RTE Doc: Our Father, Seamus Ennis

Socializing and general posts on wide-ranging topics. Remember, it's Poststructural!
Post Reply
User avatar
s1m0n
Posts: 10069
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:17 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
Location: The Inside Passage

RTE Doc: Our Father, Seamus Ennis

Post by s1m0n »

My trawl through RTE's archive of vintage radio broadcasts has turned up another that might interest the board.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/2011/ ... ish-music/
A tribute to Uilleann piper Seamus Ennis, as remembered by his son Christopher and daughter Catherine.

In this poignant documentary Catherine and Christopher remember tin whistle lessons until seven in the morning as they reflect on their childhood, their years apart from their father and reunion after his car crashes.

They talk of his battle with throat cancer and their last trip to see Seamus.

Includes music by Catherine Ennis and Liam O'Flynn recorded at St. Michael's church Dun Laoghaire

First broadcast 10th April 1988.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

C.S. Lewis
Roger O'Keeffe
Posts: 2233
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2002 6:00 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
Location: Back home in the Green and Musty Isle, in Dublin.

Re: RTE Doc: Our Father, Seamus Ennis

Post by Roger O'Keeffe »

Thanks for that link. Bitter-sweet, painful memories, but glad Catherine and Christopher Ennis were willing to let them be recorded and broadcast.
An Pluiméir Ceolmhar
User avatar
Mitch
Posts: 1826
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2005 6:58 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Location: Wombatistan
Contact:

Re: RTE Doc: Our Father, Seamus Ennis

Post by Mitch »

Well we are talking about a kind of "god" here.

So First, I went off to listen to his rendition of An poc ar buille .. because to me, it was in his singing, as much as his piping that I could know the great man.

And in the mean time, I have a friend who has all the transcriptions that Seamus made of his tunes in a book. And he can play them all. And my friend says : "Seamus Ennis - a pig of a man .. A man of cruelty - He would pretend to lick his reeds!! As a Joke??!!" Full knowing that to lick a reed would not only destroy the reed, but the chanter attached to it. ( a chanter is a wooden contrivance used to give voice to a reed- says he - change the reed? Maybe such a thing can be done - but rarely - better to make a new chanter).

So I listen to the documentary and listen to the great man's children. And I look at that man singing an poc ar buille ..

This is not cruelty - this is life being lived. Seamus, in the video of the an poc ar buille clip - as many from that era, show a very attractive man. A man, not only skilled in the pipes - but skilled in life as masterful as his piping - well beyond the normal mortal .. and who can judge?

If that is cruelty, then yes - life is cruel. Live it anyway.

Personally, I do not see cruelty. It puts me in mind of another good friend who plays pipes. He plays all the instruments to a master's degree. He runs tap water down his old German flute to close the cracks. And he plays a strange 5-string double-course guitar-thing to render Irish tunes like they have been destined to play. And he, again has written it all down in notation for who ever can receive it.

Unlike Seamus, my friend is a hermit right now. It is difficult to get him to a session - and when he does, it's like the teacher has come. And that's not always popular.

Seamus would never fall into that. In him I see a master - in every sense.

Beyond the judgement of a lesser such as me.

I am honoured to receive what little our media can transmit... and be content.

We live on the shoulders of giants.

Thank you for this thread. It inspires me.
All the best!

mitch
http://www.ozwhistles.com
Roger O'Keeffe
Posts: 2233
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2002 6:00 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
Location: Back home in the Green and Musty Isle, in Dublin.

Re: RTE Doc: Our Father, Seamus Ennis

Post by Roger O'Keeffe »

@ceolmochroi has just tweeted a few photos of Séamus as a sweet-looking little boy. He could be generous, but he had his character flaws.
An Pluiméir Ceolmhar
User avatar
PCL
Posts: 115
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 8:39 am

Re: RTE Doc: Our Father, Seamus Ennis

Post by PCL »

Wasn't he just like the best of us, only more so?

I've had the great pleasure and honour of spending time and late nights with Seán Ac Dhonncha. The esteem that Seán held for Ennis (and Clancy) was remarkable.
User avatar
s1m0n
Posts: 10069
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:17 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
Location: The Inside Passage

Re: RTE Doc: Our Father, Seamus Ennis

Post by s1m0n »

I just gave this another listen. It really is astonishingly bittersweet. I can't think when I've heard a more poignant radio broadcast.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

C.S. Lewis
User avatar
s1m0n
Posts: 10069
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:17 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
Location: The Inside Passage

Re: RTE Doc: Our Father, Seamus Ennis

Post by s1m0n »

Trolling an old hard drive, I found this again. If the link doesn't work, let me know and I'll re-post it. But if you're interested in Seamus Ennis, this is gold. His children's relationship must have have been painful, and in 1988 they told RTE about it. Whilst his daughter, Catherine was playing duets with Liam O'Flynn. It's worth hearing. Nice playing from O' Flynn.

His playing is so crisp. No one else sounds the same.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

C.S. Lewis
Post Reply