The Sartorial Uilleann Piper

Uilleann Pipes
1

I’m certain we all consider this CENTRAL to the Uilleann pipe (sarcasm icon) :smiley:

As well we know, other Bagpipes (and plenty of other instruments too ) have a rather proscribed, precise, traditional ‘folk costume’ to complement one’s piping skills. (ever tried those wooden zampogna shoes? ouch.) But I digress.

Do the Uilleann pipes lack such a set of togs?

Aside from the obvious (avoiding loose sleeves) I’ve always been confused as to how to present myself whilst playing UP’s. Is there a 19th c precedent to follow? Was ther ever an accepted ‘Uilleann-kit?’

HOWEVER
The keen observer will notice certain trends in what pipers are wearing. (any similarity between pipers living, dead, or otherwise is PURELY coincidental, and unintentional.)

1.) The Classic Mid-20th c look: Dark suit + narrow tie. Maybe even a 3 piece. Shoes polished. Socks on. Suspenders welcome.

2.) The Dress-down Friday look: Golf shirt, maybe kakhi pants, boat shoes. Stripes ok, tie verboten.

3.) The 60’s refugee look: ‘Hairier-than-thou’, been there done that, scruffy more than rumpled, plenty of soft leather. Shaved last month.

4.) The Chase-me-I’m-Chocolate look: Neon dayglo loose silk shirt open down to the navel, tight black leather pants, coifed to perfection.

5.) The Post-Punk /Grunge /Post-anything look: Used to be Kilt, boots, mohawk, spike collar, + hard leather; now trending towards T-Shirt and para-military jacket.

6.) other options such as:
*The “Clothes? Yeah I’m wearin some. So?” look
*The Tuxedo
*The Renaisance piper look

Ladies? Care to weigh in on this too?

ok comrades:

How do you present yourself?

2

Try wearing some heydowntreaders with a nice pair of fortune’s crackers, preferably with a waistcoat and a cocked hat.

-Don Nippery Septo

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Ive no idea what you 're talking about at all :smiley: :confused:

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Find a copy of the CD “Forty Years of Irish Piping” by some fellow named Ennis, and all will be revealed :smiley:

DNS

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Think Oliver Twist :smiley:

PD.

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nude, of course.

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See, that’s why I’m loath to try others’ pipes. You just never really know.

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In the typical 19th century accepted Uilleann-kit: Dark suit, tie, hat (bowler or cylinder). It´s pretty cool.

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Ive no idea what you 're talking about at all

Scroll down to page 290 :party:

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Or: Last Night's Fun: A Book About Irish Traditional Music - Ciaran Carson - Google Books

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:astonished: Clothes? Who can afford clothes after buying a beautiful Half set ? :smiley:

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Um … _pre_scribed? :wink:

I don’t know where the image is on-line, but R.O. O’Mealy had a rather rich garb, including dress shirt, cravat, tuxedo jacket, knee-britches, long stockings, and petite leather dancing slippers. I have seen other images of baggy sleeves, long cloaks, very large hats adorned with long feathers. There was all sorts of goofiness that came out of the Gaelic League trying to re-invent a glorious Irish past.

djm

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It’s sort of a toss-up:
O’Farrell:
<img src=“http://billhaneman.ie/IMM/IMM-XIX_html_66ad8e8c.png” width=500"/>

or O’Mealy?

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if ye don’t want to look like a bampot

how about this wee ensemble

For weddings agus funerals

For Sessions

Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

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I like the steam coming out of his hat.

…excuse me a moment. [yes, yes.. what is it?! What!? They are!?..]

I’ve just been informed that those are feathers.

t

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Occasionally, I play in “New France” costumes which look like the O’Mealy kit - plus fours + long socks, frilly shirts + oversized waistcoat.

I charge a premium to wear the costume Although I’d probably do it for free :stuck_out_tongue:

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I have to say, if given my choice I prefer this too, except for the hat. :party:

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Well I guess it depends on where I would perform. Normally I like to dress casually and look like the new age bloke, which I am. If the event is slightly more formal say a concert hall or funeral I’d wear a one piece suite, with appriopriate tie for the occasion, a more silly one for celebrations of course. But that depends on the formality of the event as well.

Likewise if its a folk venue I’d go for the Queensland Banana Bender look. (Shirt, shorts and sandles :stuck_out_tongue:.) I guess it really depends on where you play. Well thats my outlook anyway. No point wearing a suite to a folk venue and wearing the folk look in a formal concert hall. You’d be given a funny look if that were the case.

Cheers L42B :slight_smile:

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I bought the suit from a second-hand-clothes-shop at (then) 10 Deutsche Mark (~5$). The tie was 15$. :laughing:
For the hat though I had an ordinary “Paddy´s cap” (Schlägermütze). I wore this “Uilleann kit” at sessions. Det hat vielleicht jeschockt!

20

This is a topic I’ve thought about a bit, because as a Highland piper I’m always dressing in the typical modern Pipe Band garb to play at funerals and weddings. The “look” in some ways is as important to the client as the music itself.

But what to do when you’re hired to play uilleann pipes at a funeral or wedding?

I’ve spent the last 30 years explaining to potential clients that unlike the Highland pipes the uilleann pipes have no associated costume. It’s a difficult concept for them to understand.

One can see why the client would expect there to be such a costume. Highland pipers wear distinctive attire. Hire a Mariachi band: they don’t show up in jeans, but in the traditional Mariachi costume. It seems that every culture has a traditional folk costume: Mexico, Japan, Bulgaria, Bolivia, Scotland, etc etc and that if you hire a person to perform that country’s traditional music the performer will be so dressed.
And the clients have seen Irish stepdancers performing in their costumes.

But there’s no uilleann costume.

It wasn’t always that way. Just look at the photos in O Neill’s Irish Minstrels and Musicians. You’ll see many wearing what O Neill calls a “suit of the Irish cut” : kneebreeches and a coat with the tails rounded in back. Obviously this was thought of at the time as looking somehow traditional and distinctively Irish.
Interesting is the photo of William and Michael Hanafin, a fiddle and pipe duet, who are wearing a matching uniform which includes the kneebreeches.
(These kneebreeches resemble the Georgian style and are not the “plus fours” which were popular in the 1920’s.)
Others, like Delaney and Touhey, are fashionably dressed in the ordinary style of the period.

The explanation of why Ireland lacks a traditional folk costume as distinctive as the Scottish or Bulgarian is of course the English incursion which resulted in the extinctintion of the traditional Irish manner of dress, which if left undisturbed would have followed the same path as the folk costume in other lands- gradually being replaced by ordinary European clothes for day-to-day wear but reserved for special occasions (weddings perhaps) and for special classes of people (such as musicians).
This traditional Irish costume was of course the brat and leine.
It’s interesting to imagine how that would have appeared today if allowed the natural process of survival and change which was interrupted by the English.
But nobody today is going to go out and play uilleann pipes wearing a leine. (Well our Sean just might!)

So what are we to do?
I’ve always thought that it’s a shame in a way that Irish dancers have such elaborate costumes with all that Celtic embroidery and Irish musicians are utterly plain. What if somebody made vests with celtic designs that the musicians accompanying Irish dancers could wear?

So in any case my Irish trio (myself plus fiddle and guitar) which does a fair number of weddings decided to come up with some sort of semi-Irish-looking garb. What we did was to wear black slacks and white shirt (which in fact is specified in many musician contracts) but add tweed vests. People seem to like it- kind of a Far And Away look.