Presteigne Irish Music:
Traditional Irish Music in Wales
our e-mail address is brixton@btinternet.com

Please note, we are now at 9 Harpers Lane, Presteigne, Powys, LD8 2AN
Telephone 00 44 1544 260577
Fax 00 44 1544 260677

ALAN KELLY AND ANDY IRVINE

WILL BE PLAYING
AT THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS PRESTEIGNE
ON SATURDAY 1 AND SUNDAY 2 AUGUST 1998
TICKETS £5 - £10 call 00 44 1544 260577

Our IRISH MUSIC DAY is on Sunday 2 August 1998.
To be held in the Garden of the Radnorshire Arms Presteigne 1300 - 1800

Featured musicains will be
Hoover the Dog - Traditional Irish band - local.
Tony Sullivan - All Ireland banjo Champion
Benji Kirkpatrick - Bouzouki, to coincide with the release of his CD
Alan Burke - Irish singer songwriter guitarist.
Alan Kelly - Accordion star from Roscommon via Galway

Andy Irvine- founder member of Planxty
Chris Knowles - Irish Harp
All day session at the Radnorshire Arms
Set Dancing Workshop


Paddy Keenan played at the Assembly Rooms, Presteigne,
Wednesday 21 January 1998. at 7.30 p.m
He was astonishing! Great to see him sparring with Cathal Hayden

There is a feature about Paddy Keenan below this information slot

The Presteigne Irish Music Society.

Founded to promote the tuition and performance of Irish Music in the
Marches, the Presteigne Irish Music Society recognises the unique
geographical position of Presteigne as a unifying focus for Irish and
English traditional music.

Presteigne, 15 miles North West of Hay on Wye, has for 20 years been
renowned for its September Folk and Classical music festivals. This
year, for the second year, the Presteigne Irish Music Society is adding
the 1998 August 2nd. Irish Music day to its already busy schedule of concerts,
classes and workshops.

Musicians from Ireland find Presteigne a particularly welcome stopping
off point en route to and from Ireland, as Dublin is only 2½ hours
away by plane and road, or 4 hours by sea and road.

The Presteigne Irish Music society offers a programme of education and
performance which aims to include all visiting artists in
masterclasses, talks, and workshops.

In January 1997 Martin Hayes took part in two events in Presteigne, a
sell-out fiddle workshop and concert at the Presteigne Assembly Rooms,
and Sharon Shannon visited in April 1997. In June 1997, Dervish stayed for two
days, gave us a sell out concert at the Presteigne Leisure Centre, and
ran a Workshop and Session. Bandamania, Presteigne's Community folk
orchestra, were led by Dervish for their June 9 workshop, and by the
end of the evening had learned a host of Irish traditional standards.

Later they heard innumerable Sligo tunes, beautifully played by
Dervish in the Farmers Arms, to which they had retired after the
workshop.

The Presteigne Irish Society is also teaming up with the Birmingham
branch of Comhaltas Ceiltori Eireann to promote Irish Set dancing and
singing in Presteigne.

In October 1997 Altan visited, playing one of only two UK dates
away from Mary Black, whom they were supporting on her "Shine" tour.
Like Dervish, they stayed 2 days, and gave us a session in the Duke's Arms
on the Monday evening. Regulars were amazed to hear the voice of
Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh with her rendition of "I wish my love" rising
above a crowded, but hushed crowd of locals. The evening ended at 1.30 a.m.
with a hectic finale, The two Ciarans, Dermot and Diathi, and Mairead,
together with a substantial assortment of Irish music affcianados belting
out a medley of Donegal standards to an astonished audience

Presteigne has established itself as a key port of call for touring
Irish musicians, and looks forward to an increasing number of events
featuring musicians who have travelled specially over from Ireland to
take part in one of the UK's most vibrant Irish music scenes.

For further information contact Alex Dufort or Gill Wilson on 00 44
1544 231200, e-mail brixton@btinternet.com or write to Presteigne Irish Music Society, Presteigne,
LD8 2LW.
Paddy Keenan played at the Assembly Rooms, Presteigne,
Wednesday 21 January 1997. at 7.30 p.m.
Tickets £STG 6.00, 7.50 and 10.00
from Presteigne Irish Music 00 44 1544 231200


PADDY KEENAN

Reprinted from `Traditional Music in Ireland' by Tomas o Canainn.
Published 1993 by Ossian Publications Ltd. Cork, Ireland.


