Keen on good music of all kinds since the early childhood, Dave Was greatly taken by traditional music as presented on radio programmes in the 1950s and 60s, and very impressed by the piping recordings of Leo Rowsome, Seamus Ennis, Willie Clancy Paddy Moloney etc. He started with some great local musicians in Fermoy and Mitchelstown, notably Martin Hanley, Pat O Connor and John Riordan and in Dublin with John (Sean) Byrne. Through friendships with Terry Moylan, Brian Gallahar and the late Kevin Spenser around 1971, he was fortunately introduced to Matt Kiernan, Dan Dowd and Breándan Breathnach, who all were most supportive and encouraging. He then got to meet Paddy Keenan, the late Johnny Keenan Snr. and the other members of the Keenan family and was occasionally asked to play along with them in Slatterys in Capel Street. Hearing Sean Seery, Tommy Moore and Jim Brophy helped to balance the piping experience which was further rounded off by enjoying the friendship of Andy and Mick Conroy, Willie Reynolds, Jimmy Dolan, Eugene Lambe and the late Tom Meehan, who all helped to encourage study and practice of pipemaking with further help from from Daniel Hervé and many many others. He describes himself as "continuing to make somewhat slow progress on the pipes while giving occasional piping lessons to beginners". Dave enjoys sessions in Tralee when possible with the Usual Suspects Céilí Band. He eventually hopes to do a comprehensive gathering of the history of piping in Kerry. Dave believes that the narrow bore D chanter and drones should be widely available as a standard instrument for learner pipers. If this type of instrument was good enough for Coyne, Kenna and O Mealy, it should be good enough for the rest of us! He has been chairman of Na Píobairí Uilleann since June 2010

Noel took up the pipes in the early 1970s with the kind assistance of Peter Browne. His first teachers were Brian Gallahar and Pat Mitchell. It was in Bray that he was strongly influenced by the music of Martin Doyle and Noel Gallagher. Through Brian Gallahar he got to know Kathleen and Martin Rochford and through this friendship came his affinity with the music of East Clare. Noel’s other main influences on the pipes was the music of Séamus Ennis and Willie Clancy, but nowadays it’s almost every piper he hears.

Noel is a Dental Technician by profession and is employed as laboratory manager in the Dublin Dental Hospital. He is also a member of the Board of the DDH. A trade unionist all his working life, he is an elected National Trustee of SIPTU and a member of its National Executive Council. He served two terms on the Dental Council of Ireland and for ten years was on the Fitness to Practise Committee of the Council.

Tommy was born in Waterford City and while in his early twenties, after playing tin whistle for a couple of years, he met local piper Tommy Kearney who encouraged him to take up the pipes. As well as his early tuition from Kearney, Tommy also attended the Willie Clancy Summer School where he learned further piping skills from Brian Gallahar, Pat Mitchell and Liam O’Flynn. The recordings of Willie Clancy, Séamus Ennis and Tommy Reck have also influenced his repertoire and style of playing.

In the 1980s Tommy spent seven years in London where he played with many of the greats of Irish music including Tommy McCarthy, Bobby Casey and Roger Sherlock. Since 1987 he has lived in Co. Galway where he teaches traditional music.

His solo album “The Piper’s Apron “ was released in 1991 and in 1995 a duet album “The wind among the reeds” with his wife, concertina player Jacqueline McCarthy. Tommy is also featured on the DVD “Piper’s Choice – Volume 1” published by Na Píobairí Uilleann in 2008.

As a teacher of History and Irish in Dublin from 1972 to 1988, Tom Clarke had a parallel vocation – traditional music in general and the uilleann pipes in particular. He joined Na Piobairi Uilleann in 1973 and was strongly influenced by the generation of pipers whose music went back to the 1930s and ’40s – Leo Rowsome, Tommy Reck, Willie Clancy and Séamus Ennis the foremost of these – and whose era was drawing to a close. He feels immensely lucky to have met and heard these and many other older pipers during his formative piping years. In 1976 he started teaching the pipes at Na Píobairí Uilleann regularly and also each July at the Willy Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. He also travelled widely throughout Ireland and Britain, giving concerts and workshops at festivals and summer schools.

