Tuesday 3 September 2024
Tune of the Day: The Gallowglass
Traditional Irish jig
This melody was originally written by Scots fiddler and composer Nathaniel Gow as “Nathaniel Gow's Lament for the Death of His Brother”, published in 1792, but was later reset by the Irish as a less sombre jig.
A gallowglass was the name for a mercenary soldier, often Scottish, who in ages past fought in Ireland. The Gaelic word is galloglach, which is a combination of two words: gall, a foreigner, and oglach, a soldier. The term is also taken to mean a warrior who is so loyal to the clan that he is willing to die to protect his chieftain.