Séamus Ennis (5 May 1919 – 5 October 1982) was an
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
piper, singer and
folk-songThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
collector.
In 1908 James Ennis, Séamus's father, was in a pawn-shop in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. Ennis bought a bag of small pieces of
Uilleann pipesThe uilleann pipes , originally known as the Union pipes, are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. The uilleann pipes bag is inflated by means of a small set of bellows strapped around the waist and the right arm...
. They were made in the early nineteenth century by Coyne of Thomas Street in
DublinDublin is the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath or Áth Cliath ; the English name comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning "black pool". It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the...
. James worked as a civil servant in Naul,
Co DublinCounty Dublin , or more correctly today the Dublin Region , is the area that contains the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland as well as the largest city on the island of Ireland; and the modern counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. The Dublin Regional Authority is the...
. In 1912 he came first at the
OireachtasThe Oireachtas is the "national parliament" or legislature of Ireland, sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann. The Oireachtas consists of:*The President of Ireland*The two Houses of the Oireachtas :**Dáil Éireann...
competition for warpipes, second at Uilleann pipes.
Séamus Ennis (5 May 1919 – 5 October 1982) was an
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
piper, singer and
folk-songThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
collector.
Early years
In 1908 James Ennis, Séamus's father, was in a pawn-shop in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. Ennis bought a bag of small pieces of
Uilleann pipesThe uilleann pipes , originally known as the Union pipes, are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. The uilleann pipes bag is inflated by means of a small set of bellows strapped around the waist and the right arm...
. They were made in the early nineteenth century by Coyne of Thomas Street in
DublinDublin is the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath or Áth Cliath ; the English name comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning "black pool". It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the...
. James worked as a civil servant in Naul,
Co DublinCounty Dublin , or more correctly today the Dublin Region , is the area that contains the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland as well as the largest city on the island of Ireland; and the modern counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. The Dublin Regional Authority is the...
. In 1912 he came first at the
OireachtasThe Oireachtas is the "national parliament" or legislature of Ireland, sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann. The Oireachtas consists of:*The President of Ireland*The two Houses of the Oireachtas :**Dáil Éireann...
competition for warpipes, second at Uilleann pipes. He was also a prize-winning dancer. He married Mary McCabe in 1916. They had six children, including Séamus, who was born on May 5 1919 in Jamestown in
FinglasFinglas is a residential suburb, with a village core. It is on the Northside of Dublin City, Ireland, and mainly lies in the postal district Dublin 11...
, North County Dublin. James Ennis was a member of the Fingal trio, which included Frank O'Higgins (
fiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, including the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
) and John Cawley (
fluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
). They performed on the radio. At the age of thirteen, Séamus started receiving lessons on the pipes from his father. He attended the all-Irish schools at Scoil Cholm Cille and
Colaiste MhuireColáiste Mhuire, which is part of the Marino Institute of Education, is a primary teacher training college which is affiliated with Trinity College, Dublin. It is located on Griffith Avenue, Dublin 9. Coláiste Mhuire is primarily focused on providing for pre-service primary education...
, which gave him a knowledge of the
Irish languageIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
as well as
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
. He sat an exam to become Employment Exchange clerk but was too far down the list to be offered a job. He was twenty and unemployed.
Three Candles Press
Colm Ó Lochlainn was editor of "Irish Street Ballads" and a friend of the Ennis family. In 1938 Séamus confided in Colm that he intended to move to England to join the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
. Colm immediately offered him a job at The Three Candles Press. There Séamus learned all aspects of the printing trade. This included writing down slow
airsAir , a variant of the musical song form, is the name of various song-like vocal or instrumental compositions.-English lute ayres:...
for printed scores - a skill which later proved important. Colm was director of an Irish language choir, An Claisceadal, which Séamus joined. In 1942, during The Emergency, shortages and rationing meant that things became difficult in the printing trade. Professor Seamus O Duilearge of the
Irish Folklore CommissionThe Irish Folklore Commission was set up in 1935 by the Irish Government to study and collect information on the folklore and traditions of Ireland....
hired the 23-year old to collect songs. He was given "pen, paper and pushbike" and a salary of three
poundsThe pound, a unit of currency, originated in England as the value of a pound mass of silver. Historically, £1 worth of silver coins were a troy pound in mass; as of October 2009 this amount of silver is worth approximately £130....
per week. Off he went to
ConnemaraConnemara , which derives from Conmhaicne Mara , is a district in the west of Ireland consisting of a broad peninsula between Killary Harbour and Kilkieran Bay in the west of County Galway or south west Connacht...
