February’s Tunes: What is Seann Triubhas Uillechan ?
We have four tunes this month: Whistle o’er the Lave o’t, a Burns song; Seann Triubhas Uillechan, a traditional air; Da Corbie an’ da Craw, a reel; and Sister Jean, a jig.
Seann Triubhas, pronounced ‘Shawn Trews’, is Gaelic for ‘Old Trousers’: specifically, Willie’s pants. There are many spelling variants, but Triubhas seems to be right. It is also the name of two Scottish dances.
● The first is the RSCDS two couple strathspey Seann Triubhas Willichan, the lead tune of which is already in our repertoire My Dearie (SRS 9.13).
● The second is the Highland dance Seann Triubhas that uses the Burns song Whistle o’er the Lave o’t as the first tune (also the first tune for this month).
The first part of the Highland dance consists of graceful, flowing movements, mocking the restrictions imposed by the foreign trousers, while the movements of the second part clearly depict the legs defiantly shaking and shedding the hated trousers and returning to the freedom of the kilt. The dance then progresses from slow time to quick time as the final celebration of the rediscovered freedom. The original tune for the Highland dance was an old air called Seann Triubhas Uillechan (our second tune this month) but this was supplanted in the nineteenth century by the Burns song which fit the pipes better, the dance keping the old name.
The name of the old air arose from the English Act of Proscription against the wearing of the tartan after the 1745-46 Jacobite uprising and the Highland defeat at the Battle of Culloden, or perhaps it was attached to celebrations of the repeal of the same act in 1782 in response to the tartan craze in Europe and Georgian London. You can read more about Highland dress by scanning the QR code here.
I also chose two Shetland D tunes, from Tom Anderson’s Ringing Strings, that have the same haunting feel as Seann Triubhas Uillechan. The D mixolydian reel Da Corbie an’ da Craw depicts a fight between the Raven and the Crow. The D dorian jig Sister Jean is from Unst and can be used as a polka tune for the “Boston Two Step”.
Have fun with the music.
