Wednesday 30 June 2021
Leon Rowsome (1936–1994)
Celebrating the life and musical times of a fourth generation uilleann piper and pipe maker: a blog by Kevin and Caitríona Rowsome.
Leon Rowsome (1936–1994) was a fourth generation uilleann piper from Dublin. He inherited his musical skills and pipe making abilities from his great-grandfather, Samuel Rowsome of Ballintore, Ferns, County Wexford, his grandfather, William Rowsome, who established a pipe making and repair business in Harold’s Cross, Dublin and his father, master piper and pipemaker, Leo Rowsome.
Leon, the eldest son of Leo and Helena Rowsome, was born on 20 October 1936. Baptised Leo Laurence Rowsome, Leon was one of four musical siblings and was raised by his parents in Belton Park, Donnycarney, Dublin 9.
The Cliffs of Moher, jig ; The Battering Ram, jig / Leon Rowsome. Recording courtesy: RTÉ Archives
Leon Rowsome, with his parents, c1940; Brothers, Leon and Liam Rowsome with parents, 1942.
Leon began to play the uilleann pipes when he was eight years old, and learned his piping almost exclusively from his father, Leo. It wasn’t long before he gained recognition as a piper of natural talent and dexterity.
Leon Rowsome, mid 1940s; Leon Rowsome, late 1940s; Leon Rowsome, early 1940s.
As a performer he was a member of The Rowsome Quartet and regularly played the pipes on radio broadcasts with Leo Rowsome, Seán Seery and Willie Clancy.
Right: The Rowsome Quartet, 1950s, Willie Clancy, Leon Rowsome, Leo Rowsome, Seán Seery.
In addition to playing in The Rowsome Quartet, Leon and his father Leo often played the pipes as an uilleann piping duo. The following images courtesy NUI Galway | Ritchie-Pickow Digital Collection reveal an occasion of uilleann piping by father and son at a garden party in the American Ambassador’s residence, Phoenix Park, Dublin in 1953.
See Appendix 1 for a full listing and links to 16 photos of Leo and Leon Rowsome in the NUI Galway Ritchie-Pickow Digital Collection.
American Ambassador’s daughter, Maria Taft, dances to the piping of Leo and Leon Rowsome, 1953.
Images Courtesy: NUI Galway | Ritchie-Pickow Digital Collection.
A talented multi-instrumentalist, Leon was also versatile on the piano and piano accordion. He developed a love for Scottish dance music in his early teenage years and enjoyed tuning in to Scottish radio.
The Blackbird, air / Leo Rowsome, Leon Rowsome, Liam Rowsome (Recording courtesy: Louis Quinn Collection at ITMA)
Cooleys Reel; The Green Gates, reel / Leo Rowsome, Leon Rowsome, Liam Rowsome (Recording courtesy: Louis Quinn Collection at ITMA)
EDUCATION
Leon attended school in St. Joseph’s C.B.S., Marino, Dublin 3. He often played at school concerts and other functions, and was a member of the Marino School Band, pictured below. Four of his contemporaries in the band were: John Sheehan, composer of the ‘Marino Waltz’; Paddy Moloney, leader of The Chieftains; Proinnsías Ó Duinn, who became conductor of the RTÉ Orchestra, and Leon’s brother, fiddle player Liam Rowsome.
Leon graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in 1959. He also achieved a Certificate in Teaching Irish (Teastas i dTeagasc na Gaeilge), and a Diploma in shorthand and typewriting.
FAMILY LIFE
Leon married Nóirín Ní Fhlaitheartaigh, a native of the Kerry Gaeltacht of Corca Dhuibhne, on 10 February 1962. They had one son, Kevin (uilleann pipes/flute), and four daughters, Mary (flute/piano), Anne (fiddle), Nuala (piano) and Caitríona (harp/piano) - and ten musical grandchildren.
Right: Leon and Nóirín Rowsome with (left to right) Kevin, Anne, Nuala, Caitríona and Mary, 1973
VOCATIONAL TEACHING
Leon took a teaching post as a vocational teacher in Rathdowney, Co. Laois from 1962–1965.
Leon and Nóirín moved back to Dublin from Rathdowney in 1965, and on his return he took up a position teaching commerce in Swords Vocational Technical school.
Leon gave grinds to school pupils in the late 1960s and taught commerce, Irish, music, shorthand and typing in Coolmine, Clonsilla in the 1970s and 1980s. He retired from vocational teaching in 1983.
UILLEANN PIPES TEACHER
Leon, like his father before him, was a gifted musician, performer and craftsman. In addition to holding a full-time job as a vocational teacher, Leon made uilleann pipes in his spare time, taught the pipes, broadcast on TV and radio, and toured internationally as a solo uilleann piper.
