Christmas Day Ida Moarnin' - D Major / E MinorJig, Airi
:
D
A
G
G
A
A
A
D
:
:
Em
Em
D
Bm
Em
Em
D
A
:
Tune Information
Author: Friedemann Stickle
Origin: Shetland
The author was a famous Shetland fiddler in the 18th and early 19th century, and used to play this tune every Christmas morning in the hall of his laird, the Laird of Buness. Shetland fiddler, collector, and teacher Tom Anderson (1910–1991) stated that Friedemann had composed the tune on the road from his croft (tenant farm) at Burrafirth to Buness. He also remembered that Stickle was called 'Stumpie' because he walked with a limp, and thought it possible that the tune's rhythm reflects the rhythm of Stickle's walk. According to Cambridge NY fiddler and flutist Bliss McIntosh, who studied in the Shetland Islands in the summer of 1974, Friedemann would receive a free year's rent for his croft in return for being selected to play this tune; there were other similar cases as well, where fiddlers earned free rent by being selected to play a tune at Christmas.
This tune was written in 1976 and was inspired by the folktale of Fair Jenny, who clung to a faerie queen as she shifted shapes until finally she won her husband's freedom.