Osi 010

My recent visit to Ireland served two purposes. The first purpose was a visit to the headquarters of the music organisation NA PIOBARI UILLEANN (Irish for "The uilleann pipers") to bring them a pile of cassettes and a video from my music archive so that they could copy them. Most of the material on the cassettes and the video was recorded during the late 1980's. The musician on the cassettes and video was Tommy Reck, one of the very best uilleann pipers of his generation. I took up the uilleann pipes in 1977 and right from the start, Tommy's music fascinated me. Unfortunately, there would be little chance to see him in action as he had long withdrawn himself from the music scene. In 1989, Tommy was a widower in his late sixties and he started performing in public again on a few special occasions. I contacted him straightaway and invited him to come over to Holland as guest of honor during our annual TIONOL for the Dutch uilleann pipers. Tommy stayed with me and we became friends. My last visits to Tommy were in 1991 when he was terminally ill and no longer able to play music. By then, my own piping was heavily influenced by Tommy's unique style which is considered by many as "a corner stone under Irish traditional music". Fortune had it that an antique set of uilleann pipes was offered for sale during my stay in Dublin and their owner invited me to come and see the pipes. It was a day never to be forgotten, starting with a live broadcast for RTE, then a visit to the owner of the antique pipes and finally my last visit to Tommy before returning to Holland. The owner of the antique pipes kindly agreed to swap the set for a good chanter plus 90 Irish Pounds which was my last money. Then I cycled to Tommy's place in Walkinstown, knowing well that we would not see each other again. Even in his bad condition Tommy showed great interest in the antique pipes. He died two months later, aged seventy and the many recordings made of his music remained a major source of inspiration for me as a piper ever since. A year ago, NA PIOBAIRI UILLEANN contacted me about the recordings. I invited my brother Guus to join me on the trip to Dublin and he accepted. I also contacted two Dublin models for photo shoots. The trip was canceled at the last moment because my brother was suddenly diagnosed with a terminal illness.  He died in November, aged 58. Last month I did the trip to Dublin in the company of my climbing partner (and model) Marieke. The photo shoot with Osi was scheduled on the final day in Dublin and I combined this with a visit to NPU to pick up the Tommy Reck recordings. NPU kindly agreed that we could do the photo shoot in their headquarters in Henrietta Street. Osi and I selected the glasses in Henrietta Street and as the weather was fine, we then headed to the gardens of the King's Inn, just around the corner. End of story!