Born into a musical family from Tubbercurry, County Sligo, mainly fiddlers and concertina players, (but also a piper) the family 'caught the boat' to Liverpool and became part of the Irish diaspora, economic migrants but with the music, language, politics and culture of Ireland in the north of England.
The folk music revival in Britain and Ireland enabled me to listen to and enjoy traditional music and song be it Irish, British or American. As a youngster, I had the good fortune to hear Seamus Ennis the great Uilleann Piper hold court and he was a major influence then and even now. While staying in Dundalk as a teenager with friends like the late Alex Keelan, and Trevor Stewart, the Belfast Piper, we visited Matt Kiernan of Cabra, Dublin in the search for a half set of pipes.
With Piper Tom Walsh, we struggled with reeds and attempted to perfect our playing with the Irish musicians in the north of England despite the obvious disadvantages of being far away from the source of Irish Music. By the time I met up with Dublin Piper and writer, Sean Donnelly in Kerry in 1973, the road ahead was set. The Uilleann Piping was a lifestyle as well as a music and Sean has taught me a tremendous amount about Piping and Irish music, and still does.
In those days getting a good set of pipes was a major problem. I have had a lot of pipes through my hands over the years but i eventually got what I wanted settling on a Concert pitch of David Williams, a C set by Geoff Wooff and a B set by Finbar Mclaughlin. They each have their own virtues and appeal.
Having sailed the world in the merchant navy and then Art School, I moved to the North east of England and became a teacher of Art and History, eventually teaching Irish Travellers, Gypsy Kids and European Roma. Living in Northumbria I got to know the music of the Northumbrian Pipers and the musicians of the Scottish Borders and have even converted a few to the real pipes.
I have been a founder member of the Tyneside Irish Festival for the last 23 years and in that time featured some of the finest Irish pipers in the festival and in the Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum. I also organise the monthly Irish Pipers meeting in Newcastle.
Married to a Scottish fiddler, with a Donegal background, and two teenage daughters, all of whom play the fiddle, it is inevitable that I too have been known to "draw the Mare's tail over the Cat's innards", but despite bribes and threats I have not so far managed to get them to play the pipes.
For many years I have written articles and reviewed for music magazines, also The Guardian.
I like to contribute to An Píobaire and was very pleased to be invited onto the Board of Na Píobairí Uilleann. Although getting to meetings is difficult, I hope I can through the modern mediums of communications keep in close touch and contribute opinions from the other side of the Irish Sea

Donnacha Dwyer has been playing the pipes for 18 years since he first received lessons at Na Píobairí Uilleann at the age of 16. Donnacha has been performing professionally around various Dublin music venues for the past ten years and has performed in most European countries, the US, Japan, Korea, Singapore and the Caribbean.

He has released an album with fiddle player Malachy Bourke entitled Bourke and Dwyer. In 2005 Donnacha was awarded a grant from the Arts Council under the Deis scheme to study the art of uilleann pipe-making with pipe maker Des Seery and has been a self-employed full time maker since 2008. He has also taught various reed making workshops inluding N.P.U's Summer week long reed making and pipe maintenance courses.

Emmett Gill was born in London into a musical family. From an early age he attended the London Pipers' Club, learning from pipers Billy Browne and John Murphy. His piping style is influenced by many of the great pipers including Seamus Ennis, Willie Clancy and Tommy Reck and the music of the 78 era.

Emmett has performed and taught across Europe and North America and regularly teaches in Na Píobairí Uilleann and at Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy. His solo CD 'The Mountain Groves' was released in 2007 and he continues to work on re-releases of Irish 78rpm recordings on the 'Oldtime Records' label with Gerry Clarke.

Emmett currently lives in Dublin. He plays a C set made by David Quinn and Benedict Koehler and a concert pitch set made by the Taylor Brothers.

Ken Lynam was born in Dublin and moved to London in the early '70s where he began working as an independent documentary producer.

In the early 1980s he saw an article in the Irish Post about the Pipers Club which had recently began meeting in the Irish Centre in Camden. He began attending classes there and was taught by Billy Browne, John Murphy and Tommy Keane.

Shortly after returning to live in Dublin in 1994, Ken proposed a video piping tutor project to the Board of NPU, and subsequently produced the ‘Art of Uilleann Piping’ series. He has since been involved in many of the DVDs made for NPU.

Padraic was born into a house where music was important. His late father Ciarán Mac Mathúna was a household name since the 1950s as a broadcaster and collector of music on radio and TV, and so it was natural that Padraic grew up meeting many of the revered names in traditional music, among them pipers Seamus Ennis, Leo Rowsome and Willie Clancy.

It was early visits to Miltown Malbay on holiday in the 1960s in paticular that opened his eyes to piping, with Willie Clancy captivating all within his reach, particularly children. After starting on the whistle and flute, Padraic got a set of pipes in his teenage years from Martin Talty of Miltown, and 'got on the road' with the help of Dan O'Dowd and Brian Gallahar in the old NPU premises in Essex St.

Padraic benefited from the generosity of Liam O'Flynn, a family friend, imparting piping techniques in the 1970s. In the late 70s and into the 80s Padraic was more active in NPU and taught regularly at the WCSS each July. Job responsibilities took hold with migration to various parts including London and Boston before returning to native shores in 1995. Emigration did however have the advantage providing him with chances of meeting musicians, making new friends and playing music with Seamus Connolly and Paddy Keenan in Boston, Tommy McCarthy, Bobby Casey and John Carty in London.

