Danny Boy or The Londonderry Air - Download

Danny Boy or The Londonderry Air -  Download with Free MP3

Harp Solo in 2 versions: Easy and Advanced - comes with 2 FREE MP3's

Arranged by Janet Harbison

The Londonderry Air first appeared in print in 1855 when George Petrie published his “Ancient Music of Ireland” collection. His aim was to save the music of the old Irish harpers whose tradition was in decline and to give it a new lease of life by offering it to poets to create new songs. This tune was given to Petrie by Jane Ross who collected it without a name in the county of ‘Londonderry’ in Northern Ireland – hence its title, the ‘Londonderry Air’.

The very famous text of the song ‘Danny Boy’ was the most successful song text to be set to the tune in the early 1900s by the English popular song writer Fred Weatherly. The original Irish air is thought to be ‘Aisling an Oig-fhir’ – ‘The Young Man’s Dream’ and to be a composition of the Antrim harper Ruairi Dall O Cathain in the 17th century.