Mar/12/08
17comments

Irish Ukulele Tabs

I’d be happy to be proved wrong on this, but it seems like there isn’t much of a ukulele scene in Ireland. I don’t know of any ukulele clubs in Ireland. It might be due to the strength of their traditional music scene and traditional instruments. Nevertheless, there are tabs for a few traditional Irish tunes knocking about on the web.

Akulele has a number of Irish tunes: Sally Gardens, Drowsy Maggie, Another Jig Will Do, Kesh Jig and The Star of County Down.

The site Irish Ukulele has tab for The Battle of Aughrim and their own version of Another Jig Will Do, as well as a couple of other tunes.

Curt Sheller has a tab of Irish Washerwomen.

And here are my contributions:

Whiskey in the Jar/Kilgary Mountain
Streams of Whiskey
Irish Rover
Father Ted Theme
Fairytale of New York

I’m sure there are others knocking around the net. If you’ve seen any around, let me know.

  • Written by Woodshed
  • Filed in: Tab
  • Tagged: ,

17 Comments

  1. Jimmy March 12th, 2008 9:51 pm

    Yup, no ukulele clubs. In fact, there’s only about five people I’m aware of that play the ukulele in Ireland. I wouldn’t say the traditional thang is stopping the ukulele, just that the uke’s pretty much unheard of. People will either of heard about the ukulele through The Simpsons or “that big fat guy with the tiny guitar”. Meh.

    Also, I’ve never heard of any of this stuff. Although, I chose to study classical violin rather than the traditional fiddle.

  2. Woodshed March 13th, 2008 10:44 pm

    Five people is a start. So, why is the ukulele unheard of in Ireland?

  3. Tony Boland March 21st, 2008 12:10 pm

    Hi All,
    Yes, you are right, there is no ukulele club in Ireland……yet! but hopefully this is about to change!
    I just got interested in the Uke last year and after struggliung to find ANYONE who might be able to help with lessons have been chugging along on my own. However, around the beginning of the year I started making contact with some Irish ukers scattered throughtout Ireland with the intention of starting some sort of UKE club or occasional get togethers to play and share the love of the uke.
    I am now in the process of trying to organise this and will let you know how it goes.
    My email address should anyone wnat to contact me about this is : tonyboland@esatclear.ie.
    Slainte,
    Tony

  4. Friday Links | Uke Hunt March 21st, 2008 2:11 pm

    [...] week, I mused out loud that I didn’t think there were any ukulele groups in Ireland. Tony got in touch and told me that he’s in the process of setting one up. If you’re [...]

  5. Woodshed March 21st, 2008 2:12 pm

    That’s great news, Tony. I’ve mentioned it in the latest post. Good luck with the group.

  6. Mute April 9th, 2008 7:53 pm

    give me a shout, play the Uke, live near Dublin. willing to spread the good word, and feel like less of a freak :)

  7. Woodshed April 9th, 2008 11:26 pm

    Hi, Mute. I’m not sure if Tony will be following the comments. You’d be best of sending him an email at the address above.

  8. Mute June 23rd, 2008 3:05 pm

    Any sign of the Irish Ukers?
    No word from Tony (have emailed)
    Anyone still up for it, get in touch, thewintermute@hotmail.com.

  9. Stephen Rigley July 25th, 2008 12:50 am

    Please email Tony @ the address above, there is a get together on the 9th of Aug in Dublin planned.
    Steve

  10. Tony Boland July 29th, 2008 8:08 am

    Hi Mute,
    I just saw your post and responded immediately.
    I have sent you a direct email with all details of Ukeireland get together for Saturday August 9th. If you need any further details, just reply to my email and I will be happy to help
    Tony

  11. Cian March 14th, 2009 2:36 pm

    Hey Guys!
    I live in Mayo and I play the ukulele!! Guess that makes six!
    It really is an unknown instrument here! People think its really strange that i play it, until they hear its beautiful sound!

  12. Col March 18th, 2009 12:12 am

    Colin here from Cork, Ireland.

    I play a Hawaiian Lanakai Concert Ukulele every day!

    Bumped into it when living in Hawaii, it’s impossible not to see them! Bought this in Sydney now where I am currently living!

    Ukulele is a real nice instrument and think it may complement Irish Trad music in some way!

  13. Tony Boland June 1st, 2009 2:04 pm

    Hi Colin from Cork and Cian from Mayo. If you contact me though “ukuhooley@ukeireland.com” I will be only too pleased to add you to our monthly Ukulele mailing list.
    Check out our ukeireland.com Forum.
    Regards,
    Tony

  14. Molly F October 10th, 2009 9:04 pm

    Apparently, the ukulele scene is getting a bit bigger over here in Ireland. Hopefully the festival in Dublin would’ve promoted it quite a bit. My local music shop is stocking way more ukes than usual. Personally, I think that it’s the recession. The uke is cheap and cheery and just what people need.

    Also, Trad. music isn’t massive here. It’s mostly just pop and rock.

    Love the site!
    X

  15. Woodshed October 10th, 2009 9:35 pm

    Molly: Great to hear it’s kicking off. The Great Depression is often blamed for killing off the popularity of the uke in the 30s, so who knows.

  16. Tony Boland October 10th, 2009 10:50 pm

    Hi Al and Molly,
    Yes, the Ukulele Hooley 2009 does seem to have raised the visibility of the ukulele generally in Ireland. We were really surprised to have over a thousand people at the festival and also a great number of ukuleles were sold at it.
    Today we started a beginners class for an hour before the start of our usual Ukulele Meetup and a quite a number of new people came along for it. We are going to run this class regularly from now on.
    Interesting to note, when we were setting the irish uke festival up, we got what can only be described as a lukewarm reception from the Dublin Music Shops and it was amazing to see as the media profile on the festival began to build up (we got great Press, Radio and Television and great support from the internet) these same shops had whole windows dedicated to the ukulele in the week leading up to it.
    I was in one of the major shops in Dublin last week , who previously would only have stocked one or two coloured ukes but now they had a whole wall of all sizes, shapes and qualities of ukes.
    So I think we can at last begin to say there is a growing but vibrant ukulele community in Ireland!
    Hope to meet you sometime Molly!
    and anytime you feel like venturing over to Dublin Al, I would be happy to meet you and take good care of you!
    Regards,
    Tony
    PS:
    We have also started a Ukulele Open Mic at the Shebeen Chic in the centre of Dublin and you can find details on the website: http://www.ukeireland.com
    Here is a link to the finale of the Festival when over 50 Ukulele Players came on stage for a rousing version of “Ain’t She Sweet”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx9VAPXi3Xk

  17. Woodshed October 11th, 2009 4:07 pm

    Tony: Good to hear. The local music shop here has been picking up on them as well. They’ve now got some Ohanas in and they had an in-store from the Re-Entrants.

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