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"The Banks of Allan", also known as "The Bog of Allen" and "The Banks of the Allan Water"
is an English and Scottish country dance tune (6/8) or Jig in D Major or E minor
(it uses a six-tone scale, omitting the C and ending on E).
The parts are played ABB (Sharp) or AABB (Gow, Karpeles, Kerr, Raven).
The river Allan is a tributary of the Forth of Firth that flows through Perthshire and Stirlingshire before it empties into the Forth near Bridge of Allan. The Scots poet Robert Burns wrote a love song (appearing in Thomson's Scottish Airs) to the tune "Allan Water" that begins: By Allan-side I chanc'd to rove, While Phoebus sank beyond Benledi; The winds were whispering thro' the grove, The yellow corn was waving ready....Maud Karpeles notes "This tune is also suitable as an accompaniment to Rapper Sword Dances". A rapper sword dance (also known as short sword dance) is a variation of sword dance that emerged from the pit villages of Tyneside in North East England, where miners first performed the tradition. The dances are performed by teams of five with short flexible swords that are each held by two dancers forming a continuous chain. The dancers weave among themselves while clogging. Irish variants are "The Bog of Allen" and "The Tailor’s Thimble". An early version was published in 1799 by Thomas Calvert, a musician from Kelso, Scotland. A note with his collection states that Calvert supplied "a variety of music and instruments, instruments lent out, tun'd and repaired". It was printed in Carlin's The Gow Collection (1986), Gow's Complete Repository, Book 2 (1802), Karpeles and Schofield's A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs (1951), Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 1 (1880), Köhlers’ Violin Repository, Book 1 (1881-1885) (appears as "The Banks of the Allan Water"), Raven's English Country Dance Tunes (1984), Sharp's Country Dance Tunes (1909) and Songer's Portland Collection (1997). It was recorded by Battlefield Band on Stand Easy (1979) and Opening Moves. |