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Piper, fiddle player and collector. A native of Abbeylara, Granard, Co. Longford, he lived at Bohey, Gortletteragh, Co. Leitrim. His collection of over 1,000 tunes was compiled in 1883; sixty-four of these appear in Ceol Rince na hÉireann 4. Grier’s work was passed on to his protégé William Mulvey, who, with his son Edward and Michael McGuinness of Bornacoola, appears in a picture of pipers at the 1912 Dublin Feis Cheoil. A notable feature of Grier’s collection is the wide variety of tune types and range of modes. The prominence of dance music and the absence of a bass clef both indicate a musician of the ‘folk’ tradition. The work includes c. 300 reels, 200 jigs, fifty hornpipes and forty slip jigs. Other dance pieces include eighty waltzes and some 160 tunes in other rhythms – primarily quicksteps and polkas. There are more than forty marches, seventy and more instrumental pieces. As yet unpublished, it was brought to public attention by Fr John Quinn, parish priest of Gortletteragh, Co. Leitrim who is also responsible for highlighting the unpublished manuscripts of Alex Sutherland. [CITM]

Hannan, Robbie. (1961– ). Uilleann pipes. Born in Belfast and raised in the nearby town of Hollywood, Co. Down, he took an interest in traditional music in his early teens and started to learn the pipes at the age of fifteen. The Fermanagh piper Seán McAloon was a great source of encouragement and the piping of Séamus Ennis, Willie Clancy and Tommy Reck were influential in his playing. Other influences have been his interest in Co. Donegal fiddle playing and the Irish-language song tradition. His recordings include two solo albums and a duet album with the fiddler Paddy Glackin. A graduate of QUB, where he studied Celtic languages and literature and Law, he presented The Long Note on RTÉ Radio 1984–5 and has presented a number of traditional music series on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and BBC Radio Ulster. He was appointed curator of musicology in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in 1995 and since 2008 has held the position of head of folk life and agriculture in the same institution. He has been chair of Na Píobairí Uilleann since 2006.