Leo Rowsome

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Leo Rowsome (1903 - 1970) was an Irish teacher performer and maker of uilleann pipes. Rowsome was born in April 1903 in Harold's Cross in Dublin City. He left school at 14 and in 1920 became a teacher in the College of Music, a post he held for 50 years. His father was a maker and repairer of uilleann pipes. When Leo's father William Rowsome died in 1928, Leo took over the firm but continued to teach part-time. His workshop was attached to his home. Every pupil had a set of practice pipes and a manuscript book for tunes. In 1936 he published a bagpipe tutor book. Recently "The Leo Rowsome Collection of Irish Music" was published by Waltons. It contained a re-print of his original tutor plus 428 tunes transcribed from his manuscripts. It was the same publisher that handled his original book.

In 1920 he joined Seamus Ó Mathúna (fiddle) and Nelius Cronin (flute) in a performance on Radio Éireann. This brought him work at concerts and festivals around the country. Leo founded Cumann na bPíobarí Uilleann (Society of Uilleann Pipers) in 1936. On Saturday nights musicians would gather in Thomas Street, Dublin for a session or a lesson. Naturally he met the other great players of the time such as Tommy Reck and Willie Clancy. He played again on Radio Eireann in the 1930s. He died while judging the "Fiddler of Dooney" competition in Sligo in September 1970. He was married to Helena Williams from Wexford, where Leo's grandfather and father had come from. Two generations on, Leo's grandson Kevin Rowsome is a uilleann piper and in 1999 released an album "The Rowsome Tradition". Shortly before Leo died, an album "Rí na bPíobairí" (King of the Pipers) was issued.