won't hear those words here anyway, just the tune, scraped out on my fiddle, preceded by my attempt at "Fanny Power".