“Squeeze your Bag” - Belturbet Nyah concert to celebrate Irish piping
Highly acclaimed uilleann piper Brian McNamara will lead a host of top musicians performing at a special concert in the Widow’s Bar, Belturbet on Sunday 9th March, being held in honour of the town’s great traditional music teacher and pipes player PJ Flood.
Perhaps the most fascinating and complex of all the instruments in Irish traditional music, the uilleann pipes will be celebrated in what promises to be a wonderful night of music appropriately titled “Squeeze your Bag” as part of this year’s Nyah Festival.
The highlight of the night, which gets going at 8pm in the Widow’s fine new Upstairs Folk Club, will be the launch of the brilliant new “Reed Only” CD, which features Brian’s exceptional piping paired up with the equally excellent concertina playing of west Limerick’s Tim Collins. Accompanying the pair on bouzouki will be Mayo-based Mick Conneely (who also plays on the CD and is himself one of the finest traditional fiddlers of the modern era).
A number of great musicians have been lined up for the show, including Padraig McGovern, another top-flight south Leitrim piper who’ll be joined by John McCartin on guitar, and Sligo fiddler Oisin Mac Diarmada of the well-known band Téada, to be backed by fellow band member Sean McElwaine on guitar and banjo.
The event will also feature a song or two from Fermanagh’s Gabriel McArdle, who is unmatched in the Ulster singing tradition. One or two more verses — perhaps “as Gaeilge”, and with the bit of craic thrown in — will be sung by Brian Mullen, a well-known sean-nós singer and radio presenter from Derry.
MC on the night is Mattie Joe Shéamais Ó Fatharta of Raidió na Gaeltachta, another great radio host who’s not unknown to the Irish language singing tradition.
The new “Reed Only” CD from Brian McNamara and Tim Collins has been getting rave reviews from all quarters, let it be specialist music magazines or the Irish Times. Siobhan Long of the Times calls it “one of the most refined, high-stepping collections of tunes to seep into the ether this year”, while noted critic Earl Hitchner of the Irish Echo hails it the album of the year for 2007, offering “peerless peering and rapturous listening pleasure”. To Professor Mick Moloney of New York University it’s “a magnificent album, simultaneously timeless and yet very much of its time”. There’s plenty more, but you get the message.
If anyone deserves to have a night with musicians of this calibre laid on in recognition of their contribution to promoting the tradition it’s PJ Flood of Belturbet, who has been playing and teaching the music for over fifty years. PJ has teamed up with many musicians and groups over the years including the Conor O’Reilly Ceili Band and the Eugene Leddy Ceili Band, turning his hand to tin-whistle, flute and sometimes even fiddle. But the uilleann pipes were always his favourite.
It’s fitting then that Brian McNamara, a magnificent exponent on the instrument heads the cast at the Squeeze your Bag event. Like PJ before him, Brian has also acquired a reputation as a master tutor of the pipes, drawing on his academic scholarship skills and deep musical understanding to make him a most sought-after instructor and performer.
Over the last decade, Brian has traversed the world with his music and work. His musicianship and teaching skills have been exercised on all continents including USA, Asia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
He has produced a of number of seminal and award winning recordings including “Leitrim’s Hidden Treasure” (voted Best Newcomer of 1997 in Irish Music Magazine), two critically acclaimed solo albums “A Piper’s Dream” (2000), and “Fort of the Jewels” (2004), and now of course, “Reed Only” (find out more on <www.piperbrian.com>).
Music at the Widow’s continues following the concert with a session in the downstairs lounge featuring Donal O’Reilly, Martin Smith, Aishling McPhillips and friends from 10 o’clock on. Too much is never enough, so be sure to pencil Sunday 9th March into your diary!
Tickets for this teeming-with-talent celebration of Irish music and the pipes in particular are great value at €15, and can be got from Brendan at the Widow’s (049 952 2274), or Martin at (086 234 2270).