The county of Wexford had a wealth of pipe music over the years with John Cash, born in 1832, being the leading exponent for over fifty years up to his death in December of 1906 at the age of 74 years. "Cash the Piper" was known the length and breadth of Ireland not just for his wonderful music for he also combined the music with his trade of tinsmith and horse dealer the results of such enterprises making Cash a comparatively wealthy man. A man of fine personal appearance John Cash was always a most welcome figure at fairs, in particular, at Scarawalsh which was always held on August 16th and the great fair of Enniscorthy where at the end of a day's horse dealing Cash would don the pipes for an evening's music. A popular song of the time features Cash as the leading figure and I quote:

James Cash or 'Young Cash' as he was known was a very famous piper born in October 1853 at the village of Kilmore, Co. Wexford. Unlike his father, James did not follow the 'trade' or deal in horses but made the playing of the Uileann pipes his career and the means of earning a living. This trait of professional piper became obvious at a very early age for when the Cash family lived in Wexford town young James went missing only to be found late in the evening surrounded on Main Street by a very appreciative crowd listening with wrapt attention to the young lad’s magical playing. Playing on his miniature set of pipes James had played a circuit of the town and was laden with more silver and copper coins than his youthful frame could carry. As he grew to maturity James Cash's talents were sought by the top impresario's of the day as he fulfilled engagements at the leading theatres and music halls. He was a frequent visitor to Samuel Rowsome of Ballintore near Ferns where he was always accorded a warm welcome and the family's hospitality. After several years as a Travelling piper James Cash died at Rathdrum in Co. W1cklow in 1890 bringing to an end a short and illustrious career.

"Johnny Doran, a famous piper" ... are the words inscribed on a headstone in Trinity Cemetery in Rathnew in County Wicklow. A simple statement but to anyone interested in the uileann pipes this is the final resting place of the greatest piper Ireland ever produced and he came from the Travelling People. Imagine - a slight build of handsome, dark haired, well dressed man standing approximately 5' 6" tall. A ready smile showing firm white teeth, soft spoken voice, ­easy going. That was Johnny Doran.

Johnny was born in 1908 one of a family of five daughters and four sons to John and Kathleen Doran of Rathnew, County Wicklow. It's easy to see why the piping tradition came down from this source as John Doran was a very fine piper himself. Eventually he taught his two sons Johnny and Felix to play, so ensuring this great tradition would carry on. As John Doran said, on being complimented on his fine piping by Donal Glennon as he played in a Dublin street - "you should hear my two sons, Johnny and Felix play".

Those words became a reality for many interested musicians and listeners alike for Johnny Doran played at practically every fair and race meeting the length and breadth of Ireland. His brother followed in his footsteps some years later. Every one who heard Johnny play was immediately entranced by his style of fast flowing ornamented piping - you almost had to dance. The Galway step dancer, Paddy Philbin remembers hearing Johnny for the first times as he played outside his caravan on a fine evening - he was so taken aback by the piping that he hadn't a step. On becoming friends with Johnny he often danced to his music outside the Imperial Hotel in Galway where Johnny always played on a Saturday evening when in that area.

Local musicians in places Johnny visited became firm and fast friends with him as he tripped out their favourite tunes - Rakish Paddy, The Steam Packet, Tarbolton, Colonel Frazer and his favourite reel, the Swallow's Tail. Martin Talty, Martin Rochford and of course the great Willie Clancy from Milltown Malbay played a lot of music with Johnny following him on his travels through their native county of Clare. It was Doran who introduced Willie Clancy to the Uileann Pipes and look what happened! Willie became famous all through the world of piping.

Johnny Doran played in the open air always standing using the pipes box to rest his foot upon giving him the elevation required to rest the regulators and drones across his knee, some what like the olden pipers who used a forked stick as a crutch giving the same effect. His open air recitals were his means of support for wife and family and his professional playing always ensured the coffers were full. Unlike other Travellers who used the barrel shape caravan, Johnny used a large square top caravan drawn by a big mare as it trundled through the countryside. With the many visitors to Ireland we are now used to seeing exquisite motor driven mobiles traversing the roads all carrying their share of bicycles attached to the rear sections. Well, our Johnny Doran was ahead of all that - he always had a racing bike with him on which he set off for his 'gigs'. The drop handle bars were ideal for transporting the pipes to the venue.

lthough Johnny Doran never practised the trade of tinsmithing he had the natural ability and dexterity to fashion chanter and regulator keys for his own pipes from the bowls and handles of silver spoons which would be ideal for this work. He would use the iron band of the caravan wheel as his anvil on which to tap out the new key. He made his reeds from cane and maintained his pipes in tip top condition himself. Johnny was an excellent music reader learning a lot of his repertoire from Capt. Francis 0 'Neill's collected works. Martin Talty recollects giving Johnny a 'new' tune in manuscript form and after a few sightings of it on the Tin Whistle, Johnny would then transfer it to the pipes making his own of it with his individual ornamentation and style.

During the Second World War Johnny found it easier to settle in Dublin. Although it more or less stopped his nomadic life style for a while it was very fortunate for his music. At that time the famous Piper's Club in Thomas Street-was very active and Johnny Doran was a most welcome visitor there at the musical sessions. One of the members was a Clare man, John Kelly who had a shop in Capel Street, a Mecca for all traditional musicians visiting the metropolis, and Johnny was particularly welcome for John Kelly's wife was a native of county Wicklow. It was from his long friendship with the Kelly’s that a chance remark by Doran to John Kelly about feeling un-well that left the nation a forty minute legacy of his fine pipering.

At the time Kevin Danaher was working for the Irish Folklore Commission at Earlsfort Terrace and from a phone call from John Kelly, invited Doran to make some recordings. This was in the winter of 1947, just before Christmas.

Johnny played ten to twelve selections in one night for the princely sum of one pound per recording. Kevin Danaher recalls Johnny's fascination with the recording technique of the time - acetate recording where the stylus cut the excess wax or swarf as it rotated gathering into a ball in the centre of the disc. As Johnny played he watched this 'ball of fluff' grow larger and larger as it headed for the centre hole of the disc. On stopping, he immediately jumped for this object claiming it as a memento of this extraordinary event At the end of the session Danaher made a tentative arrangement with Johnny for further recording sessions - alas, it was not to be.

Around New Year's Day 1948 Johnny parked his caravan in the Christchurch Cathedral, near where his parents lived in New Street in the Coombe. An election was pending at the time and Johnny played at a Clann na Poblachta meeting in the Phoenix Hall and was invited to play at their final rally on the eve of the election. However four days before this event on Friday 30th January, Johnny Doran was injured when part of the wall fell on his caravan smashing it to pieces. Five members of his family were injured with Johnny having to be dug from the wreckage, from which he suffered spinal, head and stomach injuries. Johnny was forty years of age, a man in his prime. After a long illness and hospitalisation Ireland's greatest Uileann piper died on 19th January 1950.