Irish Pipers Club of Boston Holds Reunion Concert on April 19, 1917

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The Irish Pipers Club of Boston held its 2nd Annual Reunion on Thursday, April 19, 1917, at Paine Memorial Hall on Appleton Street in the South End.  Nearly 1,500 people attended, according to a story in The Boston Globe.  

Both modern and Irish dancing were being offered: the hall for the Gaelic dancers was being directed by the well-known Kerry born Hanafin brothers, Michael, William and Cornelius. 

Other performers included Joseph Mack, John Marrion, Thomas O'Connell, Shawn McDonough, the McDonough brothers, Bert Lynch, Michael Kelliher and Andrew Farrell. 

A special competition of Irish dances was scheduled, with winners taking home silver cups. In addition the Hanafin children were being featured in a four-in-hand reel.

Formed in 1910, the Irish Pipers Club of Boston held its first official concert on January 11, 1910, at Wells Memorial Hall at 978 Washington Street in the South End, part of a vibrant traditional Irish music scene at the time in Boston.

A number of uilleann pipers were born in Boston or settled here in the 19th and 20th centuries.  Edward White, known as the Dandy Piper, had a music store on Ruggles Street in Roxbury, and advertised frequently in the Boston Pilot, offering lessons on the pipes as well as reed making.  Other pipers included Patsy Touhey, whose family emigrated from Galway to South Boston in 1868 when Patsy was three; Eddie 'the kid' Joyce, born in South Boston in 1861; Owen Cunningham of Loughrea, who settled in Boston; Bartley Murphy of South Boston and his son Johnny Murphy; and William F. Hanafin of Kerry, who was one of the founders of the Irish Pipers Club along with his brothers Michael and Cornelius.  

For information on Irish piping in Boston today, check out the Boston Uilleann Pipers Club.

In Boston, the local Reynolds-Hanafin-Cooley chapter of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann includes mention of Michael Hanafin, an important influence on the Boston Irish music scene in the late 19th century, and a member of the original Boston Irish Pipers Club.


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