(b Dublin, 5 April 1903; d Riverstown, Co. Sligo, 20 Sept 1970). Irish uilleann piper and pipe maker. Descended from a line of Wexford uilleann pipers and pipe makers, Rowsome epitomized the instrument nationally during a period of decline, and was influential in ensuring its survival and rise to present popularity. He had early successes in competitions of the Gaelic League, and regular appearances in London concerts of the League led to the making of many 78 r.p.m. recordings there from 1925. He also played on early Irish radio from 1926, and on early BBC television, and all his life performed widely throughout Ireland. As a teacher in the Dublin College of Music for 50 years, and as a member of clubs such as the Dublin Pipers Club and Na Píobairí Uilleann (the Society of Uilleann Pipers), he passed on pipe music, techniques and lore to generations of younger pipers, orally and in manuscript. In 1936 his Tutor for the Uileann Pipes was published in Dublin. As a maker of uilleann pipes and reeds, and a repairer, Rowsome supplied pipers world-wide for decades.
Rí na bPíobairí The King of the Pipers (Shanachie 34001, 1992)
Classics of Irish Piping, perf. L. Rowsome, Topic TS CD 471 (1993)
L. Rowsome: Leo Rowsome: the Man I Knew (Dublin, 1995)
NICHOLAS CAROLAN