Francis McPeake, who has died aged 82, was a third-generation Irish uilleann piper in the Belfast-based McPeake family, attracting attention not only from the Irish traditional music community, but also the English folk music scene and the world of popular music. Francis III, to distinguish him from other members of the family, gave John Lennon a lesson on playing the pipes at a party for the Beatles, and the family’s music was also revered by Bob Dylan, Bono, Pete Seeger and Van Morrison.
The first piping McPeake was Francis I, who learned to play from John O’Reilly, a blind piper. Francis I won competitions and in 1910 attended the Pan-Celtic Congress in Brussels. At this time, there were very few pipers in Ulster and Francis’s rarity was enhanced by his unprecedented practice of playing the pipes to accompany his singing of traditional songs.
