With Fife and Drum: Music, Memories and Customs of an Irish Tradition.
Author: HASTINGS, Gary.
Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2003. 115 pages. Illustrated. Paperback.
The rattle of the Lambeg drum, with its distinctive rhythms, is a sound unique to Ulster. Primarily associated with the Orange Order, it was also played to a lesser extent by the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
These huge drums - around 3ft in diameter, 2.5ft in breadth and weighing up to 40lbs - can achieve an ear-splitting volume of 120 decibels. Elaborately ornamented, and boasting names like ‘The Cock of the North’, ‘The Pride of South Antrim’ and ‘The Ballymakesh Ship’, they were traditionally played to the accompaniment of a fife.
In search of the stories, facts and myths of the North’s 200-year-old fife and drum tradition, Gary Hastings interviewed instrument makers, drummers and fifers. He learnt how the mighty drums were constructed and discovered the customs surrounding the drumming matches and processions. He also collected over seventy airs and tunes, the musical notation of which are included in this book along with a CD of musicians’ reminiscences and the traditional music of fife and drum.
ISBN: 0856407097
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