Na Píobairí Uilleann

Chairman, NPU

An Píobaire

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8 5 27 20121206 27 ~ Obituary ~ CON DURHAM T RADITIONAL MUSICIANS view pipers as a breed apart – sometimes in awe, other times as scary. But nothing lifts a session more than a good piper. Such was Con Durham, who not alone lifted the session, but led it and very often created it. For many years, Con was central to the Friday night sessions in Tigh Bhric, Riaisc, near Ballyferriter in West Kerry where he lived and raised his family. In later years he led the Sunday afternoon sessions at the Marina Inn, Dingle, and more recently in Tommy O’Sullivan’s Tigh na Cúirte. Being the warm and patient man he was, he wel- comed all-comers and, in only very extreme cases, did his patience run thin. Con was encouraging to all, particularly to young musicians. One result of this was the wonderful pipe-playing of the young Fionn Ó hAlmhain from Dublin who played at Con’s funeral and who had learnt much from Con in recent times on his visits to Dingle. A wonder- ful example of his legacy! Born in Dublin in 1956, Con’s mother was from Sliabh Luachra and he remembered his grand- mother playing the concertina while on holidays there. There also he heard the slides and polkas played for set dancers in Scully’s Pub in Newmar- ket. He was in the piano accordion band in school, but it wasn’t long before he learnt the tin whistle and started piping lessons from Dan O’Dowd and Leon Rowsome. His first half-set was made by Johnny Burke and completed as a full set by Dan O’Dowd. Living in Bal- lyfermot, he used visit the Keenans in Labre Park and learnt from Paddy’s fa- ther John. He played in O’Donoghue’s and, when the family moved to Lucan, he cut his teeth playing in The Wren’s Nest with people like Johnny Keenan and Tommy Walsh (composer of “Inis Oírr” which Con loved to play). He was a member of The Piper’s Club back in the Thomas Street days and often attended the Swamp Folk Club nearby listening and playing till the early hours. The Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht of west Kerry had such an impact on him while there on a school trip that he moved there in the 1980s after his first child, Stephen, was born. In 1987 he won the Oireachtas Uilleann Piping Competition in Dingle, part of which award was his featuring at the Lorient Celtic Festival of 1988. This was to be the first of many musical tours abroad which included France, Germany, Scot- land and the USA. Most of Con’s public performances were within the pub scene, not often allowing him the oppor- tunity to demonstrate his excellence in slow airs, but when he did, this was done with full sympa- thy and, if based on a song, with an understanding of the words and phrases within it. Having per- fected his Irish since coming to West Kerry, he made it his business to intimately know each song before taking it on as an air. A prime example of this would be “Róisín Dubh”: one frequently Con (at right) with Leon and Kevin Rowsome (c. 1989)

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