Na Píobairí Uilleann

Chairman, NPU

An Píobaire

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9 3 24 20130712 24 adding a slight touch of the ‘Clare buzz’ near the start of the “Buailteoir”. The images con- jured up through the words and ornaments in Sean Ó Conaire’s two songs are as raw and affecting as his voice. In “An Cumann Gearr”, (The Short Courtship), we hear a tale of lost love, while “Ceann gan Arann”, (Head With- out Intelligence) tells the tale of a woman being forced into marriage with a simpleton. While John Kelly’s fiddle playing is excellent, his concertina playing is simply magical. Lis- ten especially to his wonderful playing of “Bean Tincéara” – very different to the piper’s version. On the second CD we find a representative sample of the Séamus Ennis repertoire, fa- miliar to many over the years. His pairing of “Cois Abhann na Séad”, which he collected from Elizabeth Cronin, with Denis Murphy’s “O’Callaghan’s Hornpipe” links West Cork with Kerry. Donegal fiddler Frank Cassidy was the source for the unusual air “Crónán na Máthar”. Frank’s own version can be heard on the excellent Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí web site. Ennis’s great chanter technique is in ev- idence on all his tracks along with his excel- lent regulator work, which really shines on the “Col Frazer” track. Youngest by quite a margin, Sean Keane’s tone production is clearly influenced by his ‘classical’ training. His approach to the music, however, is obvi- ously shaped by his background. His fond- ness for Willie Clancy’s music dictated his inclusion of the two tunes on track 12. The quadruplets in Sean’s florid performance of the tune he names for Willie is reminiscent of the recently discovered cylinder recording of Edward Cronin. I fell under the spell of Joe Heaney’s (Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) rich voice and sean-nós technique some time in the early ’60s. The three pieces here still fasci- nate me. His very rhythmic approach to “Éirigh mé ar Maidin” contrasts with the more usual free rhythm approach evident in the other two songs. Here again we are treated to a series of poetic images decorated by a wide range of ornaments from the Cona- mara sean-nós tradition. Coming immedi- ately after Séamus Ennis, John Joe Gannon’s box playing seems bare, and is frankly disappointing, by comparison. He did however have good rhythm and phrasing, and I suspect he mainly played for dances. By absorbing, not slavishly learning by rote, these Seoda Ceoil, these Gems of Music, along with the many older recordings now available to us, of the music performed, as it evolved over the centuries, without accompaniment or cute recording tricks, we will come as close as is now possible to the ideal described by Joe Heaney. Unlike the situation in most western European countries, here in Ireland we were, and are, for- tunate to have had no break in the chain of tradi- tion. The so-called revival of the 1960s was simply a process that brought a music, still very much alive and kicking, to the attention of a much wider audience than had existed since the Great Famine. The frail state of piping is 1968 is frequently mentioned. Looked at from another angle, by comparison with the situation at that time in, say, Northumbria, Galicia or Brittany, ours, with 100-odd pipers and 3 or 4 pipemakers, begins to appear quite robust. Let’s do every- thing we can to maintain that unbroken tradition. This is not to advocate stasis. There must be change, but let’s make it change based on a deep understanding and full absorption of the won- derful and highly evolved single line music be- queathed to us by the previous generations. We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding, Four Quartets. Pat Mitchell Muine Bheag 2013

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