Gallery Matches
This set was made by Leo Rowsome for Dubliner Seán Seery,
the son of one of Leo’s friends in the Dublin Pipers Club. Seán
was a student of Leo’s at the Club and also at the Municipal
School of Music. It is unique among sets made by Leo in
having a soundbox on the baritone drone as well as the bass.
Seán was born into a musical family. His father Jim was
originally from Rathconrath, near Mullingar, but was settled
in Stoneybatter in Dublin when Seán was born. He was
one of the founder-members of the Dublin Pipers Club and
served as Treasurer of that body, a position which he also
filled with the newly founded Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
in 1951, which he also helped to found.
Seán was a very successful piper in competition,
winning the ‘triple crown’ of piping in the late 1940s – the
Dublin Feis, the Oireachtas and the Feis Ceoil. He was also
a member of Leo Rowsome’s piping quartets, along with Jim
Dowling and Tommy McCarthy in one phase, and in another
with Leo’s son Leon and Willie Clancy. His death in late 2002
closed a contribution of fifty years to piping in Dublin.
