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Sea III liS Mac Malhllna aglls an tEaspagFiachra 0 Ceal/aighthis great band - three-in-a-rowchampions at Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann- can put lift and exc itement into a ceiliwhen they tu ck up their sleeves to it. Itwas reminiscent of the glory days of theold Kilfenora who in their time wonthree-in-a-row also and four in all.Could anyone give higher praise?On Saturday morning there were someve ry enjoyable piping recitals andsess ions with Joe Doyle, Eamon Lane,Loui se Mulcahy and (young) Joe Doyle,and on Saturd ay afternoon HelenaRowsome paid tribute to the memory ofher fath er, Leo with a session ofmemories illustrated w ith rev iews andother data from old newspaper cuttings.More than any other person Helena hasbeen instrumental in treasuring thememory of Leo Rowsome. She stillspea ks of him with the undiminishedenthusiasm and affection of a teenager,of his kindness, his boyish optimism hiseasy relaxed way w ith his pipils hiswillingness to pl ay for ca llers at anyhour, and so on. Helena would havegone on to pl ay some of Leo's mostfamous recordings, but a delayed starthad put the evening schedule underpressure and Labhras wound up thi ssession w ith glowing tributes to Leo'smemory and to Helena for her verypainstak ing work in assembling themateri al for this workshop.Most Reverend Bishop Fi achra 6Cea ll aigh assisted by Fr Pat SweeneyO.F.M. ce lebrated Aifrea nn i nGae ilgeat 6 o'cl ock. Bi shop Fi achra is ofcourse a Clare man, Gael go smioragus sean-chara a laetha an tionail, iRinn Mhic Gormain. He and Fr PatSweeney remained for tea and late rasked to hear a few ve rses of 'Come onthe Banner'; for Bi shop Fi ach ra is likethe famed Croke of Cashel aconnoisseur of the hurling game and anardent follower of th e Ban ner county.Fra nk Whelan of the Cois na hAbhna(Enni s) archive Committee had arri vedw ith a newly-made video showingmembers of the M ac Mathuna family,and fri ends reminisc ing of bygone daysin West Clare. There was just time toview snatches from thi s video betweentea and the Tional Conce rt. Present alsoat this stage were Padraig MacMathuna, well-known to Fl eadh Nuapatrons - Michael Mc Mahon w hota ught Seamus hi s first tun es on thewhistle, and many other old fri end s ofboth the Rowsome arid M ac Mathunafamilies.The Ti onal Concert once aga insurpassed all expectation s. Th !=re wereoutstanding items from the Rowsomefamily, from Ben and Charlie Lennon ofthe great Leitrim tradition; from AntainMac Gabh ann, Paddy Ryan, Kathl eenNesbitt, Maeve O' Loughlin and MickTubrid y, musica l comrades of SeamusM ac Mathuna in many a session downthrough the years. There was a specialspot for Joey Doyle, Li am O'Connor,Louise Mulca hy, [de Nic Mhathuna andMikie Smyth all of whom have beenpart of recent Aosag Concerts at theFl eadh Nua in recent years. M ickO'Connor and his very musica l familydid their usual exciting session and thelovely Clare-style fiddling of Joe Ryanbrought back memories of greatfiddling nights w ith John Kell y. PaddyTunney was in rare form also roundingoff w ith a typica l Maggie Picking whichhe sa ng and lilted and finall y batteredout to his own lilting accompa niment.Ther was a lovely duet fromRockchapel/Brosna, Donna M ul cahyand Martin O'Connell with great musicon box and concertina, and the usualfine session of piping from EamonWa lsh, Joe Doyle and Eamon Lane.Then seve ral members of the MacMathlma family singing in turn, solo,duets and in groups have us sp lendidrenditions of songs such as Cath Cheiman Fhi a, Bean Dubh a' Ghl ea nn a,Aililiu na Gamhna and An Bhuata is.The talented M ichae l Roo ney, who hadCeol beirte: M ichael TubridyandMaeve N f Lochlainn at Tion61 LeoRowsomealready accompanied many of thefo regoing items now gave us a coupleof exce ll ent so los on the harp . Andfinally, it was very reminiscent of JimNolan and the Halcyon days of the oldCumann na bPiobairi w hen bur Bean a'Ti of the night, th at Queen of all M naTi Muirea nn Duignan introduced the'Loyal Heroes' of the present dayPi pers' Club for a ri ght rousing fi nale. Itwas great music, bringing the curtaindown on a most enjoyabl e night and amemorable Ti onal.
