IMRO Interview with Irish Music Legend Finbar Furey

Finbar’s father, Ted, began him on the pipes while he was very young - he doesn’t ever remember not playing pipes. He loved the instrument and spent all his spare time practising and soaking up knowledge from other pipers who would come to the house for sessions with Ted. It was normal for the likes of Leo Rowsome, Seamus Ennis, John Keenan, Felix Doran, Willie Clancy and Tommy Moore to be around to see Ted at their home in Ballyfermot in Dublin. By his teens he had won 3 All Ireland Medals, the Oireachtas and many Feisanna - in fact he was the only piper ever to win the All Ireland, the Oireachtas medal and the 4 province titles in the same year. Finbar popularised the pipes worldwide while on tour with his brother Eddie in the 60’s. Many bands followed in their wake, but the duo were awarded Single of the Year by John Peel in 1972 entirely because of the unique sound the uilleann pipes and whistle made, in the context of what was, at the time, a modern pop sound. They recei