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Speech: Untitled [Part of a lecture on the uilleann pipes, containing the following topics: history of the pipes; emergence of the pipes at the beginning of the 18th century; Ledwidge (?) described a regulator as an innovation in 1790; O'Farrell (from Clonmel) wrote a tutor in 1803 / 1804; a tutor had already been published by Geoghegan in London in 1746 for a forerunner of the uilleann pipes known as the 'pastoral bagpipes'; O'Farrell published two other books, including the 'Pocket Companion'; until 1903 / 1904 these pipes were known as the 'union pipes', thereafter as 'uilleann pipes'; Grattan Flood proposed that in the reference to 'woollen pipes' in 'The Merchant of Venice', the word 'woollen' was a corruption of 'uilleann', meaning elbow; Grattan Flood's false etymology is the source of the use of the word 'uilleann' to refer to these pipes; in the 18th century the instrument was played by high and low society; Lord Rossmore in Monaghan, lord of 40,000 acres, was an excellent performer; piper Jackson published tunes, including Jackson's Morning Brush, in 1799; instrument played widely until 1850, when the quadrilles and sets began to supersede the older dances, and the concertina and melodeon began to be popular; a revival movement began in the 1890s, by which time the former professional pipers who survived were old and in poorhouses; as part of the revival, pipers' clubs were formed in Cork and Dublin; the piping tradition then in the same state as the harping tradition had been at the close of the previous century; Eamonn Ceannt and others of the Dublin pipers' club employed Nicholas Markey (born Meath? Louth?) to teach the pipes; Markey a pupil of Billy Taylor; tradition thus kept intact; the music for the pipes consists of jigs, reels, and hornpipes; jigs are extant in Ireland since the 16th century; reels since the latter part of the 18th century; first reels to appear in Ireland are Scottish reels like Lord McDonald, Lady Mary Ramsey, and Mrs McLeod; the hornpipe is an English form, imported about 1780; hornpipes, however, played in Ireland are Irish; Robbie (Hannan?), one of the pipers due to play after the lecture, plays a set of pipes made 150 years ago, thus representing the sound that people listened to in the 18th century; in Louth, there are accounts of pipers in the works of Carleton, esp. in his stories of the Irish peasantry from c. 1820; Carleton writes of the pipers Gaynor (possibly Dan Gaynor, attested elsewhere) and Cassidy; the Taylors (half-brothers Billy and Charlie) were the sons of a good piper; the Taylor family emigrated to the USA in 1870, where Billy and Charlie became famous pipemakers in Philadelphia; they died c. 1900; before emigrating, the Taylors taught Nicholas Markey and Pat Ward] [END OF BAND ONE]

Breathnach, Breandan - speech in English

Speech: Untitled [Part of an interview with Breandan Breathnach by Paddy Glackin for the radio programme 'The Long Note', RTE Radio 1, with occasional input from the programme producer Harry Bradshaw. Topics: continuation (from a previous tape) of a discussion about the aims of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann (CCE); a survey (of music instrumentation?) taken (within CCE?); CCE should not concern itself with the button accordion or the harp; guitar banned from CCE competitions because of its sexual symbolism; founding of Na Piobairi Uilleann (NPU) in 1968; initial discussions with Seamus McMahon, Martin Talty, and Sean Reid in Wilson's pub after a Fleadh Ceoil in Miltown Malbay; first Tionol arranged in Bettystown; Pipers Club in Thomas St, Dublin gave financial support; 50 to 60 pipers attended, including some from the USA; Seamus Ennis gave an impressive recital; before he began to play instructed everybody to turn on their tape recorders; after playing, handed his pipes to Willie Clancy, then on to anybody who wanted to play them; next was Liam O Floinn; this generosity uncharacteristic of older generation of pipes, who would not play if they thought anybody else could learn their music; one piper on his deathbed bit the reeds so that no-one else could play his pipes; another sent his wife to the door before he played to check that no-one was listening; Seamus Ennis had no trade secrets; at the first Tionol, Sean Reid proposed the founding of an organisation; this was supported by Leo Rowsome and Seamus Ennis; BB was assistant secretary of CCE at that time, and aware of problems with lengthy arguments at committee meetings; constitution of NPU restricted to 294 words; membership of NPU restricted to practitioners; great asset was the tremendous ability of Seamus Ennis, with his willingness to share his music, and thus to bind the organisation to the long tradition that he had through his father, with the connection to Nicholas Markey and the Taylor brothers; phonograph cylinders that Francis O'Neill had sent to Father Henebry in 1908 were discovered to be still extant in Cork; BB quotes Henebry's judgement of Touhey's version of 'The Shaskeen Reel'; other cylinders discovered with music from pipers born before the Famine, for example Jem Byrne and Dinny Delaney; unfortunately music from Martin Reilly was indecipherable; a bulletin, An Piobaire, was published, containing historical information and transcriptions from pipers; Ceol an Phiobaire and its contents; Wilbert Garvin produced pipe-making manual; first printing sold out very quickly; alleged errors in the pipe-making manual and BB's reaction to this accusation] [END OF BAND ONE]

Bradshaw, Harry - speech in English
Breathnach, Breandan - speech in English
Glackin, Paddy - speech in English

Performers:
Tom Munnelly, Dublin/Clare, lecture in English
Kirsty Potts, Scotland, singing in English
Dr Ian Russell, England, lecture in English

Running Order:
1. Lecture: Come All Ye Worthy Christians
2. Presentation: Religion and Repertoire
3. Lecture: Singing in the Spirit - the tradition of English venacular Carolling from the Southern Pennines