sligo for all-ireland? - Comhaltas Archive

A TRIBUTE TO MATT KIERNANKevin SpencerOnly a few issues back (Iml 17Uirnhir 3), TREOIR carried a well deservedfeature on Matthew Kiernan writtenby Eamonn Walsh - now, sadly, wemourn Matt's death which occurred aftera short illness at the Mater Hospitalon 17 July last. The Heavenly group ofdistinguished uilleann pipers is, indeed,growing now that Matt is gone to joinLeo Rowsome , Willie Claney, SeanReid, Seamus Ennis and BreandanBreatnaeh.To say that virtually all our presentday uilleann pipers and pipe-makers owesome debt to Matt Kiernan wouldhardly be an exaggeration. It is a storyas yet untold for he was too modest totalk of his achievements. EamonnWalsh has made a start and I would nowlike to add my share.I have known Matt Kiernan foralmost twenty years and visited him regularlyat his home in Offaly Road,Cabra. There, having worked all day athis lathe, we would sit by the fire , talkabout pipers and piping, play sometunes and have tea. We would look overhis many music books, too, for he hadtutors like Roche's long before their reissueand wider circulation. Though asplendid piper he often used the tinwhistle to demonstrate a particular baror ornament and never condonedlearning without having sheet music.His inclusion on the cassette issued withCeol Rinnce na hEireann is a fitting tributeto his skill in popping and cranning,or the use of triples and grace noteswhich make up the art of piping.However, Matt Kiernan's greatest influencewill be in the area of pipe-making.Though the 1951 Fleadh Cheoil inMullingar marks the current renaissanceof Irish music generally , the piping revivalhad to wait for a further decade orso. While there was Leo RowsomeWillie Clancy, Seamus Ennis and just ~few records, it was the sixties which sawthe release of L.Ps devoted fully touilleann piping and , with them, longstored uilleann pipes being taken downand their restoration contemplated. .It was Matt Kiernan who helpedmany with such restoration work bymeasuring old instruments and makingjigs and templates with painstakingaccuracy to reproduce the D, C & B pitchesin chanters. In addition, he devel-oped other templates for drones, regulators,bellows and bag and sought outnew sources not only for traditionalmaterials like ebony, African Blackwood,ivory, brass and leather but alsonew rubber and plastics based ones.Such has been his contribution that allof this has become the stock-in-trade of. many new practitioners and the art ofpipe-making and restoration has neverbeen higher.What else can one say of this man.There was his mail much of it fromoverseas. Where possible there would bea reply- some encouragement to visitIreland perhaps, some sheet music forwardedor a half set promised- all withunfailing gentleness and courtesy.He was a busy man with callersalmost every night, his lunch on a Sundayin Ballybough and afterwards,Crake Park; .32For his Mass in the church of Christthe King, Cabra, he had three uilleannpipers and again in Ballivor wheremore were to hand to play by the graveside. Peter Maguire spoke of his immensecontribution to uilleann piping.He will be mourned not just by hisfamily but by uilleann pipers everywhere.In a special way, he will bemourned by his next door neighbours,Tom Meehan and his wife with whomhe shared so much. Indeed, the musicaltalent of this family is a further tributeto this wonderful man. And what of hislegacy? We see it in the many youngpipers, the pipe-m&kers up and downthe country, the Eigse , the Tion61, theSummer schools, exhibitions like thoseof pipes and piping and more recently,the reopening of the music room in ournational Museum with its beautiful collectionof uilleann pipes.