FTX-302 - THE FAIRY PIPER

SEAMUS ENNIS Stories & Pipes

7 stories & 7 pipe tunes, told and played by an outstanding performer at both. The first story,lasting 20 minutes, concerns the two disciples, Peter and John (Sean Aerach). The second includes mouth-music and Seamus playing whistle with a story and tune called: DID THE RUM, DO? These are followed by 5 stories concerning fairies and their tunes, ending with: I'LL MEND YOUR KETTLES. Also included are two jigs: THE LARK'S MARCH and THE FRIEZE BREECHES

1. JOHN AIRY AND ST. PETER (Story) - 20.00

2. THE THREE DAUGHTERS (Story with mouth-music reel & whistle) - 3.12

3. HENRY BOHANNAN AND THE FAIRY PIPER (Story with tune on pipes) - 6.49

4. Jig: THE LARK'S MARCH - 2.48

5. THE BACHELOR & THE FAIRY WEDDING with Reel: THE PINCH OF SNUFF - 5.40

6. THE FAIRY HORNPIPE - 4.20

7. THE LITTLE FAIRY RING (story) with GOLDEN JIG - 6.30

8. THE FAIRY FEAST (with Air: THE FAIRY STRAYING - 2.40

9. I'LL MEND YOUR POTS AND KETTLES - 1.45

10. Jig-tune: THE FRIEZE BREECHES - 2.11

Recorded by Alan Lomax, George Pickow and Peter Kennedy in 1952. To them we are indebted for their permission to publish these stories and pipe tunes. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax cassettes 1977.

SEAMUS ENNIS (1919-1982), born Jamestown, Dublin. His father, who worked for the Irish government, played fiddle, flute and mouth-blown bagpipes (War Pipes) and his mother, from Co. Monaghan, also played fiddle and encouraged his interest in folk music. After leaving Commercial College in Dublin in 1938, he worked for 4 years with Colm O Lochlainn at the Three Candles Press, where he developed his interest in folksong, and in 1942 joined The Irish Folklore Commission as a collector.

During the next 5 years he was to travel Southern Ireland and Western Scotland meticuously writing down and memorising hundreds of tunes and stories. He also translated Gaelic songs for the Hebridean collection of John Lorne Campbell. In 1947 he joined Radio Eireann and it was during this period that he acted as a guide to the American collector, Alan Lomax. As a result of this, in 1951, he found himself working with Peter Kennedy for the BBC Record Library and taking part in the weekly Sunday morning radio series called "As I Roved Out".

See also from Seamus: FTX-169 (Songs) - FTX-302 (Folktales & Instrumentals) and FTX-374 (More Pipe Music).