In the 1960s, Leon would sometimes deputise for Leo in the Dublin College of Music (formerly known as the Municipal School of Music, now the Technological University Dublin Conservatoire). On Leo’s passing in 1970, Leon took on the position as uilleann pipes teacher, and taught the pipes there on a part-time basis for fifteen years, up until his retirement as uilleann pipes teacher in 1985.
Leon also taught the uilleann pipes in the Pipers’ Club in Thomas Street, Dublin in the early 1970s, and played and taught the pipes at Irish summer schools.
Leon Rowsome, Kevin Rowsome and Con Durham (former student of Leon at the College of Music, Chatham Row), Dingle;
Extract of brochure of the first Willie Clancy Summer School, 1973 with Leon Rowsome playing at 3 pm piping session.
The Maids of Mount Cisco, reel; George White's Favourite, reel / Leon Rowsome, uilleann pipes; Liam Rowsome, fiddle. Courtesy: Louis Quinn Collection at ITMA
In the summer of 1967, Leon and Liam played as a duo in Jury's Cabaret The Molly Malone Show at Jury's Hotel, Dublin. The show was performed daily, seven nights a week, for one month, 7 May–7 June. The costume worn by Leon for the cabaret was a báinín jumper and cap.
Popular venues for traditional Irish music in the 1960s and 1970s, where Leon would play the pipes as a soloist, and also as a duo with Liam on fiddle, included the Old Shieling Hotel in Raheny, the Hollybrook Hotel, the Baggot Inn, Slattery's of Capel Street, the Stag's Head and the Embankment in Tallaght.
In 1972, Leon and Liam played uilleann pipes and fiddle, at Gormanstown, County Meath. Leon and Liam were introduced in Irish by Seamus MacMathúna as:
"the sons of ‘The Piping King’ himself, God rest him."
In addition to being a talented uilleann piper and performer, Leon was versatile on the piano and accordion and put these talents to good use in céilí bands.
Leon played the piano with the Ballinamere Céilí Band in the 1950s and founded the Blackthorn Céilí Band in May 1967.
Blackthorn Céilí Band members included: Leon Rowsome, Tom Harpur from Wexford (fiddle), Tommy Byrne from Wexford (piano accordion), Ambrose Bonny (drums), Kevin and his brother from Drimnagh (fiddle), Nóirín Mee/Hand (vocals, piano) and May Rice (vocals).
The band began to tour in 1967. Tour dates that year included:
2 July Carna, County Galway; 7 July Tubbercurry, County Sligo; 9 July Cork City; 11 July Mountbellew, County Galway; 6 October Dromore, County Sligo; 12 November Clarence Hotel, Dublin.
PERFORMANCES ON RADIO AND TV
Leon Rowsome maintained a busy schedule of live performances on radio and in various venues throughout Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s. A range of national and provincial newspapers include articles detail many broadcasts and performances by Leon during this time, both as a solo uilleann piper, and as a member of the Blackthorn Ceili Band. Newspaper articles also include details of his television appearances and workshops on the history of the uilleann pipes.
In the 1970s Leon made a television appearance on the Tommy Makem and Ryan’s Fancy Show in Canada. In her thesis The most (imagined) Irish place in the world?: the interaction between Irish and Newfoundland musicians, electronic mass media, and the construction of musical senses of place (Ph.D, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2013, p. 272) Evelyn Osborne quotes Manny Pittson on their informal approach to selecting guests:
"The guest list was compiled by me in consultation with Tommy and Denis. There was no science - we simply consulted our own record collections, double checked with Dublin's leading folk music critic and then made our choices. If memory serves, we offered negotiated fees in the 250 range per show. I can't recall how we handled ground costs but the Sheraton Connaught was offering singles during the Messer era for 9.00 per night. My favourite guest was Leon Rowsome a bear of a man whose instrument was the traditional uillean (elbow) pipes, which are pumped by a bellows strapped to the musician's body under the elbow. By its appearance a fiendishly difficult instrument to master, it has a delicate, plaintive sound that speaks of the Celtic world long gone."
In 1981, Leon travelled to Galway for an interview and live music performance on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. The interview in Irish between Seán Bán Breathnach and Leon Rowsome was on the radio programme Aoi Cheoltóir. The programme was first broadcast in 1981, and re-broadcast on 7 March 2015.
The interview is available to listen to on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/rnag/10381752, and a written transcription of the full broadcast in Irish and English has been provided by Caitríona Rowsome as an addition to the blog. [See Appendix 2]
TOURS OUTSIDE OF IRELAND
Leon gained international acclaim touring Europe, America and Canada as a solo uilleann piper in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1972 he toured Germany as a solo uilleann piper.
