Doras

'He played away, running from one tune into another, all the while staring at the revolving turntable'

Admired by the many people who stopped to listen to him at fairs and sporting events in the 1930s and '40s, the travelling piper Johnny Doran played an influential role in the revival of the uilleann pipes in Ireland from the 1950s onwards. He played with imagination and flair and his music continues to inspire pipers and other musicians.
Born in 1907, he grew up in the village of Rathnew, near Wicklow town. His father John was a piper and his great-grandfather was John Cash, the celebrated Wexford travelling piper. Johnny over-shadowed his brother, Felix, who was also an accomplished - and some would argue - a better piper.
By his early twenties Johnny was travelling Ireland, setting off from Dublin each spring with his family in his horse-drawn caravan, playing at fairs, races and other sporting events.
John Kelly was a fiddler and concertina player originally from south Clare. He first heard the piper at the races in Kilkee in September 1932. He remembered the crowd ringing around Doran as he played - "a small wiry man with his foot on a box and his knee up to stop the bottom of the chanter."
Ten shilling notes, half crowns and shillings were placed at the feet of the piper who, that day, according to Kelly, played a good deal of Michael Coleman's music.
Willie Clancy was in his late teens when he first heard Doran playing at the local races. He was captivated. Two years later he bought a half set with the aid of Johnny's brother, Felix.
Piper Michael Falsey remembers first seeing him around 1942 at the races on the sand at Spanish Point, near Miltown Malbay in Co Clare. An account he wrote later was published in An Piobaire: "His wife was with him, a stocky dark-complexioned woman with a light scarf tied at the back of her head. He opened the case near a marquee and put the pipes together. He stood the case on the grass and put his leg on it to balance the chanter.
"I didn't see much of the races that day as I was near the piper whenever he played and when his wife moved around with Johnny's peaked cap we gladly threw our few coppers into it."
He saw him on other occasions riding an old bicycle with the case on his back going to some fair or sporting event, or going by with his wife and young children with a pony and flat cart." Another account from west Clare describes him as "a quiet and shy retiring figure not given to too much conversation."
Falsey again" "The country house dances were in full swing those times and the Dorans were always in demand for the set dances although there were many local musicians around the area, the Dorans were a big boost to the events. A collection would be made at the door and a pound given to the piper."
Meanwhile John Kelly had migrated to Dublin where he had a shop on Capel Street. Johnny Doran was a regular visitor, enjoying Mrs Kelly's tea and homemade bread. During one such visit on a Monday in 1947, Johnny kept putting his hand to his chest as though suffering some pain or discomfort.
"I was suddenly struck by a premonition of some disaster," John Kelly said later. He left the room to phone Kevin Danagher of the Folklore Commission. Despite the late hour, they decided there and then to record the piper. John Kelly and Andy and Mick Conroy accompanied Doran across the city to Stephen's Green, and so were made they only known recordings of the famous piper.
As Breandan Breathnach wrote later: "He played away, running from one tune into another, all the while staring at the revolving turntable".
He played a concert pitch set of Leo Rowsome uilleann pipes. His playing in that session was recorded onto nine acetate discs. They are now in the sound archive of the Department of Irish Folklore at University College, Dublin. They have since been issued on tape, The Bunch of Keys, which is available from Claddagh Records in Dublin. (If not in stock, persist and you'll get a copy). There are 19 tunes and airs on the tape: Rakish Paddy is recorded twice because Johnny wasn't happy with his first attempt. John Kelly accompanied him on fiddle on The Fermoy Lasses.
So pleased was he with his recording experience that he told John Kelly he would play any time for that man (Kevin Danaher was a folklore collector and writer), whereupon a further session was agreed.
Alas fate was to determine otherwise. On January 30, 1948, Johnny Doran's caravan was parked on waste ground near Back Lane in Cornmarket, when a wall collapsed, smashing through the roof. Johnny Doran was paralysed from the waist down and sustained other injuries which were to prove fatal.
He died in St Vincent's Hospital, Athy, Co Kildare, on January 9, 1950 and is buried in Rathnew cemetery, Co Wicklow. © Ronan Nolan. 2000.
Discography
The Bunch of Keys, Johnny Doran. Comhairle Bhéaloideas Eireann.




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