Greetings - just joined - an aspiring piper, but still pipeless!
I have been reading these forums (fora?) for a while now, and it seems that with all the vigour that is around now, few people seem to appreciate just how sparse the Irish Music scene was in the 1950s, and how close it all was to dying (including piping). One person to whom enormous credit should be given is Ciarán Mac Mathúna, who kept the tradition alive via his “Job of Journey Work” program on Radio Eireann. Growing up in the musical desert of Co Meath, this was our link to this dying world. We were subjected to this every Sunday afternoon (at first unwillingly) as my father was an avid listner - and he would not drive us to the Sunday matinee at the local “picture house” until it finished at 3 pm.
Do any of the (older) members have any similar memories of this wonderful man?