He toured in England, playing the uilleann pipes, from 1976–1978 and 1983–1985. While on tour in the UK, which was mainly during the summer months, Leon played the pipes at folk festivals and promoted the instrument on BBC Radio.
These tours gave audiences the opportunity to listen to, and engage with the seldom heard uilleann pipes. UK concerts were performed in venues throughout Yorkshire, Derbyshire, London, Manchester, Liverpool, Durham, Lincolnshire, Nottingham, Windermere, Birmingham and Leicester.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Leon was regularly booked by the Celtic Congress as a solo uilleann piper from Ireland, and toured with them in Brittany, England, the Isle of Man and Scotland. Among the other performers on tour with the Celtic Congress was harp player Róisín Ní Shé.
Leon Rowsome and Vincent Broderick, circa 1972.
PIPE MAKING
Leon carried on the Rowsome family tradition of pipe making and repair work from his workshop at his home in Dublin in the 1970s and 1980s. Unlike the present day, pipemaking was at an ebb and Leon provided a critical contribution to continuity of the popularity of the instrument. The growing demand for uilleann pipes combined with a steady stream of orders kept Leon busy making pipes for customers within Ireland and further afield. Many of the orders were for beginner pupils who were starting to learn the pipes in local music schools and colleges. Leon was frequently asked to make chanter reeds and gained the reputation of being an expert reed maker.
RECORDINGS
During his lifetime, Leon made two uilleann piping albums. The first album was a solo uilleann piping LP in the 1960s on the Walton Glenside label, Leon Rowsome and his uilleann pipes: Irish airs and dances. Some years later he made a second album for Dolphin Discs, Irish traditional pipes.
Leon also featured among other artists such as Tommy Peoples, Jimmy McGreevy and Mary Bergin, on the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Bonnie Kate LP in 1970. The 1973 LP Anne Byrne Sings Irish features Anne Byrne, vocals, Paddy Roche, guitar/vocals and Leon Rowsome uilleann pipes.
ARTICLES WRITTEN BY LEON ROWSOME
Leon wrote a number of articles of his memories, as a fourth generation uilleann piper/musician, from early years to adulthood. The articles capture a wealth of musical knowledge, experience and good-humoured persona. They also share memories of musical greats in his lifetime.
Carn: a link between the Celtic nations vol. 1, no. 4 (1973/74) p. 17. Carn is published by the Celtic League and the series, including Leon's article is available to view and download from their website.
The two-part article 'In My Father's Time' was originally published by Na Píobairí Uilleann in An Píobaire vol. 3, issue 12 (September 1992), p. 16 and vol. 3, issue 13 (January 1993), p. 16-17:
In it Leon wrote that many people came to visit the family home in Belton Park when he was young. One such person was Brother Gildas, a De la Salle brother who:
had a lovely flat set of pipes – boxwood, and brass keys. I used to love playing them when they were in for repair. They were beautiful and mellow. Brother Gildas was a De la Salle brother and spent a while teaching me ‘The Teetotallers Reel’ emphasising the long ‘D’.
Leon’s father, Leo Rowsome passed away on 20th September 1970, while adjudicating The Fiddler of Dooney competition in Riverstown, County Sligo. Suaimhneas na bhFlaitheas dá anam.
The year after Leo’s untimely passing, Leon presented prizes to the winners of the 1971 The Fiddler of Dooney competition.
Leon [Rowsome], a vocational teacher, has his father’s old position of Uilleann pipes teacher in the Municipal College of Music, Dublin, makes pipes in his spare time and is rapidly building up an international reputation as a piper, appearing on TV programmes on both sides of the Atlantic.
Our parents were wonderful for encouraging us to learn and play music from an early age. Dad had great musicality, a wonderful sense of humour, and an abundance of kindness and generosity. He especially loved to hear traditional Irish music being played by us, his children, and would have a big smile on his face, and give words of encouragement when we played music – whether on pipes, harp, flute, whistle, fiddle or piano.
"Tá [Caoimhín] ag foghlaim na píobaí uaim fhéin, agus ó Chlub na bPíobairí i mBaile Átha Cliath freisin. Agus tá mo iníon, Máire, an-mhaith ar an bhfeadóg stáin"
Leon Rowsome, in 1981, on RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta.
We, in turn, loved to hear him play the uilleann pipes and to watch him in his workshop making sets of pipes to be played by many an aspiring piper.
Leon passed away on 7 April 1994. He has left behind a legacy that is inspiring. A fourth generation uilleann piper, pipemaker, recording artist, performer and teacher; humble, hard-working, good-natured and gregarious – Leon was a man of great character and one who is remembered with great fondness. Leon Rowsome (1936–1994), ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal ceolmhar.
