Taisce Luachmhar (Valuable Treasure) - The Piping Album

Various Artists

1. Séamus Ennis - Kitty's Rambles / Sixpenny Money (Jigs)
2. Séamus Ennis - My Bonny Boy is Young (Song)
3. Séamus Ennis - The Whistling Thief (Song)
4. Leo Rowsome - The Battering Ram / The Chorus Jig (Jigs)
5. Felix Doran - The Pigeon on the Gate / The Congress Reel (Reels)
6. Felix Doran - Doran's Fancy / The Rambling Pitchfork (Jigs)
7. Tommy Reck - The Scholar / The Salamanca / Hand Me Down the Tackle (Reels)
8. Tommy Reck - Alexander's / O'Higgins (Hornpipes)
9. Felix Doran & John Kelly - The Sligo Maid / The Maid of Mount Kisco (Reels)
10. Felix Doran & John Kelly - The Maid of Mount Kisco / Miss McLeod's (Reels)
11. Leo Rowsome - The Dairymaid / The Morning Star (Reels)
12. Leo Rowsome & Sonny Brogan - Medley of Country Dances [Port Láirge, The Girl I Left Behind Me, The Rattlin' Bog] (Polkas)
13. Leo Rowsome & Sonny Brogan - The Sligo Maid / The Boys of the Lough (Reels)
14. Uilleann Pipes Trio - including Leo Rowsome - Jackets Green / Billy Byrne [of Ballymanus] (Marches)
15. Uilleann Pipes Trio - including Leo Rowsome - Donnybrook / Saddle the Pony (Jigs)
16. Leo Rowsome's Pipes Quartet - The Hunter's Purse / Sheehan's (Reels)
17. Willie Clancy - The Bunch of Keys / Rakish Paddy (Reels)
18. Séamus Ennis - The Drunken Landlady / The Silver Spear (Reels)
19. Tommy Reck - Hand Me Down the Tackle / The Scholar / The Fermoy Lasses (Reels)

Taisce Luachmhar (Valuable Treasure) - The Piping Album features recordings made by Bill Stapleton and the Irish Recording Company in the late 1940s and the 1950s. In 1947, Bill Stapleton, a young man originally from Kilkenny, opened a recording studio on Moore Street in Dublin. As part of the studio's operations, Stapleton set up a new record label, the Irish Recording Company. The label recorded many of the leading traditional musicians of the day and planned to commercially release the music. When Bill Stapleton's plans for the Irish music label didn't work out, the master recordings were passed by Bill to Breandán Breathnach for safe-keeping. Breandán subsequently gave the records to Harry Bradshaw and now, 73 years after they were made, the piping records are finally available. The 19 tracks on the album include almost all of the leading pipers of the day, Séamus Ennis, Leo Rowsome, Felix Doran, Tommy Reck and Willie Clancy and a great variety of piping styles are represented, demonstrating the cultural richness of the piping tradition in the mid-twentieth century. The booklet included with the album features a full-length article by Harry Bradshaw on Bill Stapleton and the Irish Recording Company, short artist biographies and tune notes. An accompanying album of fiddle recordings Taisce Luachmhar (Valuable Treasure) - The Fiddle Album made by Bill Stapleton has been released by Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí (CNF011).