The pipes, the pipes are calling

Sir, – I fear your readers may gain a mistaken impression from reading Robert Porter's article "Uilleann pipes weren't worth a kneecapping" (Opinion & Analysis, December 27th). He writes of his feeling that his enthusiasm for the uilleann pipes was somehow incongruous for an "Ulster Prod" (his own self-description), and he recounts his experience of attending the piping class at the Willie Clancy Summer School (WCSS), taught by Liam O'Flynn, where he heard a muttered remark by someone ("Here comes Britain") indicating hostility towards him on the basis of his background, and sensed some hesitation from O'Flynn upon hearing his name, Robert, as not "Gaelic enough", compared to the Ronans, Conors and Oisíns that surrounded him in the class. He suggests he was regarded as a "cultural trespasser", was slighted on account of his religion (Church of England), and was cautioned to leave a "nationalist bar" in Belfast for fear of his safety. This litany of insults must create for your readers an impression of prejudice and intolerance in the world of piping, and I would welcome the opportunity to correct the record.

Since the start of the WCSS in 1973 the piping classes have been under the direction of Na Píobairí Uilleann (NPU), an organisation founded in 1968 to conserve and promote uilleann piping and, incidentally, the body that conducted the successful campaign to persuade the Government to ratify the Unesco Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage, leading to uilleann piping, hurling, and Irish harping being granted Unesco recognition. I have been associated with NPU for 50 years, as member, volunteer, board member and employee, so I feel well-placed to provide an informed account of attitudes towards people of different backgrounds in the piping world.

My experience has been that there has been no animosity or hostility displayed towards “non-Irish” or “non-Catholic” or “non-Gaelic” people in any activity organised by NPU in its half-century of existence. From the outset, religion or politics have never been factors in its activities. In fact, early in NPU’s existence this stance was explicitly tested. In the early 1970s, when mayhem and murder were being let loose in Northern Ireland, an attempt was made to have a motion discussed at the NPU AGM which would make a statement of support for a member who had been recently interned in the North. The chairman Breandán Breathnach was a man of decidedly nationalist outlook. But he was also a republican in the truest sense, and regarded the heritage of uilleann piping as a shared one, and not the property of any one section of the community. He refused to allow the organisation to fall into the trap of being seen to be so identified, and ruled the proposed resolution out of order, and none of NPU’s business. This led to a walkout by a couple of members, and also established the resolutely non-political, non-religious, welcoming complexion of the organisation.

In my 50 years of experience, pipers of every religion, and none, have played active parts in NPU’s affairs and in the world of uilleann piping. Irish men and women of every religion are probably involved with this instrument. It is difficult to say for certain, as enquiries are never made into backgrounds. It may even astonish Mr Porter to hear that full-blooded Englishmen (and women) are, and always have been, enthusiastic contributors to this art, and welcomed as members of NPU. In this they are joined by players from every country in Europe, from North and South America, Asia, and the Antipodes. Why he imagines Northern Irish members of the Church of England should feel uniquely unwelcome in this world may, perhaps, be explained by a word he uses himself – paranoia. The teacher he names – Liam O’Flynn – taught at the WCSS in the early years of that event, up to around 1980 or thereabouts. Born in 1965, Mr Porter’s youth may have made him oversensitive to perceived offence.

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Finally, he deploys words like “Celtic” and “Gaelic” as if their meanings were undisputed. The uilleann pipes were never particularly Celtic nor Gaelic. They are a relatively recent (circa 18th century) Irish invention, patronised firstly by the gentry and aristocracy, and later adopted by country musicians when they dropped out of genteel fashion. They were and are part of the heritage of all communities on this island.

It has to be conceded that elements of Irish “republicanism” have in the past tried to co-opt Irish music to their programme, (I was once asked by a female of that persuasion if I did not consider myself to be on the “musical wing of the armed struggle”), and words and actions of other actors in this field have unfortunately seemed to support that view. But Robert Porter, and your readers, should not allow themselves to be misled. The reality is that, apart from a few throwbacks, the world of Irish music and of piping is populated by people who have come to it, not because of ethnic or religious associations, but because they have discovered in it an inexhaustible source of beauty and joy. Mr Porter should return to the instrument he clearly loved. And there are plenty of pipers in his home city of London who would be only too pleased to welcome and help him. – Yours, etc,

TERRY MOYLAN,

Dublin 12.