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Píobaire, An, Volume 5, Issue 2, Page 26

Píobaire, An, Volume 5, Issue 2, Page 26
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periodical Publisher
Na Píobairí Uilleann
periodical Editor
Chairman, NPU
periodical Title
Píobaire, An
volume Number
5
issue Content
26The sketch of ‘An Irish Piper’ on the leftbelow is from a publication of 1899recently acquired by the IrishTraditional Music Archive: Stephen Gwynn’stravel book Highways and Byways inDonegal and Antrim (Macmillan & Co.,London & New York) with illustrationsdrawn by Hugh Thomson.Stephen Gwynn (1864–1950), who grew upin rural Donegal, was a well known writerand an MP of the Irish Parliamentary Party.Hugh Thomson (1860–1920), born inColeraine, Co Derry, was the chief book illus-trator for the Macmillan Company in London,and a frequent visitor to north-west Ireland.The two worked independently on the book,and Gwynn’s text does not refer to any pipers.Thomson’s illustration of the Irish piper, how-ever, is placed in a chapter dealing withGweedore, Co Donegal. In the 1890sTurlough McSweeney (Tarlach Mac Suibhne,c. 1831–1916, called ‘An Píobaire Mór’, ‘TheGweedore Piper’ and ‘The Donegal Piper’,and also a player of the warpipes), was at theheight of his fame as an uilleann piper.McSweeney had started life as a travellingplayer but had settled in Gweedore. In 1893he spent months playing in Chicago where hehad been invited to represent Ireland at thegreat Columbian Exposition of that year, andin 1897 he was a prizewinner in Dublin at thefirst Feis Ceoil.1~ An Irish Piper 1899 ~Nicholas Carolan
issue Number
2
page Number
26
periodical Author
[Periodical]
issue Publication Date
2009-04-17T00:00:00
allowedRoles
anonymous,guest,friend,member

Píobaire, An, Volume 5, Issue 2

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