Forty Years Of irish Piping

For many of us, Siamus Ennis is a mythological figure, a piping giant. A man whose legacy can be heard and felt in the playing styles of virtually every piper who came after him, from his pupil, Liam Sg O'Flynn to Michael McGoldrick.

Ennis' reputation was well earned. He lived and breathed the music, collecting tunes and broadcasting for both BBC as well as Radio Iireann from the late forties. Truly a renaissance man, he moved easily between his roles as broadcaster, collector, singer, storyteller and piper, proof (if it were needed) of the eclecticism of his gifts.

Forty Years Of Irish Piping is a re-release of a double-cassette originally put out by Green Linnet in 1977.

And well it has earned its second wind. A magnificent series of snapshots in time, every one of the 21 recordings freeze-framing facets of Ennis' playing style and character, and in their collective spirit, conjuring a meaty, three-dimensional portrait that few collections have managed before or since.

Ennis' taste in tunes was impishly unpredictable. A Dubliner by birth, he managed to fuse the traditions of the late 19th century and the more contemporary approach of the traditional music scene of his own times. A heady undertaking, and made all the more remarkable by Ennis' uncanny ability to seamlessly marry the Bardic past with the brazen-headed present.

In an exceptional collection like this, standouts are rare, yet to these ears, the raw, pitted energy of 'The Bucks Of Oranmore/The Sligo Maid's Lament' peers above the lintel on every listening. As does the scratchy fiddle that accompanies Ennis' rendition of 'If All The Young Maidens Were Blackbirds and Thrushes'.

And perhaps this is the greatest revelation of all to latecomers: Ennis' singing and storytelling are as fine a thing to behold as is his piping. In fact his stories are as much a throwback to a day long lost, as any tunes. 'Don Niperi Septo', all 7 and a half minutes of it, will strike a chord in anyone with even the vaguest memories of fireside storytelling.

For connoisseur and novice alike, Forty Years Of Piping is essential listening. Ennis' palette was broad, and his playing peerless. This is a remarkable collection.