“When the Piper’s Club moved to Thomas street Dublin Andy would bring Johnny Doran to meet and play with Leo Rowsome.”
This is interesting as if would confirm that Leo and Johnny did indeed meet and play. I´ve always thought that this must have happened, Johnny played a set made by Leo, presumably a new set that was ordered by Johnny so they must have met. Yet this is the first time I´ve come across a definite confirmation that they did meet and play. I wonder if anything was ever recorded, prehaps on the old wire recorders? It´s known that Seamus Ennis visited Johnny´s caravan and tunes were played.
Also interesting is this quote from NPU´s patrons - Leo Rowsome:
“One of his severest critics, who is also an outstanding authority, remarked to the writer recently, “I think Rowsome will have to be re-evaluated”. Johnny Doran, one of the greatest pipers of all time, swore by Leo, and his brother Felix Doran put him at the top of the list. Willie Clancy admired his playing intensely and used to maintain that he was a lot better than he was given credit for. There must be few better qualified to judge him than these three …”.
Long overdue a re-evaluation, in my opinion.
Leo Rowsome is consistently ignored and his playing almost sneered at by many people - who should know better - who completely underestimate his contribution to piping - both making, and especially playing.
People will frequently remark on the fact that his concert chanters are ‘sharp’ and difficult to reed – all done in a manner to suggest that not only was his piping not up to scratch, but neither were/are his pipes. The same people will, in the next breath, reverently genuflect towards the Taylors – does anyone know of a Taylor set that where A = 440 when built ?
Sadly, Seamus Ennis, a person I would gladly genuflect to – or even, to whom I would etc., was in part responsible for the attitude to Leo’s playing with ascerbic comments about his regulator playing in particular.
Finally, I would have no doubt about the Doran’s view of Leo.
Didn’t Leo Rowsome suffer from some condition in the early 1960s which badly affected his ability to play? I recall reading that there is a marked difference between his piping pre and post having suffered this illness/condition. Does anyone know more?
I agree with DJM. This thread would get much more response in the uilleann pipes forum.
I didn’t know that Leo suffered from an illness in the '60’s? It’s quite remarkable that he found the time to do so much, making and servicing pipes, teaching, performing. Apparantly he didn’t learn to drive and used to take the bus to his evening classes. I wonder if he ever played music with Tommy Potts?
Leo suffered a stroke in the early 1960’s.
I can’t remember which year but it is mentioned in the liner notes of the Classics of Irish Piping vol. 1 if anyone has it.
“In 1956 he had a very serious illness from which he nearly died. This took the fine edge off his technique and, while he remained a great piper and made two excellent records for Claddagh, he had to be wary and use conscious control of his fingers. So well did he succeed that only the very sharpest critic could detect the difference.”
I’m becoming more impressed with Leo Rowsome and his piping. My partner, a fiddler, really likes the settings of the tunes in the Leo Rowsome Collection (book) and refers to it a lot.
It is easy to forget, in these days of ultra-availability of music, that Irish musicians once were very jealous about who they passed their secrets onto. There was a lot of unhealthy rivalry and backstabbing. Seamus Ennis seemed to have a particular wicked tongue. Only the chosen few were exempt from his caustic wit.
Dan O’Dowd once bought a 78 of Leo’s playing to John Potts’ house to listen to it as he hadn’t got a gramaphone player. He told me that John took the 78 off the turntable and threw it out the window.
There are more stories around of musicians jealosy than of their sharing ability. I was at a Tional 20 years ago and a certain piper would only play with a chair in front of him in case anybody ‘stole’ his secrets.
I suppose we have to look at all stories in context.
Secrets? It’s not like it’s a matter of national security… It’s a musical instrument, not a nuclear bomb… I mean I guess I could understand all that but it still seems rather childish. Unless you just didn’t like the person I guess…
Martin Rochford had a few stories of Johnny Allen who was particularly protective of his tunes. The local lads found that he played at home in the evenings and the tunes would drift out of the chimney. Some of them went out and memorised a few tunes. Allen heard one of them played one market day and was furious. He checked around the house each night after playing. Martin finished the story with a bone dry: ‘one night the Black and Tans caught him outside and gave him a real hiding, so that put a stop to that’.
Breandan Breathnach had another story of a piper (forget who it was now) who was at a concert where Egan played. He went up to the man after the concert and asked him to play a particular air again because ‘he only got half of it’. ‘Then you already got too much of it’ he was told.
Key of D, I think it was more a matter of being a performer and needing to keep an edge against the competition… people came to see you for the tunes that you play and the way you play them. If everyone played the same tunes and with the same technique then you’d have nothing unique to offer and would go hungry as a musician.
Also,
If everyone played the same tunes with the same technique, the real spirit of Irish traditional music would be lost and become boring if you ask me.
But I do understand what you’re saying Straycat82, about keeping an edge on the competition… But these days I don’t think that old rivalry and competiton exists, or at least maybe not as much as once upon a time? I would hope so. This music is one that needs to be shared as much as possible in order for it to continue on from generation to generation.. because it really is a wonderful music, ITM. And i know, I’m rambling, so don’t mind me.
Is there any evidence that Leo or Johnny ever played together with any flute players in Dublin back in the 1930´s or 40´s? I´m thinking of Johnny´s duet with fiddler John Kelly on the “Bunch of Keys” CD, and it´s known that Johnny did play with fiddler Junior Crehan when in Co. Clare. Leo had the quartet and I´m sure one of his brothers was fiddler. Were there any flute players in Dublin that they would have played with. It´s not so usual I know duets with pipes and flute even nowadays. I can´t think of any flute players in the Dublin area during the 1930´s or 40´s although there must have been some.
