The golden age of piping,who's too blame?

[tompipes]

Brendan Breathnach, I'd have to say...

I agree.

While the bands like the Cheiftains, Planxty and the Bothy Band made the music popular to younger audiences and introduced the pipes more and more people it was the likes of Brendan Breathnach that organised classes for people to learn how to play the thing.

Others to deserve a mention should be Brian Vallely, Dave Hegarty for publishing his reed making books and Dan O'Dowd for teaching countless modern pipemakers to make pipes.

Tommy

[billh]

I just edited my previous post to say "60's and 70's" and also bring up the importance of economic conditions (in this case, downturn of the '80s followed by upswing). Some would credit O'Riada with starting the impetus that led eventually to the Chieftains, then on to Planxty and the Bothy Band, provided one ascribes to a sort of theory of momentum (which I think is reasonable).

[papuga]

I would claim that the general availability of ethnic communities and their recordings to larger publics has been most influential in spreading 'other' types of music to the rest of the world - uilleann piping included. People hear something that interests them on the radio, television or at friends houses, and they're caught in wanting to learn how to play THAT sound - or live in the world that the music seems to represent. Certainly, the Chieftains and Riverdance are part of this, but it is more than just them.

That's if I look at what influenced myself, anyway, but then I was caught a bit before either of the above media phenomena were prominent. I listened to Irish local radio programs in the San Francisco bay area in the late 1960s, and got started first on whistle, then later pipes. A 1960s Topic recording of Festy Conlan playing whistle in a London pub was the main initiative, followed closely with pipe and whistle recordings by young Finbar Furey and an older Willie Clancy. Once I'd gotten hooked onto the sound, I started searching out the communities these performers 'belonged' to - trying to learn about what their music meant in a larger context, and trying to understand how these musicians did what they did. After awhile, that meant learning from local Bay Area performers like Chris Caswell, Denis Brooks, Sean Folsom, Gerry O'Loughlin and Joe Murtagh, among many others...

[fancypiper]

I would have to say:

Pat Sky
David Quinn
David Daye
Seth Gallagher (plus the other good pipe makers)
Paddy Keenan
Paddy Maloney
Liam O'Flynn
And the current crop of great players and the upcoming youngsters.

[Paul Reid]

How about Liam O'Flynn and Planxty?

I've been traveling and talking to some very popular pipers and makers over the last 6 years - the name that comes up again and again is Liam O'Flynn and Planxty. Also Bothy Band. You cannot underestimate the electricity that made the pipes much more popular.

I would have to disagree with the "Golden Age" of piping though. There are a few things to consider:

The late 60's and early 70's were an enormously popular time for piping - lots of influences here from none less than Leo Rowsome and Seamus Ennis, Brendàn Breathnach, Sean Reid, Willie Clancy, Dan O'Dowd, Pat Mitchell, and I'm really just scratching the surface there (apologies for leaning too Dublin centric!!).

Pipes have become a popular possession and in the right hands they have become quite spectacularly played and made. That does not mean that the popularity of the uilleann pipes have made better players. And in fact you would be arguing with the best makers with the opinion that today's pipes supersede yesterday's makers. Benedict Koehler still bows to Leo Rowsome and his genius.

The globalization of the uilleann pipes has been impressive over the last 20 years, no doubt. Gay McKeon figures in a few years that the number of sets out there will top 5 figures! Again, this does not mean that the overall quality of pipe playing is comparatively better today than 30 years ago - or 80 years ago (or ever, frankly!).

I think what we have realized is a neo-renaissance of Irish music and the uilleann pipes. Though maybe it could be argued that popularity may be waning now, and that what I describe as a neo-renaissance is actually a neo-neo-popularization that may or may not have legs for another 40 years - who knows?

Speaking of traveling, I'm in the Miami airport waiting for a connector to New Orleans. I have a photo shoot for a few days so I may not be able to read replies!

Cheers!

[BigDavy]

There is one person that has not been mentioned yet.

Heather Clarke

She must have got more people playing Uilleann pipes than anybody


David

[tompipes]

There is one person that has not been mentioned yet.

Heather Clarke

She must have got more people playing Uilleann pipes than anybody

Fair point Davy!

When was the last time Paddy Moloney or Liam O'Flynn taught a class.

I don't mean to disrespect them at all but they just don't teach, at least very often.
They have done tonnes to popularise the instrument but I do think that it's the teachers on the ground that should get some credit too. Heather Clarke being one.

Tommy

[Uilliam]

God
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam
ps with a lot of help frae NPU

[djimbo]

When was the last time Paddy Moloney or Liam O'Flynn taught a class.

