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Both of these tunes are named for birds. An roilleach is the Irish word for an oyster-catcher while an siocán sneachta is the word for a fieldfare.
In the cold winter of 2011 Joe was at home and began composing An siocán sneachta.
It was a turn in a jig that Joe Cooley did and it stuck in my head and I just kept adding to it.
Siocán sneachta is a thrush-like bird that comes to Ireland during very cold winters. There were many of them around that year, although at the time Joe couldn’t remember the Irish name for the bird. A visit from his friend, Paddy Fitz, provided him with the missing words, and it was Paddy who suggested that he also use the Irish name of the bird as a title for his new jig. On a walk later that day Paddy and Joe spotted an oyster-catcher in the estuary and Paddy told him that he had to compose another jig to go with the first, and that he should call it an roilleach, after that bird.
