uileannpipes

...In February 1900 Ceannt, along with Edward Martyn founded Cumann na bPíobairí (The Pipers Club). Ceannt's musical talents earned him a gold medal at the 1906 Oireachtas and in 1905 he even put on a performance for Pope Pius X. It is said that the main language in the Pipers Club was Irish and played a role in reviving Irish music. ... From - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89amonn_Ceannt Ed. - The Pope performance happened in 1908 (not 1905). It was the Pope's Jubilee in Rome. Read All About It via Trove - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169902340?searchTerm=c...

Fascinating (for me!) to hear what Uilleann Pipes sound like - youtu.be/aF3fW4Nox9U Also of interest - youtu.be/zzy0ncy32Co His brother [??] talks about him - youtu.be/8CmQrdlBrRM

In Drogheda during the week at the Fleadh Cheoil I saw a number of young people playing the Uileann Pipes with gusto. Eamonn Ceannt and the late Seamus Ennis would have been so proud!

Swordscookie Very few use the regulators these days. It’s a shame. I have an LP of Leo Rowsome. Mighty playing.

Robin Parkes The first LP on the Claddagh label Rí na bPíobairí by Leo Rowsome in 1969.

Obituary in the Galway Observer - Saturday 02 July 1904

DEATH OF MARTIN REILLY, THE GREAT IRISH PIPER.
During, the past week,a well known figure in Galway has passed away in the person of Martin Reilly, the great Irish piper. He had attained the age of 74 and always enjoyed the best of health until just one day before he died. His loss will be deplored by lovers of Irish pipe music the world over, as he was acknowledged by those qualified to judge to be the best piper alive in his time. Whenever he used to visit Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, or Waterford, crowds used to gather to hear him, and in one place he played lately, some four or five hundred people had to remain outside, who could not gain admission, such was the crush to hear Martin, He had a respectable funeral on last Sunday, people coming as far as Dublin to it to show their respect and esteem for the great musician and good man who had passed away. The last prayers were said at the graveside by the Rev. Father Considine and Davis. May he rest in peace.

Dublin Evening Telegraph - Saturday 2 July 1904, during the period before newspapers could reproduce photographs (or it was too much bother), but could print pictures based on photographs. I think it involved wood engravings

"MARTIN O’REILLY

A typical blind piper belonged in the city of Galway, where he kept a dance house for some years. Emigration, decline of public interest, and other causes ruined a once profitable patronage. Sightless and old and unable to make a living by other means than music, he was obliged, like many another unfortunate Irish minstrel, to take refuge in the poorhouse as his only escape from starvation.

However, his reputation as a fine piper survived his inhumation in this grave of hope and ambition. So when the Gaelic League undertook to revive an interest in native music and language, O’Reilly was taken out by some enthu- siasts and conveyed to Dublin, where, out of practice and all as he was for years, he gained distinction by winning first prize in the pipers’ competition at the annual Feis in 1901.

A Dublin newspaper, describing the Pipers’ Festival in the “Large Concert Hall of the Rotunda,” has the following: “A notable incident was the playing of Mr. Martin O’Reilly, who played a selection entitled “The Battle of Aughrim,” descriptive of the advance, the trumpets of the British, the battle onslaught of the Irish soldiers, and the wail of the women. Aughrim was of course a lost field, but, nothing daunted, the gallant old piper, throbbing with a spirit that might long to play his countrymen into battle, fired them with a stirring and strident version of the victorious march of Brian Boru.” He played in perfect tune and produced marvelous tones on his instrument.

The famous Galway piper was the central figure at several entertainments at various cities for some time thereafter. At the Belfast Harp Festival in 1903 he was the hero of the occasion, his favorite pieces being “The Fox Chase” and “The Battle of Aughrim.” “The wonderful old man,” says one press report, “played the ancient airs with such a feeling expression and profound understand- ing of their suggestions and meanings that he simply took the house by storm.

Later he played for the dancers.”

A half-tone picture of this now celebrated piper from a photograph by Father Fielding in Dnblin was inserted as a frontispieee in O’Neill’s Dance Musir of Ireland in 1907.

It is humiliating to relate that when the excitement subsided, instead of providing suitably for this grand old traditional musician, or establishing him in a way to teach his precious art, we find him back again in the Gort poorhouse: in which ignoble institution he has since died.

And when we come to consider the heartless indifference of the people towards Martin O’Reilly and his talents, can we be blamed if we sometimes question the sincerity of the agitators who have talked themselves hoarse in their advocacy of a regenerated Ireland?

As an object lesson, the ease of Martin O’Reil1y serves well to remind us that a vast gulf still separates theories from practical methods in Ireland.

Suck Diesel Wonderful background here, thank you. When you have a moment, could you add where it's from, or a link, please?

Hill's Dublin Studio. Bicycles and photographs - a dream combination. Galway Observer - Saturday 19 April 1902


Probably lacking a movable boudoir.

25" OSI Map showing the school as described in the Waterford County Museum Notes - "a very nice stone building on the sea-front with no grounds".

These other Waterford County Museum notes about Coláiste Deaglán as it was called would suggest that by 1924 Monea House was being leased and used as the school . It is now the Round Tower Hotel. Ardmore. landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-sho...

O Mac They also have a photo of the Irish College.

There's a small history here including: Many of the teachers were locals but there were also some from further afield. Some well known teachers were: Míchéal O Foghlú, Míchéal O Conchubhar, Míchéal Céitinn, Déagláin Suipéal, Liam Wool and Diarmaid Ó Drisceoil who came from Cape Clear.

Re the photo referenced above taken at the same time, that was posted here a couple of years back... A slightly different Poole photo taken on the same day, where some of the students are in different positions (though all of them are in the photo) was published in the Cork Examiner on Friday, 1 August 1924 so July 1924 date is correct... "IRISH CLASSES AT ST. DECLAN’S COLLEGE" "Students at St. Declan’s College Ardmore, Co. Waterford, an Irish-speaking district, where well-attended Irish classes for teachers have been held all this month. Many familiar faces will be seen in this group, as they are all well-known and popular teachers from the South of Ireland. (Poole, Waterford)."

How he sounded in 1933 ...
youtu.be/J0WuS27TNbQ?si=Z20L5o5Zt-ZbJekc

How he sounded in 1931 ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF9XiU4GE0I

What a beautiful portrait. Great to see that so many young people are taking up the pipes.

From the Dúchas Schools Collection.

www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4758485/4747824

Mr. Walsh at home in 1926.