.
The song collector
From 1942 to 1947, working for the Irish Folklore Commission, Séamus collected songs in West
MunsterMunster is a province of Ireland, located in the south-west of the island. The province is not used as an administration division as such, with the counties filling that role. Much of the area aside from Clare is represented internationally by the South constituency of the European Parliament...
,
GalwayCounty Galway is one of the traditional Counties of Ireland. It is located in the province of Connacht. It was named after the city of Galway...
,
CavanCounty Cavan is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster. It was named after the town of Cavan . It is one of three counties situated in the province of Ulster without being part of Northern Ireland. The county is bordered by County Monaghan, County...
,
MayoCounty Mayo is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Connacht. It was named after the village of Mayo . Mayo is the secondlargest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 15th largest in terms of population...
,
DonegalDonegal is a town in County Donegal, in the Province of Ulster, in Ireland. Donegal is not the county town of County Donegal, despite being its namesake. Rather, the county town is Lifford, and Letterkenny is the county's largest town. Donegal town is situated at the mouth of Donegal Bay, on the...
,
KerryCounty Kerry is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Munster. Kerry is the fifth largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 14th largest in terms of population...
, the
Aran IslandsThe Aran Islands or The Arans are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. Irish is the main spoken language on all three islands, and is the language used naming the islands and their villages and townlands...
and the Scottish
HebridesThe Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides...
. His knowledge of Scots Gaelic enabled him to transcribe much of the
John Lorne CampbellJohn Lorne Campbell was a Scottish historian, farmer, environmentalist and folklore scholar.-Biography:In the 1930s Campbell was living on the Hebridean island of Barra where, with the author Compton Mackenzie, he founded the Sea League to fight for the rights of local fisherman and organised a...
collection of songs.
Elizabeth CroninElizabeth "Bess" Cronin was an Irish singer who specialized in traditional music.Born in West Cork, the daughter of Seán Ó hIarlaithe, a schoolteacher, she lived in the Baile Bhuirne area all her life. She spent her teenage years on her uncle's farm nearby. She married Seán Ó Croinin and they...
of Baile Mhuirne,
County CorkCounty Cork is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Munster, and was named after the city of Cork...
was so keen to chat to Séamus on his visits that she wrote down her own songs and handed them over as he arrived, and then got down to conversation. He had a natural empathy with the musicians and singers he met. In August 1947 he started work as an outside broadcast officer with Radio Eireann. He was a presenter and recorded
Willie ClancyWillie Clancy was an Irish uilleann piper.Clancy was born into a musical family in Miltown Malbay, County Clare. His parents both sang and played concertina, and his father also played the flute...
, Sean Reid and
Micho RussellMicho Russell was an Irish musician and author best known for his expert tin whistle performance. He also played the simple-system flute and was a collector of traditional music and folklore.-Biography:...
for the first time. There was an air of authority in his voice. In 1951
Alan LomaxAlan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the West Indies, Italy, and Spain.-Biography:Lomax was the son of pioneering...
and
Jean RitchieJean Ritchie is an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player.- Out of Kentucky :Abigail and Balis Ritchie of Viper, Perry County, Kentucky had 14 children, and Jean was the youngest...
arrived from America to record Irish songs and tunes. The tables were turned as Séamus became the subject of someone else's collection. There is a photograph from 1952/53 showing Jean huddled over the tape recorder while Séamus plays Uilleann pipes.
As I Roved Out
Late in 1951 he joined the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
. He moved to
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
to work with producer Brian George. In 1952 he married Margaret Glynn. They had two children, Catherine and Christopher. His job was to record the traditional music of
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
,
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
and Ireland and to present it on the
BBC Home ServiceThe BBC Home Service was a British national radio station which broadcast from 1939 until 1967.-Development:Between the 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC had developed two nationwide radio services, the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme...
. The programme was called "As I Roved Out" and ran until 1958. The poet
Dylan ThomasDylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer[, Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved 11 January 2008.] who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
managed to wangle his way onto this project. For him it was a pub-crawl around Britain. Meeting up with Alan Lomax again, Séamus was largely responsible for the album
Folk and Primitive Music (volume on Ireland) on the
ColumbiaColumbia Records is an American record label founded in 1888.Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound, being the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of notable singers,...
label.
