Séamus Ennis

Séamus Ennis ( ga, Séamas Mac Aonghusa; 5 May 1919 – 5 October 1982) was an Irish musician, singer and Irish music collector. He was most noted for his uilleann pipe playing and was partly responsible for the revival of the instrument during the twentieth century, having co-founded Na Píobairí Uilleann, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to the promotion of the uilleann pipes and its music. He is recognised for having preserved almost 2,000 Irish songs and dance-tunes as part of the work he did with the Irish Folklore Commission. Ennis is widely regarded as one of the greatest uilleann pipers of all time.

Early years

James Ennis, Séamus's father, worked for the Irish civil service at Naul, County Dublin. In 1908, James Ennis had been in a pawn-shop in London. He bought a bag containing the pieces of a set of old uilleann pipes. They were made in the mid nineteenth century by Coyne Pipemakers of Thomas Street in Dublin. In 1912, he came first in the Oireachtas competition for warpipes and second in the uilleann pipes. He was also a prize-winning dancer. In 1916, he married Mary Josephine McCabe, an accomplished fiddle player from County Monaghan. They had six children, Angela, Séamus, Barbara, and twins, Cormac and Ursula (Pixie) and Desmond. Séamus was born on 5 May 1919 in Jamestown in Finglas, North Dublin City. James Ennis was a member of the Fingal trio, which included Frank O'Higgins on fiddle and John Cawley on flute and performed regularly with them on the radio. At the age of thirteen, Séamus started receiving lessons on the pipes from his father. He attended a Gaelscoil, Cholmcille, and a Gaelcholáiste, Coláiste Mhuire, which gave him a knowledge of the Irish language that would serve him well in later life. 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 Army. 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 airs 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 Ó Duilearge of the Irish Folklore Commission hired the 23-year-old to collect songs. He was given "pen, paper and pushbike" and a salary of three pounds per week. Off he went to Connemara.

Song collector

From 1942 to 1947, working for the Irish Folklore Commission, Séamus collected songs in West Munster, Galway, Cavan, Mayo, Donegal, Kerry, the Aran Islands and the Scottish Hebrides. His knowledge of Scots Gaelic enabled him to transcribe much of the John Lorne Campbell collection of songs. Elizabeth Cronin of Baile Mhuirne, County 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 Raidió Éireann. He was a presenter and recorded Willie Clancy, Sean Reid and Micho Russell for the first time. There was an air of authority in his voice. In 1951, Alan Lomax and Jean Ritchie 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 BBC
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