Seamus Ennis play the fiddle?

[Key_of_D]

I just got "Forty Years of Irish Piping" and on the track "If All the Young Maidens Were Blackbirds and Thrushes" Seamus can be heard singing, but there's also fiddle. The liner notes weren't very helpful regarding this question... As far as I know, he plays pipes of course, and the tin whistle.

-Eric

[The Sporting Pitchfork]

He played fiddle in the Halfpenny Bridge Quartet with Liam O'Flynn and Seán Keane. Apparently, Willie Clancy (who also played the fiddle) once said something about how while it was hard to say who was the better piper, it was pretty clear who was the better fiddler...

He also played piob mhór/Scottish Highland pipes. The Scottish-based Irish poet Rody Gorman once told me that stories still circulate on the Island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Séamus and the blàs with which he played tunes on the Highland pipes. At the time he was there collecting (late '40s or early '50s, I think it was), many people on Barra mistook Seamus for a mainlander, his Scots Gaelic was apparently that good.

Speaking as a linguistics wonk, it really kind of irks me that no linguists in Ireland ever did any studies on the man...His knowledge of the various dialects of Gaelic Ireland and Scotland (including some now-extinct dialects, such as the one spoken in West Clare around Doolin) was pretty damn extraordinary.

[djm]

it really kind of irks me that no linguists in Ireland ever did any studies on the man

What about the recently published Ennis travel diaries, "Mise an fear ceoil," published by Ríonach uí Ógáin? I can't read it, but apparently his written Gaelic changed to the local spoken vernacular wherever he went.

Ennis can be heard playing fiddle on one of his Folktrax albums (can't remember which one) and it's nothing to get too excited about.

djm

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

Seamus also played fiddle tunes on the pipes. When I say fiddle tunes I mean tricky material like the Stage Hornpipe, which he called the Bird's Chorus. This tune requires you go from back D/high B/C/high A. I have a tape of Maire ní Ghrada where she changes that to all notes in the first octave - good way to go! Other fiddle tunes Seamus played include the hornpipes Thomond Bridge and the Cuckoo, the reel the Bunch of Keys, and the air Cronan ná Mather (which he got from fiddler Frank Cassidy).

Peter Laban once told us how he has a recording of Seamus playing the flute, too.

[PJ]

On the Radio link of uilleannobsession, scroll approx. 1/3 of the way down the page and you'll find links to three radio programmes about Seamus Ennis:

- Seamus Ennis Tribute 1
- Seamus Ennis Tribute 2
- Liam O'Flynn discusses the influence of Séamus Ennis on "The Giant at My Shoulder"

There's discussion both of SE's linguistique ability and his fiddle playing (not to mention his exploits behind the wheel).

[tommykleen]

Speaking as a linguistics wonk, it really kind of irks me that no linguists in Ireland ever did any studies on the man...His knowledge of the various dialects of Gaelic Ireland and Scotland (including some now-extinct dialects, such as the one spoken in West Clare around Doolin) was pretty damn extraordinary.

Wonk on, dude. I am curious about SE's default Irish: what I've heard of his recorded singing os Gaeilge sounds Connemara-ish to me. Anyone know how this came to be his dialect?

T

[djm]

Ennis, as a boy, spent his summers in Irish-speaking areas. This seems to have been common amongst middle-class families during the first part of the 20th century. I can't remember exactly where, though. As to his command of dialects, I haven't read anything that explains this. Perhaps he picked it up in his university studies (?).

djm

[PJ]

There's supposed to be a link between the musical ear and the ear for languages. Both require one to be a good listener.

[Dionys]

Does anyone in Ireland know how much Mise an Fear Ceoil retails for in a book store? Is it still available? The only place I can find it here is selling it for around $100 (for a used copy in perfect condition). Not awful for a 500+pp hardcover on an esoteric (for some) subject in gaeilge.. but still spendy.

[djm]

Luke! Seek the source: http://www.cic.ie/product.asp?idproduct=1110

djm

[josh perkins]

"His knowledge of the various dialects of Gaelic Ireland and Scotland (including some now-extinct dialects, such as the one spoken in West Clare around Doolin) was pretty damn extraordinary."

He was just pretty damned extraordinary all around.