The Rakes of Kildare (Mandolin and Guitar)

Details

Description

The word ‘Rakes’ in the title appears to be short for ‘rakehell’, which itself stems from the Old Icelandic word reikall, meaning "wandering” or “unsettled." However, in 18th and 19th century usage the term 'rake' was used to denote unruly and spirited young gentlemen. The name Kildare in Irish means ‘Church of the Oaks’. O'Sullivan (1983) finds the tune (which appears in many collections of Irish music) earliest in print (in this form) in the first volume of R.M. Levey's Dance Music of Ireland (1858), where it is called only "A jig."
(from https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Rakes_of_Kildare)
Title image by Paul Dempsey, under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International. Other images are around Dingle Peninsua, Dublin and Kilkenny.