The Bucks of Oranmore: Uilleann Pipes

Seamus Ennis:

Seamus Ennis was born in 1919 in Finglas, Dublin, Ireland. He died in 1982. Although a multi-instrumentalist, Ennis is most known for his uilleann pipe playing as well as his story telling. Many noteworthy events occurred throughout his life.

One item that stands out in Ennis's career is his time spent collecting and transposing music from around Ireland from 1942 to 1947.

Uilleann Pipes:

Uilleann pipes are reeded woodwind instrument that get air from under arm bellows that fill a bag with air. That bag is squeezed under the opposite arm in order to generate and regulate the air for the instrument. It's more popular cousin, the Scottish bagpipe, requires the player to blow air into a bag. Uilleann pipes utilize drones, bass, baritone, and tenor, just like Scottish bagpipes. Uilleann pipes come in a few iterations that span different skill levels. The best pipe players use regulators to add harmonics. You will notice the use of regulators in the Seamus Ennis example on this page.

Pipes, a reeded instrument, date back possibly to the 5th Century. The uilleann pipes first saw use, in a crude form, during the 17th Century in Ireland, France, and other European countries.