My own early influences were Liam O'Flynn & the Paddy Moloney via the records and Dan O'Dowd in person, but although I can't tell you the LAST time Liam O'Flynn taught a class, I do remember going to Ilkley a few years back and being taught for an hour along with another bunch of practice set owners by Liam. He introduced us to popping and his slidey C natural

just my 2p

Djimbo.

[ChaplainBlake]

Teachers and organizers are influential to be sure, but like Bill H, I have to give a second for the economy. In politics, the saying goes "it's the economy, stupid" (when the question is "what motivates the electorate").

Without disposable income and a broad base of consumers, all of the great teachers and organizers in the world could not usher in the "golden age." There have been great pipers, teachers, and organizers in the past, but the difference is in the economic situations that allow pipers to be pipers--namely disposable income and leisure time. Look at it this way: If we were all broke, had large families, and had to work day and night just to feed the family, we would have neither the time, money, nor the inclination to be having this discussion even, much less drop the cash for a set of cantankerous pipes.

Angela's Ashes, Braveheart (remember, had more UP in it than the Highland pipes), Riverdance, Celtic woman, and the like seem to broaden the base of people encountering the pipes (through the prism of Irish, or more generically "celtic" culture), while the great players, teachers, makers, and organizers focus that broadened base on this instrument we love, and the fine traditions that surround it.

--Blake

[CHasR]

my vote is for:

Finbar Furey.
Those 2 Nonesuch albums were gone before they hit the shelf.
AND were *very* cool things to have between your Fairport Convetion and Miles Davis LP's.

and

Keenan. He tapped the whole 'celtic hippie' market.

These 2 musicians brought Uilleann piping 'to the masses'; i.e. listeners who may not have searched UP out of its own accord; or were previously unfamiliar with O'Flynn + Moloney. After Furey + Keenan, they certainly were. IMHO.

[breqwas]

http://ru.youtube.com/watch?v=SV1S8yvzGHo

I will take the UP when I'm OK with my tinwhistle :)
BTW, what is that jig they played first, before John Ryan's polka?

[meemtp]

I agree: Paddy Maloney, Liam O'Flynn, Paddy Keenan. I grew up with my dad's Chieftains, Planxty, and Bothy Band albums (on vinyl!). I also grew up with Seamus Ennis and Willie Clancy...although they probably weren't as known to the masses yet then. I also agree with the mention of Breathnach and Dan O'Dowd. Even though I'd never heard of them until later, they were behind the scenes of the whole thing, laying the groundwork. Also...Leo Rowsome since he made the pipes that the first 3 were playing and taught so many to play.

I wonder what the view will be another 30-40 years from now...the ones we've been mentioning will just be mythic, and there will probably be another cast of influential characters, just as these guys were proceeded by Cash, Early, Canon Goodman, "Piper" Jackson, Capt. Kelly etc.

[Roger O'Keeffe]

Brendan Breathnach, I'd have to say...

These things are slow burners. The foundations for the current revival were laid in the 60's and 70's.

Also, IMO, things like economic upturn in the Irish economy in the 90's played a bit part, otherwise the native Irish market would not have supported home-grown pipemakers, and the continued flood of emigration would have been a drain on the 'home' musical community. That's not to downplay the role of the diaspora, but I think the current revival needs not only a strong diaspora/outreach but continuity with the music's cultural sources as well. (Of course, on that topic, economic success may also contain the seeds of destruction of those same sources, but that's another story...)

Bill is being characteristically modest in his obiter dicta. The diasporate makers have been particularly important in applying a scientific, methodical approach to rediscovering the understanding of the subtleties of pipe-making that had largely been lost by the middle of the twentieth century, just before the revival got going. I don't want to belittle the importance of people like Matt Kiernan or Dan O'Dowd in keeping a very tenuous thread of pipe-making going, but I think they relied mainly on accurate imitation rather than a scientific understanding.

It was good to see the recognition given to the piping diaspora (including those with no organic links to Ireland) in the most recent issue of An Píobaire. But, as Bill points out, rootedness in the culture of the green and musty isle is also an essential need for the longer-term continuation of the present golden age.

PS Bill, I'll be in touch soon The pipes, the pipes are calling, and from here they're sounding pretty low and mellifluous.

[rorybbellows]

The success of riverdance for the first few years rests firmly on the shoulders of Micheal Flatley. The show has toured all over the world and has played to millions of people . People who had never heard of Uilleann pipes were exposed to the instrument via Spillane and others and were instantly hooked .
Many of the names afore menstioned were important but only in Ireland and the pipers that travelled only reached a tiny percentage that riverdance reached.
Micheal Flatley was indirectly responsible for bring Uilleann pipes to a world audience and now we have pipers in every country on the planet.

RORY