Siege of Ennis

Subject: Siege of Ennis
From: The Sandman
Date: 16 Nov 19 - 04:06 AM

the original tune is in 2/4, in fact salmon tails up the water seems to have derived from it but lost the third part.
if this dance is danced properly it should have seven steps in it these are difficult in fact ridiculous if danced to a jig , in my experience best to be danced to the original tune or rattling bog or any 2/4 polka , even a reel is more apt than jigs.
this dance has its own tune to dance it to jigs is as stupid as dancing the stack of barley to jigs

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: Mo the caller
Date: 16 Nov 19 - 05:59 AM

what brought that on?
who dances it to jigs?
was there a deleted message?

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Nov 19 - 09:53 AM

used to be called the Surge of Penis when I was at college

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: The Sandman
Date: 16 Nov 19 - 12:31 PM

Surge of Penis should be played with a sfiff upper lip

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: leeneia
Date: 16 Nov 19 - 12:59 PM

I found more than one tune called Siege of Ennis on abc notation.com. None was a jig. However I didn't see any with seven measures in a section - always 8.

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: The Sandman
Date: 16 Nov 19 - 02:42 PM

leenia its seven steps in the dance, check tune out on session.org, it is in 2/4

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: GUEST,CJB666
Date: 17 Nov 19 - 09:06 AM

Was there ever a real siege of Ennis? Or maybe Limerick. I've been to both towns - on set dance excrsions - and there is no sign of any battle per se. CJB

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: Mo the caller
Date: 17 Nov 19 - 10:55 AM

I've stood on the 'Bridge of Athlone', gone 'All the way to Galway', and taken the 'Road to Lisdoonvarna'. Also on the way to and from a Set Dance week.

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: treewind
Date: 18 Nov 19 - 08:24 AM

I danced it last night, and the band gave us a choice: once through each with polkas and reels. We chose polkas (because they played the reels a bit slow).

Isn't it usual, at a real Irish ceili, to do the same dance several times during the evening, to different tune rhythms? Jigs, reels, polkas - same figures, different stepping. Last nigh, though was a (mostly English) ceilidh club so the fine points of stepping would have been lost on most of us.

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: The Sandman
Date: 18 Nov 19 - 08:43 AM

in my experience if you do not use the original tune [which has two parts identical to Salmon tails up the water] the rattling bog works well, reels are also ok

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: clueless don
Date: 19 Nov 19 - 06:31 AM

In my old dancing days, at Ceilidh in the Baltimore/Washington area of the good ol' USA, the bands always played reels for the Siege of Ennis. However, the official handbook of the Irish Dance Commission calls for jigs.

I have never heard of the dance having a signature tune. Indeed, I have never heard of a tune called The Siege of Ennis.

Don

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 19 Nov 19 - 08:32 PM

We have it as a set of polkas fir the "Siege of Ennis" dance, which may have been requested once many moons ago, but never since, so we now use it as an alternative Gay Gordons set. Tunes include Rattlin' Bog, Spanish Ladies, Dennis Murphy's Polka, Sweeney's Polka and one other whose name escapes me this late.

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: The Sandman
Date: 20 Nov 19 - 12:31 PM

well DON,you have now learned something and guess what salmon tails up the water is the same tune minus the third part

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: clueless don
Date: 21 Nov 19 - 01:39 PM

I just listened to versions of The Siege of Ennis found using JC's ABC Tune Finder. I'm sure I've heard that tune before, just not with that title. It reminds me of The Wren's Polka, though not the same.

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: The Sandman
Date: 21 Nov 19 - 02:44 PM

i explained it is rhe same as salmontails up the water but with an extra part, this makes me surmise that siege came first

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: Noreen
Date: 22 Nov 19 - 07:16 PM

Growing up in Liverpool and attending and playing for ceilis at the Irish Centre and parish clubs, Seige of Ennis was danced equally to jigs or reels- the only dance that this applied to.

You can do the 7 steps to a jig as well as to a reel or polka,Dick,it's just more hoppy!

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 Nov 19 - 07:35 PM

i do not agree noreen and i would ask why is the tune for the dance in 2/4, so we will just have to agree to disagree

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: Noreen
Date: 22 Nov 19 - 07:45 PM

Who says it's "The" tune for the dance?
It may be "A" tune for the dance, but I never came across it in all the ceilis I played for and danced at.

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 Nov 19 - 05:43 AM

the tune is called the seige of ennis , that makes it the original tune for the dance, same as the blackbird is for the blackbird, the garden of daisies, is for the garden of daisies dance, the stack of barley is for the stack of barley , you will be telling me next its ok to dance the stack of barley to slides or jigs.

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Nov 19 - 07:16 AM

Is the origin of the dance well enough documented to know what the original tune was? Where and when does it come from, and why the title?

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 23 Nov 19 - 09:50 AM

Of course 7 steps can be danced to jigs, ask any step dancer or morris dancers. I can do it so it can be done. I can also do it to reels, schottisches and hornpipes.

So far as the tune is concerned it's not uncommon for a tune to acquire it's name from a dance it is associated with and vice versa. In the past I've been asked to play Salmon Tails along with the Grand Old Dame Britannia aka Leather Away the Wattle-O for the Siege of Ennis.

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 Nov 19 - 02:55 PM

yes 7 steps can be danced to anything including slid or jigs or hornpipeses if you are eccentric enough to want to dasnce it un rythmically, but once you have danced it in 2/4 you would not in my opinion want to dance it to jig time. or to slides
oh no notjack campin

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Nov 19 - 05:03 PM

Dick, do you know the history of the dance, and if so would you mind telling us without throwing a tantrum? I've only seen it a few times and I don't pretend to know.

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Nov 19 - 02:55 AM

jack why not research that yourself

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 24 Nov 19 - 03:44 AM

I wouldn't call it eccentric when there are thousands of people doing it, and yes, doing it rhythmically, very rhythmically.

Subject: RE: Siege of Ennis
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 24 Nov 19 - 07:40 AM

A lot of different tunes suggested for this one on the web, but if there's a site giving the definitive scoop on its origin and original tune which Dick Miles says he has, I can't find it (and he's obviously never going to say). Can anybody track it down?

Not going to be of more than historical interest anyway, it's hugely popular the way it is.