MILTOWN MALBAY - The sun was declining into a calm Atlantic Ocean and level with the Cliffs of Moher as I made my way down the scenic west coast of Clare on a brilliant late spring Saturday night for a night of majestic uilleann piping.

Given that it was still April, it didn't have anything to do with the famous Willie Clancy Summer School that dominates these shores come the first week of July. Rather, it was the annual Doran Centenary Piping Tionol that was paying homage to the legacy of Johnny and Felix Doran, the pipers from the traveling community, or pavees, in another parlance.

In its second year at the beautiful Bell Bridge Hotel in Spanish Point overlooking the rolling waves of the strand there, the weekend program was marking the 100th year of the birth of Johnny Doran, who captivated musicians all over Ireland in an abbreviated life.

Organized over three days (April 25-27) by Oliver O'Connell, Mickey Dunne, Michael and Leo Richard and supported by Na Piobairi Uilleann and the Arts Council of Ireland, it sought to acknowledge the legacy of the Dorans, particularly in the home of traditional music in Clare where they inspired local musicians like the late Willie Clancy from Miltown and John Kelly Senior from Kilbaha.

Foremost on the bill was a special guest from America, Paddy Keenan, himself a travelling piper resident in the U.S. for a number of years who arrived Friday in time to give the opening the first night and perform in the gala Saturday evening performance.

A roadside accident a couple of years prior led to Doran's early demise in January of 1950 at the age of only 42. That same month and year Keenan was born, and a piping legacy was awaiting him first with the Bothy Band and then his own solo career highlighted by his recording of the Long Grazing Acre as he was part of that traveling music community that gave so much music all around Ireland.

The concert also featured John Rooney from Nottingham, who was grand-nephew of the Dorans and he also played the pipes.

In recognition of the pivotal role that John Kelly of West Clare played in getting Doran recorded by Kevin Danaher of the Folklore Commission, the only recordings of his playing, the current John Kelly family from Dublin took to the stage fittingly enough in Clare near their roots on the western edge of the Banner County.

There wasn't a piper in their band of three fiddles and a concertina, but the unmistakable Kelly touch was ever present in their music, giving credit to John Kelly Senior who was known from Clare to Dublin as one of the greats in Irish music and seminal influences through his Capel Street shop and home.

Another family on display were the Dunnes from nearby Limerick, represented by piper Mick Dunne and his fiddling daughter Brid, currently studying for a masters in traditional performance at UL. They invited NPU's John Blake up to accompany them on guitar, always a welcome addition to any stage line-up.

The penultimate performer was Finbar Furey, who told stories and sang songs that bore out the contributions of the traveling community and the pipers like the Dorans to the world of Irish music which allowed him to have a successful career in it along with his family. He even played the "Lonesome Boatman" on the low whistle, and eventually donned the piping rig-out for some tunes.

The concert finished with all the featured pipers on stage for the obligatory reels to finish, though there was one last memorable interlude where Keenan and Furey shared an Irish air that cut to the heart and reminded you of why the uilleann pipes hold such a special place in Irish music.

As you might have imagined, the music went on for hours afterwards in sessions and well into Sunday. It was hard to tear myself away from a gorgeous quiet session in a side room off the main bar, with the Kelly family at the guts of it with some other musicians whose family pedigree was fairly similar though the locales may be different.

The thought wasn't lost on me that while old John Kelly came from just miles down the Clare coast on that fabled western peninsula, his music had travelled up to Dublin along with him. On this weekend he paid a welcome return visit honoring both he and Johnny Doran and the legacies they left.

The drive home to the maternal homestead back up the coast beyond Lahinch may have been darker, but the lovely music continued to swirl around in my head as going west along that road was made ever more poignant for what I had just witnessed this beautiful Saturday's eve in West Clare.