Full time musician
In 1958, after his contract with the BBC was not renewed, he starting doing freelance work, first in England then back in Ireland, with the new TV station Teilifis Éireann. Soon he was relying totally on his musical ability to make a living. About this time his marriage broke down and he returned to Ireland. He suffered from
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
and was ill for some time. In 1964 he performed at the
Newport Folk FestivalThe Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959.-History:The Newport Folk Festival was founded in 1959 by Theodore Bikel, Oscar Brand, Pete Seeger and George Wein, founder of the already-well-established Newport Jazz...
. His father gave him the pipes he had bought in 1908. Although most pipers can be classed as playing in a tight style or an open style, Séamus was in between. He disapproved of the flashy style adopted by
Leo RowsomeLeo Rowsome was the third generation of an unbroken line of uilleann pipers. He was performer, manufacturer and teacher of the uilleann pipes - the complete master of his instrument...
. Séamus was a master of the slow air, knowing how to decorate long notes with taste and discreet variation.
Two legendary sessions
Two events will live in legend among pipers. The first was in Bettystown in 1968, when the society of Irish pipers, Na Piobairi Uilleann, was formed. Brendan Breathnach was playing a tape of his own piping. Séamus asked "What year?" Brendan replied "1948". Séamus said "So I thought". For a couple of hours the younger players performed while Séamus sat in silence. Eventually he was asked to play. Slowly he took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves. He spent 20 minutes tuning up his 130-year-old pipes. He then asked the gathering whether all the tape recorders were ready and proceeded to play for over an hour. To everyone's astonishment he then offered his precious pipes to Willie Clancy to play a set. Willie demurred but eventually gave in. Next
Liam O'FlynnLiam O'Flynn is a well known Irish folk musician.He was born in Kill, County Kildare to musical parents; his father played the fiddle and his mother played the piano. After his first encounter with the uilleann pipes, the greatest influences of his development were Leo Rowsome, Willie Clancy, and...
(Liam Og Ó Floinn) was asked to play them, and so on, round the room. The second unforgettable session was in Dowlings' pub in Prosperous in
County KildareCounty Kildare is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Leinster and was named after the town of Kildare . Kildare is the 25th largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and ninth largest in terms of population...
.
Christy MooreChristopher Andrew 'Christy' Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty. His first album, Paddy on the Road was recorded with Dominic Behan in 1969...
was there, as well as most of the future members of
PlanxtyPlanxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...
.
Séamus never ran any school of piping but his enthusiasm infused everyone he met. In the early seventies he shared a house with Liam O'Flynn for almost three years. Finally he bought a piece of land in Naul and lived in a mobile home there. One of his last performances was at the
Willie Clancy Summer SchoolThe Willie Clancy Summer School is Ireland's largest traditional music summer school, held annually since 1973 in memory of the uilleann piper Willie Clancy. During the week, nearly a thousand students from every part of the world attend daily classes taught by experts in Irish music and dance...
in 1982. He died on October 5, 1982. His pipes were bequeathed to Liam O'Flynn. Radio producer Peter Browne produced a compilation of his performances, called "The Return from Fingal" spanning 40 years.
Trivia
- Ennis is the subject of Christy Moore's song 'The Easter Snow.' This is also the title of a slow air Ennis used to play.
Discography
- The Bonny Bunch of Roses (1959)
- Forty Years of Irish Piping (1974)
- The Pure Drop (1974)
- The Fox Chase (1974)
- The Best of Irish Piping
The Best of Irish Piping is a two CD boxset incorporating The Pure Drop and The Fox Chase albums by Seamus. Liam O'Flynn wrote the sleevenotes.-Tracks:-References:...
(1974) (this is The Pure Drop plus The Fox Chase)
- Irish Pipe and Tin Whistle Songs (1976)(USA release of "The Bonny Bunch of Roses) (Not identical to anthology of same name of 1994)
- Feidlim Toon Ri's Castle (1977)
- The Ace and Deuce of Piping
- The Wandering Minstrel (1977)
- The Return from Fingal (1997)
- Two Centuries of Celtic Music (2001)
- Séamus Ennis - Ceol, Scealta agus Amhráin (2006, remastered from recording first issued in 1961)
Anthologies (various artists)
- Irish Pipe and Tin Whistle Songs (1994) (not identical to same title LP (1976) above)
- Green Linnet 20th Anniversary Collection (1996)
- Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the West Indies, Italy, and Spain.-Biography:Lomax was the son of pioneering...
Sampler (1997)
- Traditional Dance Music of Ireland (1997)
External links