Seamus Feted at Cion6l2hiS yea r's Tion61 Leo Rowsomewas held in An Chulturfann overthe days September 9-11th. TheTion61 is a spec ial fun ction heldannuall y, and organi sed by the ArdChom hai rl e, w ith a special input fromthe Pipers Club (Cum ann na bPiobairiUilleann) of which Leo had been afou nder member.-Leo Rowsome was born in 1903 anddevoted his entire life to manufacturing,playing, and promoting the UilleannPipes. The twin traditions of makingand playing the pipes had been in theRowsome family for at least twogenerati ons, and before Leo waseighteen yea rs of age he was alreadyplay ing, manufacturing and teachingthe pipes. Th rough the 1920's, 30's and40's he provided instruments, service,and inspiration to all who w ished toplay the pipes in Ireland or overseas.Leo, w ith his brother Tom, pl ayed amajor part in the famed Thomas StreetPiper's Club, and both were alsoprimary movers in the founding ofCom haltas in 1951. W hen Leo diedunexpectedly in 1970 he had given fiftyyears devoted service to the Irish musictrad ition .Now in its fifth year, thi s year's AnnualTion61 Leo Rowsome lived up to the. high standard of previous yea rs. Whenit was founded in 1995 the Ti on61 setout to commemorate Leo Rowsome thelegendary piper and founder member of<strong>Comhaltas</strong>, and also to ce lebrate andcommemorate the work 'of othermusicians and mu sic-lovers .. During theintervening years the music andmusica l times of John Kelly, W illieReynolds and Paddy Mac Elva ney havebeen celebrated. This year the spotlightwas turned on the music and work ofSeamus Mac Mathuna w ho recentlycompleted 42 years membership and30 yea rs as Timire Ceoil of CC E.Mick O'Connor orthe Coiste Ceo il hadbeen given the task of presenting hispersonal review of Seam us MacMathuna's work for Irish traditionalmusic down the years. M ick has in factbeen one of the principal contributorsat workshops and ~ ect ur es at Tion61 LeoRowsome since its inception. M ick ishimself of course an outstanding flutepl ayer, veteran of both Pipers Club andChurch Street Club, founder and mainorgani ser of the famed Castl e CeiliBand (60's to earl y 70's) and has mademonumenta l contri butions to the workof the Coiste Ceo il and the <strong>Comhaltas</strong>Arch ive Committee.As a long standing (36 years plus)friend Mick was the ideal person topresent this review of Seamus MacMathuna's work, and he hadapproached his task in his usualthorough fashion combining snippetson audio and video w ith slides, songs,and poems, and embe llishing all w ithhis own personal recollections of themany mu sica l events he had sharedwith Seamus. Sessions shared w ith suchlegendary figures as Patri ck Kelly ofCree, M rs El izabeth Crotty of Kilrush,Joe Ryan, Bobby Casey, ete. werereca lled, and anecdotes telling of theexploits of these and of other'characters' of the fifties and sixtieswere reca lled with gleeful relish.42 ________________________________________________ _
Page 7 and 8: Gaeltachtai Q fuair bassachead sea
Page 9 and 10: Convention 2000in WashingtonIrish M
Page 11 and 12: Cion6l Leo UowsomeJoe Doyle's Works
Page 13 and 14: 'Fleadh '99 -L\ Celebration thatwas
Page 15 and 16: The lovely Four Green Fields,~ ! t.
Page 17 and 18: Sing us a song PaddySeamus beag 6 M
Page 19 and 20: Where to? Padraig 6 Dufaigh andCear
Page 21 and 22: Bronx Box Brilliancelistening, tune
Page 23 and 24: ehe Uowsome eraditionKevin nowsome'
Page 25 and 26: M ick himse lf reca ll ed tri ps fr
Page 27: Eibhlin Ni Mhaille, Carn a cct Co.n
Page 31: .S:::=~Sean Tiern ey, USA, U- 12 Co
Page 35 and 36: hEirea nn ! In every corn er of th
Page 37 and 38: The teachers Rob Stafford, fiddle;T
Page 39: Che 200,000Millennium Fleadh Cheoil
Page 42 and 43: Oakum a phriosuinl2 IJ J'l~ ~ B J J
Page 44 and 45: Th e Comhaltas ladies: Assunta UfCh
Page 46 and 47: 'Che Matchmaker"Researched by Kay L
Page 48 and 49: With President and Mrs Ciinton are
Page 50 and 51: Tomas 6 Duibhir ag insint scealta l
Page 52 and 53: Co each tune its placeD r Gear6id 6
Page 54 and 55: Diary of a MusicalOdyssey 1999!P6dr

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