Sean McAloon

[gerrymceltic]

Can anyone give me some history on Sean?
Cheers.

[djm]

Well, he's dead.

Beyond that, NPU has a CD on him called Piping From the Archives - Volume 1. Robbie Hannan gives an account of Sean in the jacket. Get the CD.

djm

[gerrymceltic]

I know he's dead,but being new to this whole piping thing,I was just looking for some background on him,as an Uncle has just give me an old CD featuring Sean on it.
Cheers.

[Rick]

Well, he's dead.

djm

roflmaowpimp

[billh]

Sean was a well-known reedmaker for flat sets. He also amassed an enormous collection of pipes, I am told, including many old flat sets, many of which I believe he subsequently dispatched in various combinations to players throughout Ireland.

At one time he lived in a thatched cottage, if IRC there's a photo of himself and his wife outside the cottage, with his fiddle, in the long-out-of-print "Northern Fiddler" collection.

He often played with a hammered-dulcimer player named John Rea or something similar.

Bill

(I figured it was time somebody gave a serious reply )

[Cayden]

At one time he lived in a thatched cottage, if IRC there's a photo of himself and his wife outside the cottage, with his fiddle, in the long-out-of-print "Northern Fiddler" collection.

I am not quite sure that's the same Sean McAloon, Bill.

McAloon lived in an area of Belfast tha tgot more than it's share of sectarian troubles, I remember a story where a number of people were visiting him. Outside the RUC and the army were combing the street. AT some point McAloon picked up the body of a set of pipes and held them up t osee if the drone alignment was straight (and think, lit livingroom, open curtains, dark street, soldiers outside). Those in the room all disappeared under the table before pulling Sean to the floor for fear the soldiers would not understand he was aiming a set of drones at the window.

[billh]

At one time he lived in a thatched cottage, if IRC there's a photo of himself and his wife outside the cottage, with his fiddle, in the long-out-of-print "Northern Fiddler" collection.

I am not quite sure that's the same Sean McAloon, Bill.

Possibly, though I thought he did play fiddle. I always wondered about the cottage vs. the fact it was said he lived in Belfast. As my copy of Northern Fiddler isn't here, I can't check photos.

Great story Peter.

Bill

[Jim McGuire]

Sean did spend some time in America.

[sean an piobaire]

Before I left for Ireland, I had the 2 LP's that Sean McAloon(RIP)had been on: the Topic Record, with the hammered dulcimer player John Rea, and the Dobbin's Flowery Vale LP ( a few piping tracks,which a friend got from the Ulster Folk Museum) I came to Northern Ireland on the ferry from Scotland with Sean (Shuggie) O' Rourke, the flute player for the JSD band (and later ALBA). It was August, 1975, and deep in the troubles of those times. After getting through a complete 2 hour police inspection at the Larne docks, we headed south to Belfast. Coming in to the city, the sweep of the Belfast Lough reminded me of driving into San Francisco, from San Jose. Shuggie and I were in my ORANGE mini with a Glasgow number plate, a sort of "Prods on the Road" advert. The barriers and ramps(speed bumps) and armored car crews shouting out "Turn Out Your Lights", made for slow going. I put on just the parking lamps and couldn't see anything as the street lights were out and it was a pitch black night. We were lost for some time...we did get into the "Falls" area though, and a gang of skinheads threw paving stones at us, Shug's remark was "I no like the look o' this! Let's get oot o' here! Finally, we found a barrier gate that wasn't closed, and got to the Dublin Road. There was more to that "leg" of my trip, but suffice to say I spent a month and a half going around the rest of the island, and in and out of the north. I mention all this because it was my intent to visit ALL the pipers I could, and that included Sean McAloon, Frank McFadden, the McPeakes, Trevor Stewart of the Irish Country Four, and many other musicians. I had to get back to Scotland and because of my prior experience, I knew I'd have to go to Belfast during the day. I spent the most time with Sean McAloon, and he was very "guarded" when he opened the door to his house, he asked me what business I was on. I told him I was a piper and that I had the Kennedy set the Northumbrian Half Longs, AND the Small pipes. Sean literaly pulled me in, hard, by the arm and he told me that a neighbor had just been shot 3 doors down the street, just that morning. The tea and the pipes came out and I got to hear him play the D Rowsome set he had. He had studied at one time with Leo and he was trying to "make a fist" of the clipped, syncopated, style of O'Meally, He had the tapes of the O'Meally cyclinders, from Brendan Breathnach, and he showed me an O'Meally set that was undergoing repairs, re-reeding etc. I told him about the O'Meally set that Paddy O'Neill had played out in San Francisco, and Sean wanted to know if that set was for sale? I told him "No the current owner won't sell it for any consideration". Sean was disappointed, as he wanted all the Ulster sets back in Ulster. Sean really loved the smallpipes and had me pull out all the drone beads, to get all 4 drones going and put them in all the different tunings "More Drones, More Drones" he'd say, as I played through my repetoire. All of this took till dark with a quick repeat of the
"Lost in Belfast" story, but I got to a hotel in BallyGalley, one of the nine glens of Antrim, and spent the next day with Morris Crum and Leo McCafferty( of his "showband"fame, I met them in Vancouver B.C. 1974), in Larne and Ballymena, I eventualy got back to Scotland.....
Sean McAloon was one of the most dedicated pipers I ever met!
Sean Folsom

[Lorenzo]

I mention all this because it was my intent to visit ALL the pipers I could, and that included Sean McAloon, Frank McFadden, the McPeakes, Trevor Stewart of the Irish Country Four, and many other musicians.

I got an email from Stewart Trevor a couple years ago. I reminded him of the Irish Country Four (gotta love that album!), much to his shagrin. He said he plays a Rogge set nowadays. Boyd, a member here on C&F, meets up with him once in a while for some tunes. Stewart works at the Belfast Telegraph, the national newspaper of Northern Ireland.

Here's a great picture of Trevor.
http://www.belfastfolk.co.uk/gallery2/menu.asp?p=21

[Kerryman]

There are a couple of pics of Sean here http://www.uilleannobsession.com/diary_2005.html

Liam

[gerrymceltic]

Thanks for all your replies.
Gerry