I am thinking ( I said thinking) of selling my Leo Rowsome D set that I acquired in 1971. I have two other sets, in C and B, and just do not play the Rowsome D set. Why have a Rowsome copy when you can have the real thing. This set is 75 years old and in very good shape. I am asking $20,000 for the set. Expensive but you get what you pay for.
Please reply to0 my eMail address: patricksky@bellsouth.net
All the best,
Pat Sky
Here is the original story from my book “A Manual for the Irish Uilleann Pipoes” on aquiring the pipes:
In the summer of 1971 I was playing at the annual Philadelphia Folk Festival. I had just finished my evening concert and was making my usual rounds at the motel where all of the musicians were staying. There was every conceivable kind of party going on in the various rooms; music for every taste. I, of course, found my way to the “traditional music” party that was taking place in the room of the great singer and member of the Clancy Brothers, Lou Killen.
The party was going well, and I had just finished my umpteenth Powers’ whiskey, when into the room came Joe Heaney. Joe is one of the finest Irish traditional singers in the world. Anyway, Joe said in a loud voice, “The world’s greatest Uilleann piper is going to play a few tunes for you.” That was how I met Liam Óg O’Flynn, the beginning of a wonderful friendship, and my introduction to REAL Irish music.
When Liam started to play I was stunned. I became choked with emotion and my eyes filled with tears. I had never in my musical career heard such a beautiful sound. I sat there for at least an hour–a most willing captive. The next day I told Liam that I had a series of concerts lined up across the country and that I would like for him to come with me and open each show. He agreed, and we were off on what turned out to be the most rewarding series of concerts in my career. Every place we played people went wild over Liam’s playing. It was some time during this period that I decided that I had to learn to play the pipes.
Two months later I found a set of pipes in a bar in New York City. They were in good condition except for the reeds, which had long since died . They were made by the late, great pipemaker and piper, Leo Rowsome of Dublin. Realizing that if I was ever going to play the pipes I would have to go to Ireland for reeds, I set about making plans to return with Liam to his homeland. Once in Dublin, I was introduced to Dan Dowd who repaired my pipes and fitted reeds to my chanter and two of the drones.
Upon returning to America I discovered that the reeds had collapsed on the journey, and I was once again without reeds. However, Dan had told me that Tom Busby of New York was considered to be a very fine reedmaker. I went to see Tom, and he fitted my pipes with a good chanter reed. It was then that I realized that if I was ever to become a piper I would have to learn to make my own reeds. I asked Tom if he would show me how to make reeds, and he did. I proceeded to gather as much information as I could on reeds and how to make them. I got in touch with and went to see all the reedmakers I could. Six months later, after making well over two hundred reeds, I succeeded in fitting a good reed to my chanter and developed a method of reed making of my own. That year I wrote a little pamphlet entitled The Insane Art of Reed Making which I had printed at my own expense and either sold or gave away.
What a Pandora’s box I had opened! I began receiving inquiries from all over the world requesting reeds, pipes, information and just plain correspondence. I decided that a book was needed, a work that would contain as much of the essential information about the subject of piping and pipe maintenance as I could offer.
I would like to extend my thanks to the following friends in helping me in this endeavor. First to Liam Óg O’Flynn who first got me started; to Seamus Ennis, my good friend and truly the greatest piper in the world; to Dan Dowd, Matt Kiernan, Tom Busby and Patrick Hennelly for teaching me what they knew about reeds; to Dr. Kenneth Goldstein for his encouragement and his library; to my American colleagues in piping, Tom Standeven, Dennis Brooks, Joe Shannon, Barry O’Neill, Bill Ochs and Dan Sullivan; to the great pipemakers Coyne, Talbot, Egan, Kenna, Kennedy and Rowsome, and those others unnamed who never signed their work; and finally to everyone in the world who loves Irish music.
Patrick Sky. September 1975