Making Uilleann Pipes, Co. Cavan, Ireland 1968

Siúinéir, seodóir, ceoltóir i gCondae an Chabháin. A pipe maker explains his craft.
Time, patience and a keen ear are just as necessary for the making of uilleann pipes as the exotic materials used by Mícheál Ó Cianáin in his County Cavan workshop.
Also known as Michael Keenan, he receives orders from all over the world, but mainly from the United States. Pipe making is a craft that takes time,
Suppose you had nothing to do only start on a set of uilleann pipes. Well, it could be compressed into a fair number of hours. But it would really probably have to be spread over at least six months.
The materials used in the pipes travel a long way before they reach the shores of Ireland, and are carefully chosen silver, African Blackwood, and ivory. Not all of them are easily come by,
I need African Blackwood. The first consignment I got now, and had no prospect of orders, only make my own pipes, I had to buy a half a ton of it...they wouldn’t ship any less. That was about 1950 or thereabouts.
Mícheál Ó Cianáin charges around £60 for a fully mounted ivory set of Highland pipes and up to £150 for a set of uillean pipes with an all-silver finish. Northumbrian pipes will set you back anything from £55 to £65. Having made so many sets of pipes for musicians over the years Ó Cianáin is modest to a fault,
Some say I have a keen ear for music, and some says maybe not.
This report for ‘Féach’ was broadcast on 17 March 1968. The reporter is Diarmaid Ó Muirithe.
The bilingual current affairs series Féach reported on national and international events and was broadcast from 1967 to 1984. Féach was aired every Sunday evening and featured reports in both Irish and English. The Irish word “Féach” meaning “Look” gives an indication of what the programme was about as editor John Ross stated “It will try to show, from a fresh viewpoint, what is happening at home and abroad each week”. (RTÉ Guide, 14 July 1967, p.17) The show was originally anchored by Andy O’Mahony with reporting assistance from Seán Duignan and Mícheál Ó Briain.

[@sionrouse]

Michael Keenan, fantastic maker and often forgotten among his contemporaries. I have a chanter by him its very well made and lovely bright sound

[@sionrouse]

I've made a demonstration video of the chanter if anyone is interested kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXmWkIqta66UnZo

[@faelan1950]

Here's a translation for the bits in Irish, for those who are interested: 0:00 - "This is hard, exact work and Keenan must take it slow and gentle." 0:26 - "Keenan must handle his materials carefully - silver, African Black Wood and Ivory are his main raw materials." 1:13 "One must be a trained smith, carpenter and jeweler to do this work correctly, but Keenan is a nice, friendly man, and the work's difficulty puts no stress on him." 3:02 - "He must be very careful at this point, and for the one who would undertake the doing of this work, it'd be very important for him to have a keen ear for music" 3:18 - "Keenan depends on air and on the strength of his precision instruments to make the different parts of the pipe. According to him, the handling of these instruments is the main skill of the craft." 4:02 - "When this work is done, the finger holes must be exactly in these places in every pipe he makes. Incredible skill goes with this part of the work, and one cannot hurry it at this point, the pipe-maker must be patient." 5:07 - "Good money perhaps, but it's slow work - and after all, it's with the hands that every part of it is made. Keenan has the pride of a great craftsman for his pipes, and that's more important to him than the money he gets in his work. "

[@CraigerAce]

Thanks very much!

[@citoyennedmonde]

GRMA!

[@adamwiggins9865]

Now it’s mammoth ivory (with documents) or imitation ivory I’m a Great highland pipe player myself, but I appreciate this just the same

[@russianbot1420]

As far as I know, the oldest musical instrument ever found was a wind instrument, discovered in Ireland.

[@skyyzz4316]

no it wasnt

[@nedlooby7419]

@@skyyzz4316 Oldest WOODEN wind instruments there are loads of other in china for instence made of bone

[@BagpiperTomKennedy]

Interesting price comparison between uilleann & Highland pipes: 2.5x back then compared to roughly 4.5x today. High volume production of Highland pipes has obviously kept the price down.

[@choctaw6838]

Gifted

[@patrickodonnell4109]

Is the pipe maker a man named Kearny?? Anyone know for sure ?

[@erracht]

According to the RTE website, it's Mícheál Ó Cianáin (Michael Keenan).

[@patrickodonnell4109]

@@erracht Thank you. Much appreciated !!

[@matthewfarmer6830]

These are like a bag pipe but smaller.

[@biniou24]

They are bagpipes. There is a lot of different types of bagpipes. You probably allude to the much more common Scottish pipes, called the Great Highland Bagpipes. But there are dozens of different pipes all over Europe, not to mention the rest of the world.

[@thomasjamesconnolly4350]

CR I'm looking for footage of Boyle County Roscommon for my Facebook group People and Places of Boyle if you could help. Thank you.

[@michaelroble4834]

any chance someone can translate the Irish?

[@wiscgaloot]

I'm pretty sure that's what the English bits are, translations of what the maker said.

[@faelan1950]

0:00 - "This is hard, exact work and Keenan must take it slow and gentle." 0:26 - "Keenan must handle his materials carefully - silver, African Black Wood and Ivory are his main raw materials." 1:13 "One must be a trained smith, carpenter and jeweler to do this work correctly, but Keenan is a nice, friendly man, and the work's difficulty puts no stress on him." 3:02 - "He must be very careful at this point, and for the one who would undertake the doing of this work, it'd be very important for him to have a keen ear for music" 3:18 - "Keenan depends on air and on the strength of his precision instruments to make the different parts of the pipe. According to him, the handling of these instruments is the main skill of the craft." 4:02 - "When this work is done, the finger holes must be exactly in these places in every pipe he makes. Incredible skill goes with this part of the work, and one cannot hurry it at this point, the pipe-maker must be patient." 5:07 - "Good money perhaps, but it's slow work - and after all, it's with the hands that every part of it is made. Keenan has the pride of a great craftsman for his pipes, and that's more important to him than the money he gets in his work. "

[@michaelroble4834]

@@faelan1950 thank you - this is such a kind gesture. Cheers!

[@faelan1950]

@@michaelroble4834 Of course! It was good practice anyway :)

[@oudekelt8619]

barbaars & uniek = iers :"zijn" discussie .. als ik na >>> uw

[@wiscgaloot]

I like it--all except his preference for using real ivory. That's barbaric.

[@wiscgaloot]

@Mejo Mejo You need to attain sentience. It was barbaric in 1968 too.

[@TodayFreedom]

Trying to impose our attitudes onto people who lived 53 years ago is absurd. It wasn’t the same pressing issue it is today. That said, people in 1968 would’ve also been absolutely horrified by things you now take for granted and actively participate in- the colossal destruction of the environment via plastics being the obvious example. Plus the horrendous waste you yourself directly and indirectly support- people throwing out shoes that just need resoling, chucking away perfectly good clothes rather than mending them, binning monstrous quantities of food. I assure you- your impact on the natural world is far greater in just one decade than this man’s was during an entire lifetime. This is to say nothing about homelessness and shoving old people into homes- matters that would’ve been considered a scandal back then for most families.

[@wiscgaloot]

@@TodayFreedom It was still barbaric then--they had to kill a mature bull elephant to get ivory.

[@GrimrDirge]

Well hey, I'm barbaric too. It's very liberating.

[@thespiderkelly9589]

@@TodayFreedom Well said.