This tune is dedicated to my mother’s people, the McMahons of Cappafean, Crusheen, County Clare. Their father John was a noted set dancer and passed on his love of set dancing to all of them.

I am a keen fan of hop jigs and I have composed a few secretly over the years. On the Hop is a hop jig that came together relatively quickly as I was finalising music for a concert at the National Concert Hall to showcase music I had composed for the aforementioned Liam O’Flynn Award. It was composed specifically for the fiddle and flute duet of Aoife Ní Bhriain and Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, who performed the tune on the night.

I wrote this slide in honour of my father’s hard work installing a new bathroom in the family home, and to commemorate the first successful “flush” after the plumbing was turned back on! More than any other tune type, slides are the type I have composed the most of. I guess growing up playing for set dancers, slides are in my bones! A simple type of tune on the surface, it can be deceptively difficult to get the swing right, and they are often heard played as fast jigs instead.

It can be found on my latest album “Donnelly’s Arm”.

The name of this tune becomes An Ghlaise Bheo in Irish. In our area of north Cork, the word ‘glaise’ was used in English as well, meaning small river or big stream.

Séamus and myself played together for many years and recorded in the seventies.