Kesh Jig

Jig, G, Traditional Irish

Kesh jig gets its name from the village of Kesh in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The tune was among those collected in Chicago by Francis O’Neill and James O’Neill, and published in their O’Neill’s Music of Ireland in 1903. It is a popular favorite in the traditional Irish tune repertoire.

Recordings

• Video – The Bothy Band: The Kesh Jig/Give Us a Drink of Water/The Famous Ballymote – from the album After Hours
• Audio – Comhaltas: Kesh Jig – from the album Foinn Seisiún Volume 1
• Video – Dulahan Ireland: Connaughtman’s Rambles, Morrison’s and The Kesh jigs – played on fiddle and tenor banjo with rhythm guitar. (Dulahan is the duo of Joe and Adele Green, County Mayo, Ireland. Kesh Jig begins at time 2:05 in this recording.)

Sheet Music

As always for traditional tunes, the musical notation and chords do not indicate the “right” way to play the tune, but are a useful reference.

Sets

Examples of sets that include this tune.

• Morrison’s Jig Set: Morrison’s Jig (E Dorian) / Kesh Jig (G) / Swallowtail Jig (E Dorian)
• Blarney Pilgrim / Kesh Jig / Connaughtman’s Rambles
• Blarney Pilgrim / Kesh Jig / Morrison’s Jig
• Connaughtman’s Rambles (D) / Mug of Brown Ale (A Dorian)  / Kesh Jig (G)

References and Resources

For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.

• More Recordings
  • Video – Tunes From Doolin: The Kesh Jig – played on concertina
  • Audio – Stephen Ducke: The Kesh Jig – played on tin whistle – From the book Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes
• Books
  • Book – The Portland Collection, Volume 1 – Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest. By Susan Songer with Clyde Curley.
  • Book & Audio – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes
  • Book – Foinn Seisiún, Volume 1 — Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. 
  • Book – Gary Coover: 75 Irish Session Tunes for Anglo Concertina (Rollston Press). One of a series of Anglo concertina tune books by this author. Available as a printed book a e-book.
  • Book & Audio – Matt & Shannon Heaton: In Harmony 
• Lessons
  • Lesson – Liz Faiella: How to play Kesh Jig on the fiddle – video lesson with music notation on screen. (Sheet music and other materials available with subscription to Liz Faiella’s Patreon channel.)
  • Lesson – Sean Cunningham (whistletutor): Tin Whistle Lesson – The Kesh Jig (great beginner tune) – Tin Whistle Lesson – video lesson with part-by-part breakdown and suggestions for ornamentation. (Tabs and sheet music on Patreon / whistletutor.)
  • Lesson – Baron Collins-Hill (MandoLessons): The Kesh Jig – mandolin tutorial with video, sheet music, and play-along tracks
  • Lesson – Kevin Burke (Fiddlevideo): The Kesh Jig: Trad Irish Fiddle Lesson – video partial lesson. (Full lesson requires a subscription to Fiddlevideo.)
  • Lesson – TheBanjoBuddy (James Finnegan): The Kesh Jig – tenor banjo tutorial. Video with ABC notation.
  • Lesson – Shannon Heaton: Kesh Jig [Jig] – Tune of the Month with Shannon Heaton – flute video lesson with parts broken down.
• Additional Resources
  • Webpage – The Session: The Kesh (Jig) – crowdsourced sheet music, comments, and other information.
  • Article – Wikipedia: Kesh, County Fermanagh – a brief article about the village of Kesh