He became an honorary Corkman to play with Stokers Lodge in the 1970s, and toured with Sean Potts on an early fund raiser for NPU in the US. His recordings include a solo CD Blas na Meala released by Gael Linn in 1992.

Padraic plays a Leo Rowsome concert set (made c 1935) and flat set (B-ish) made by Nick Adams (Miltown Malbay) in 1989, (generously donated as a wedding present!)

Danny McGreevy was brought up in a music loving household in Downpatrick, Co.Down.

His first involvement with music was with the local pipe band, whose pipe major and tutor was his father, Patsy. Later, he went on to play with the award winning Thomas Davis Pipe Band based in Newry, Co. Down.

His interest in traditional Irish music began when his mother, Madeleine, bought him a tin whistle. It was in B flat as she thought it looked more like a chanter in size!

While a student at Queen’s University, Belfast, Danny first heard the piping of Liam O’Flynn and Paddy Maloney, and determined to make the transition from piob mor to piob uilleann. By good fortune, pipe maker Robbie Hughes had moved to the Downpatrick, and from him, Danny acquired a practice set. Through Robbie and Ken Mc Leod, Danny became aware of, and mesmerised by the piping of Seamus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Leo Rowsome and Tommy Reck.

Over the years, Danny had become proficient on a number of musical instruments and played in various traditional groups. He was also a founder member of the renowned Downpatrick Folk Music Club, and spent many years in the promotion and presentation of the best in traditional music, perhaps to the detriment of his personal development as a musician in general, and piper in particular.

In the early 2000’s Danny decided to focus on the pipes in an attempt to become a piper, rather than someone who could “play” tunes on the pipes. He sought out other pipers and through his good friend Tom Clarke, was introduced to N.P.U. At his first Tionol, a workshop session with Jimmy O’Brien-Moran, gave him immense encouragement.

At the Willie Clancy Summer School, Danny enrolled in a beginner’s class, under Mick O’Brien, with the aim of “de-constructing” and “re-constructing” his piping, and since then has availed of the wonderfully generous tuition of many of the great pipers associated with N.P.U.

A former teacher and lawyer, since retiring from the law in 2007, Danny has concentrated on teaching traditional music, running Rath Celtair Folk Music Club, and striving to become a “piper”.

Seán was born in Dublin in 1930. Grandson of John Potts (Piper 1871-1956) and nephew of Tommy Potts (Fiddle player 1912-1988), he is a founding member of Ceoltóirí Chualann and The Chieftains, and has recorded with both of these groups. He has also recorded with Paddy Maloney and Peader Mercier on Tin Whistles.

Seán joined Na Píobairí Uilleann in 1970 and, following his retirement from The Chieftains in 1979, became actively involved in the organization, especially in fundraising in Ireland and in the USA. During this work he formed the gpoup Bakerswell and recorded with them in the late 1980s. He has been a committee member of NPU since 1979 and held the position of Chairman from 1987 to 2002. Seán is now Hon. President of NPU.

Kevin Rowsome is the fifth generation of uilleann pipers and pipe makers in the Rowsome family. His great grandfather, William was one of the founding members of the first pipers club which came into existence in the 1890's. His great uncle Tom Rowsome was a committee member of that club, which lasted until 1922. His grandfather, Leo revived the pipers club in 1934. Link: http://goo.gl/EyWjy and was a founding member of the current club in 1968. Link: http://goo.gl/Etkn9

Kevin started playing the uilleann pipes at the age of six, under the guidance of his grandfather Leo and father, Leon. His playing gained public recognition when he won the prestigious uilleann pipe competition at the Oireachtas in 1991. Kevin has vast experience as a performer and instructor of the uilleann pipes, performing extensively and lecturing and instructing at a number of traditional music festivals throughout Europe and USA. He recorded an uilleann piping album “The Rowsome Tradition“ which was released in 1999. In 2006 Kevin won a competition to compose a piece of music to commemorate the Blasket islands (Cuisle Ceoil an Bhlascaoid). He has a number of other musical compositions to his name.

Kevin has spent over a decade working with his good friend Benedict Koehler, rediscovering the reed making techniques used by his grandfather and great grandfather.

Among the pipes that Kevin plays is a set made by his great grandfather, William Rowsome which were featured in the publication "Irish Minstrels and Musicians" by Captain Francis O'Neill (1913). These pipes were generously donated by Dr Lewis Blevins and restored by Benedict Koehler.

Further details on the Rowsome family's immeasurable contribution to uilleann piping are available on Kevin's website. www.kevinrowsome.com