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Understanding 9/11Concert Reel, Custom Jap
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Fiddle solo, unknown - piano, Decca 12153. This record popularized the first reel, including some of Sweeny's variations. It is transcribed in the Dance Music of Willie Clancy among other books. The second reel is more properly titled the Custom Gap, which is a reference to smuggling. Sometimes it is called the Windy Gap; O'Neill's Music of Ireland has two settings under the title the Mills are Grinding; the D setting is from piper John Ennis and indeed this is an excellent piping tune, with the low A in the first bar replaced by a cran on D. O'Neill only used the G setting in the Dance Music of Ireland. This is another medley played by John Vesey on the Sligo Fiddler 2CD set.
Related Music question-dark
| Song Title | Versions | Compilations | Covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concert Reel, Custom Jap |
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Reviews
Reviewer:
Don Meade
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April 6, 2014
Subject: See Roche collection for Sweeney's source
Subject: See Roche collection for Sweeney's source
"The Custom Gap" is in the first volume of the Roche collection published in the 1920's and that book is likely to have been Sweeney's source as his setting is very close to the one in the book and he used that name (although the record company transformed it into "Custom Jap"). The title is not a reference to smuggling but rather to a controlled entrance/exit at livestock auctions where taxes were collected. This is confirmed by the title in Irish given by Roche: "Bearna 'n Aonaigh," which means "The Markets Gap." Roche also gives the alternate name "Jug of Punch," a title attached to a different tune in the O'Neill collection.
