Port Rorie Dall

The Straloch lute manuscript from the 1620s, lost in the original but copied in the nineteenth century, has five tunes listed as Ports, which is simply the Gaelic word for tune. Rob MacKillop says that these were played as preludes to check the tuning of the instrument, which one can hear from the repeated octave notes. Rorie Dall (Blind Rorie) was Ruairí Dall Ó Catháin, an Irish harper said to have been active in Scotland in the early seventeenth century. (Another harper named Rory Dall lived too late to have been named here.) Recent scholarship has cast doubt on whether Ruairí Dall Ó Catháin actually existed, but it's a great tune nevertheless.
As before, I am playing from Wayne Cripps's excellent transcription of the lute tablature, published by Lyre and reprinted by The Lute Society.

[@frithjof.eberlein]

Nice playing, Richard! I like the idea of short tunes to check the tuning of a instrument.

[@richardcarver6849]

Thank you, Frithjof. I agree - I usually tune up and then play scales to check it, but this way is much more fun.

[@Gelsenbury]

The lute technique is coming along well. Now all you need is a lute!

[@richardcarver6849]

You are very kind, Dennis, but I think it's the other way round. I need a lute before I can get the hang of the technique (my right hand is still completely wrong). I do like the no-nails sound, though.