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Where are you Going​/​Aberdulais

from Birken Tree by IONA

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This Cornish song, also of seduction, describes a naive swain maneuvered handily into marriage by a canny young milkmaid. Barbara, whose interpretation this is, renders the song in English, the words of which were sung by James Olver, a tanner of Launceston, Cornwall, and recorded by Baring Gould. We introduce the song with an old Welsh tune, Aberdulais, then follow it with a variation. The latter interpretation is a happy mistake executed by Ceri Rhys Matthews, a contemporary Welsh musician, while transposing the original Aberdulais from a collection of tunes, Alawon fy Ngwlad: Lays of My Land, compiled by Nicholas Bennett of Glanyrafon 1896.

lyrics

Where are you going, my pretty maid,
With your rosy red cheeks and your curling black hair?
I'm going milking, kind sir she said,
Roving in the dew makes the milkmaids fair.

Shall I go with you?
Oh yes you may.

What if I lay with you?
With that I do agree.

What if a child should then be yours?
Why then that child shall also be yours.

"What should we do for a cradle?" he said.
My brother's a carpenter by his trade.

What shall we clothe him in?
Sir I can weave and also can spin.

credits

from Birken Tree, released December 18, 2000
Barbara Ryan: vocals, bodhrán, shakers;
Bernard argent: B whistle, bombarde;
Bob Mitchell: shaker, Highland pipes;
Nick Smiley: Low F whistle, acoustic bass guitar

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IONA Washington, D.C.

IONA has been taking its unique brand of traditional Celtic music to festivals, arts centers, schools & house concerts all over North America and Europe since 1986, blending music from the various Celtic traditions with stories and a little humor - Barbara Ryan (vocals, bouzouki, bodhran), Bernard Argent (flute, doumbek), Chuck Lawhorn (bass), Jim Queen (fiddle, banjo) & Kathleen Larrick (dance). ... more

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