Hey Guys, as Leo Rowsome is one of the powerhouses of the old gentlemen pipers how come there aren’t many historical videos of Leo playing the pipes? Surely he was at the hight of his career during the folk revival and television in Ireland so why is it that there aren’t any more clips of him playing on youtube. There are lots of snippets of him working in his workshop and so far I have only come across one clip of him playing for a movie. If anyone has any clips and would be willing to post them on youtube for historical prepossess that’d be great. However, please do not breach copyright laws in doing so.
The so-called “folk revival” came a bit later to Ireland than some places. There were showbands and vocal groups in the 60’s but the pipes remained marginalized until more instrumental groups entered the scene. While the Chieftains were nominally formed in 1963, their second album didn’t appear until 1969, the year before Leo died. Sean O’Riada’s Ceoltóirí Chualann was playing gigs but their second album only appeared around the same time (1969 or 70). While “Irish song” was being popularized, the pipes were in a very tenuous position - thus the urgency of the 1969 meeting in Bettystown for which Brendan Breathnach was so instrumental. In one photo was pictured the majority of living pipers, including learners, I reckon. In less than a generation, of the people in that photo, only the learners and one or two journeymen would be left (other than Tommy Kearney!).
Leo died in 1970. The rest of the decade would see a resurgence of the pipes in the public eye, but even so, they remained very much a minority interest - there are only a few clips extant of the greats like Ennis and Reck who lived into the period of Planxty, the Bothy Band, the Fureys, etc., i.e. the mid-to-late 70’s.
