Seamus Meehan still piping?

[Steampacket]

Saw an old "Pure Drop" video clip of Seamus Meehan piping. A fine piper indeed. I haven't heard of Seamus before. Then I found some sound files of his piping. Great stuff. He also plays the piano accordion. He looked young in the video from the '80's so he could be in his late 60's now. Anyone know where he's from? Is he related to Paul and Martin Meehan? It looked like he was playing a Froment B/Bb set in the video clip

[Seanie]

Hi Steam

Seamus would be around 57 or 58 (he is a contemporary of Mick O'Brien). He lived next door to Matt Kiernan in Cabra in Dublin and his father Tom helped Matt with some pipemaking.

Seamus played a Ginsberg Bb set and also played the piano accordion playing mainly for dancers. He was taught the pipes by Andy Conroy and is one of the foremost exponents of that style of piping. His brother Fran also plays the pipes.

Cheers

John

[Steampacket]

Thanks John. I found out today, that as you wrote he lived next to Matt and that his brother Fran also plays the pipes. I see that Seamus was a member of the Templehouse Celidh Band too. I can hear the Andy Conroy influence in his playing. Great piping

[chaos97]

Could you link the video of his piping? I found 4 tracks of his playing a couple years ago & knowing nothing of him, they really struck me. I have them on my phone & give them a listen every now & then.

If anyone has more of his playing that would be great too!

[Steampacket]

The only video clip I've seen of Seamus piping is the one Ciaran Kelly put up on FB with Seamus playing on the Pure Drop show from 1993: https://www.facebook.com/ciarank1 He's playing a Ginsburg Bb set.

[Mr.Gumby]

I have some tapes of his playing, one tape recorded by (I believe) Alan Ginsberg during a visit to Matt Kiernan, Seamus walked in and played Alan's own set. I remember the Foxchase being among what he played. Also some duets from another occasion, with Mick O'Brien, each seeming to try to outdo the other with the crunchy bits. The memory of that last one is only very hazy though. It's been decades since I listened to those tapes.

He was on a comhaltas tour around 1985, a record would have been made of that, they usually do anyway. Also the NPU set dancing tapes, he may have been playing the piano box for that though.

[s1m0n]

Peter, I suspect that if you ever sat down and digitized your library of ad hoc recordings, you'd make the internet very happy indeed.

[Mr.Gumby]

There's enough on-line already to keep the internet entertained, Simon.

I did do a few tracks of one of the tapes just now.

4 reels_Seamus Meehan from around 1980, at the house of Matt Kiernan during a visit by Alan Ginsberg.

The tunes are: a version of Mullin's Fancy/Boys of Ballynahinch that Seamus Ennis called 'The Leitrim Lilt', the Doon in G, Copperplate, Reel of Rio


[Edit:] I have taken the file down again. With the option of putting up another if anyone is interested.

[An Draighean]

Thanks for that Peter.

[s1m0n]

Well, make a point of passing your tapes on with your photos when you go. Both should be known some day as "The Peter Laban Collection".

[Mr.Gumby]

Both should be known some day as "The Peter Laban Collection".

Don't know about that, but let's not go there right now. I was in the process of getting photos ready for ITMA but i got bogged down in the negative scanning, editing and indexing end of it, among other things. A similar job for the Clare library ended prematurely because the librarian I worked with retired and wasn't replaced so that ended there. But there's a good bunch, 1300 plus, there : 'Laban collection of trad mus pics'

[s1m0n]

At the very least, everything should end up in an archive, whether digital or not. In Canada, you can (or could) earn significant tax credits for donating historically significant material to an accredited museum or archive. Perhaps it's the same in Ireland.

[Mr.Gumby]

He was on a comhaltas tour around 1985, a record would have been made of that, they usually do anyway.

I said that without checking the lps and Thomas the Steampacket just reminded me I sent him the details for the recordings some weeks ago for his piping discography.

The lp in question is Echoes of Erin (CCE CL-28) Seamus Meehan's piping is featuring on tracks A5 (jig : Maud Gonne) and B1 (Reels :The Trip to Durrow/Corney is coming)

The recording was for a 1984 Comhaltas tour of Canada and the US, also on the tour were John Joe Gannon, Mike Rafferty, Janet Hrbison, Marcus Hernon, Joe Burke, Bríd Harper and others.

[AaronFW]

But there's a good bunch, 1300 plus, there : 'Laban collection of trad mus pics'

There goes my evening.

[svick]

Fantastic photos.