Na Píobairí Uilleann

Chairman, NPU

An Píobaire

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7 1 3 20110224 3 A RECENT viewing on RTÉ Television of the Fleadh Ceoil in Bunclody some- time in the 1960s showed very im- pressive black and white film footage of a young Seán Seery playing “Spailpín a Rún”. The ease and style of Seán’s playing, not to mention the excellent chanter and regulator tuning, brought to mind his teacher Leo Row- some and Leo’s piping quartet of so many years ago. I am not sure if any recording of the quartet survived but I gather that among the reasons why the quartet was so successful was the way in which Leo ensured that the tuning was perfect and the choice of tunes was very well planned and arranged by Leo. Pat McNulty’s new DVD As I mentioned in the last edition of An Pi- obaire, some time ago Pat McNulty decided to form a quartet to re-create the sound which im- pressed him so many years ago when he first heard Leo’s ensemble. Pat’s quartet includes his wife Ann as well as two other former pupils, Liam Hackett and Bruce Millar. Pat first heard the Leo Rowsome quartet on Radio Éireann, and later heard them live in Glasgow in the early fifties. Disappointed to discover that there were no recordings of the Leo quartet in Radio Éireann, Pat decided to produce his own DVD, and is to be congratu- lated on his initiative and the resulting music. The selection is well suited to quartet or group playing and includes “Boolavogue”, “Down by the Sally Gardens” and Leo Rowsome marches, “Fairy Revels”, “The Dawning of the Day” and “The Minstrel Boy”. Leo obviously knew that these tunes, though seldom played nowadays, have great listener appeal and suit group playing by pipers. Similarly to Leo, Pat leads, with only him playing the regulators. The DVD has an all-round good selection with a reel, slip jigs, set dances, a hornpipe and, for me, has a number of melodies of considerable interest. Pat includes a version of “The Fairy Boy” from The Hibernia Collection, published sometime in the 1880s, a copy of which was kindly given to me by Jim Maguire. Similarly “The Bold Deserter” from O Neill’s Music of Ireland is nicely delivered. Also very notewor- thy is a jig, “Ceol an Mhála”, (the music of the bag) is a little known very melodic song tune and like all of the tracks on Pat’s latest DVD, it is played with nice effect. Pat is to be commended for his work, not least for choosing these rare tunes but also for mak- ing the uilleann pipes quartet sound once again available for the listener. Forthcoming events Remember the Leo Rowsome commemorative event is taking place on Sat Feb 26th and we have a day-long line up of pipe-making in our training centre in Clonshaugh, as well as reed- making and piping, classes, a lecture from Jerry O’Sullivan all in Henrietta Street, and recitals from not one but two pipers’ quartets. The annual Tionól is scheduled to be in Borris, Co. Carlow this year, on May 27th to 29th. Please book early to ensure accommodation. Also don’t forget the annual premier piping and traditional music event, Willie Clancy

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2011-02-24T00:00:00

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