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from Edward Bunting, The Ancient Music of Ireland (Dublin 1840), Page 25: Shakes, etc.
Irish barrlúth béal in airde
spoken by Gráinne Yeats
Scottish Gaelic bàrluath beul an-àirde
spoken by Tony Dilworth
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“By second, first, and third fingers; the string struck by third, briskly stopped by second, first string still sounding.” Simon Chadwick 2008 |
Barrluth beal an-airde seems to be a short figure, which is repeated on the musical example to show multiple instances, not to indicated that it should be repeated at the given pitches. It is eactly the same as the first four notes of barrluth with the fourth note held.
‘first string still sounding’ must mean first finger string, as the first string struck is explicitly said to be stopped.
Perhaps ‘mouth up’ refers to the figure finishing on an open high note; perhaps it refers to the shape of the hand when playing this figure.
Simon Chadwick 2008
Barrluth beal an-airde - Activity of finger ends, striking upwards
This 'shake' is a variant of barrlúth which is, in some sense, 'mouth up' (the meaning of béal in airde: béal, 'a mouth', and in airde, 'on high, up'). On p.19 Bunting appears to be saying that Barluith beal anarde means 'a beat'. What may be another (and perhaps less likely) interpretation of the same spoken term is Barluith bualladhanáirde on p.31, a barrlúth 'striking upwards' (bualadh in airde).
Colm Ó Baoill 2002