The Royal Lament, by Iain Garbh Cholla (c.1600-1680). Aparrently this tune was composed in 1649, after the execution of King Charles I. The tune is in a number of different sources; I have combined the very melodic setting from Walter MacFarlane’s fiddle manuscript, which I use as the ground, with the variations from Angus Fraser’s manuscript. Actually I think that Angus Fraser made up these variations, but his version is different and interesting enough that I used it as the basis to make up my own ceol mor style variations.
© Simon Chadwick 2012 - earlygaelicharp.info/laments