X:1
T:Streams of Poulaphouca, The
C:John Cash (1832-1909)
N:Cash was a piper, tinsmith and horse-trader who won first prize at
N:the Gaelic League's Oireachtas competition in 1900.
M:C
L:1/8
R:Reel
B:Breathnach - The Man and His Music (1996, p. 81)
K:D
d2 ed AFDF|AFDF ABAF|dAFD ABdB|AFDF GAGE|
d2 ed AFDF|AFDF ABAF|dAFD ABdB|AFDF ED D2:|
|:AFDF AF D2|GECE GE C2|AFDF AFDF|GECE FD D2|
(3AGF DF AF D2|(3GED CE GE C2|(3AGF DF (3AGF DF|(3GED CE FD D2:|
The falls of Poulaphouca, Wicklow.STREAMS OF POULAPHOUCA, THE. Irish, Reel (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "The Streams of Poulaphouca" was composed by uilleann piper John Cash of Wicklow (born in Wexford in 1832), a tinsmith and horse-trader by trade, who had been taught the pipes by an uncle, James Hanrahan of Tipperary. He was tall and well-built, and “although not loquacious or boastful, he had a quick tongue and he would play anything called for without fuss or comment”[1]. Unlike many pipers of his time Cash did not have to depend solely on his music for his livelihood, and made a comfortable living tinsmithing and dealing in horses. The turn-of-the-century revival in Irish music helped sustain him and Cash won first prize at the Gaelic League's Oireachtas piping competition in Dublin in 1900. His wife, Polly Connors, was renowned as a stepdancer[2]. Chicago's Chief Francis O'Neill visited him in Ireland on his trip to Ireland in 1906 and was not impressed:
After fortifying himself with a generous stimulant 'he put on the pipes', a set as wheezy and antiquatedas their owner, but his weary and uncertain manipulation of them in the effort to play 'Nora Creena', withconcords on the regulators, showed all too plainly that age and affliction had unstrung the nerves and brokenthe spirit of the old bard. In his dignity and helplessness, John Cash was a truly pathetic figure.
Cash died in 1909.
The Poulaphouca is a current in County Wicklow upon which there are falls which drew visitors ‘from near and far’ and proved a popular resort. Another piper, Patrick Toomey (who played a double chanter) held station at the falls busking for the visitors on Sundays and holidays[3].
Additional notes
Printed sources : - Breathnach (The Man and His Music), 1996; p. 81. Darley & McCall (Feis Ceoil Collection of Irish Music vol. 1), 1914; No. 31, p. 13.