Paddy Keenan is the third generation of Keenan pipers and is
unquestionably the finest of them. His father, John, himself a
fine piper, and his brothers who play a little, all acknowledge
Paddy as the master.

He began to play the pipes at twelve years of age, having played
the tin whistle for some years before that, as well as
experimenting with other instruments. His father made him a bag,
bellows and chanter and gave it to him one morning, saying: `If
you can play a tune when I come back tonight, I'll see what I can
do about getting you the full set of pipes.' Paddy could play
part of the reel `Rakish Paddy' on the chanter that evening and
his piping career started forthwith, under his father's tuition.

John Keenan senior, was a hard taskmaster as John Connors, their
neighbour and a fine musician himself, testifies

`By God, I'm telling you Paddy learned the hard way. He got Paddy
up in this room in the house and for three solid hours that chap
had to get on there and if he made a mistake at all-- a slap on
the lug. It was beaten into him and that's how he has it today.
It was beaten into him. If he made a mistake: "Quit! " A slap
across the face. "Quit! You're not to make a mistake there. I'll
put out this light: you'll get no light for an hour. I'll go down
to the kitchen and if I hear a mistake I'll come up and I'll do
this with you and I'll do that with you." He had to learn it the
hard way.

Paddy himself is aware that his own piping is something special
but he is very modest about it. He is aware that his style stems
from that of the famous piper Johnny Doran and he has consciously
fashioned his piping on the Doran style, via his father, and with
the assistance of old recordings made by the Irish Folklore
Commission. He is somewhat reticent about discussing himself and
his piping method lest anyone should feel that he is, as he says
himself, `bigheaded '.

Most of the pipers today are Rowsome's pupils--they all seem to
have the same style--it's open style--a nice style, but nothing
special about it. I prefer a mixture of a lot, but flowing in the
Johnny Doran way. There was a sort of a wildness in his
playing.... There's not very many really good pipers around. . .

When you look back on the people who are dead, Touhy, Doran,
Cash, you know you wouldn't have much time for listening to the
pipers of today. Most of them are so bigheaded about their
styles, too. They won't stop and listen for a while and find out
what it's all about.'

The author has never before encountered such a complete piper.
There seems to be no aspect of Uilleann piping in which he is not
expert. His chanter playing has all the fluid movement that one
associates with the travelling pipers of a previous generation.
Close and open fingering come equally easily to him and the
double or treble rolling so typical of Johnny Doran is possibly
the most significant and characteristic aspect of his chanter
playing.

Paddy himself is responsible for a number of piping innovations.
Possibly the most controversial among pipers is his introduction
of a very fast treble or double treble on the back D note of the
chanter, not unlike the bowed treble that the fiddler gets on the
open string. The reaction of many pipers to this is that it is
just not traditional piping. While this is certainly true, it
nevertheless remains a fact that the piper was unable to perform
any very convincing decoration on the back D note before the
introduction of this Keenan treble. It may be argued against its
use that the basis of good piping decoration is variety in the
successive notes used in decorations, as witness the traditional
rolls, cutting and cranning used by all pipers. None the less,
the very same arguments could be used against trebling on the
fiddle. It seems to the author that Keenan's inventiveness here
has filled a gap in piping technique and has created a piping
decoration which is already taking its place in the tradition.
Paddy Keenan's use of the bottom hole on the chanter is again an
illustration of his inventive approach to piping. The majority of
pipers do not move the little finger independently but generally
move it and the third finger together to move from low D to E.
The author has heard a small number of pipers, notably Seamus
Ennis, use the little finger for E flat in jumping up to a higher
note on the chanter, particularly in airplaying, but none of
them uses it in the chromatic movement from E to E flat and back
to E that Paddy Keenan employs in a few tunes.

Purists, of course, would criticise the introduction of the
chromaticism into diatonic tunes but Paddy Keenan uses it very
tastefully and effectively in a small number of tunes, at least
one of which was composed by himself.

His accompaniment on the regulators is certainly the most
enterprising and at the same time possibly the most subtle that
the author has heard. One is struck by the change in his style of
regulator playing over a number of years. Old tapes show that he
formerly played the normal continuous vamping style employed by
most pipers. The change to a more subtle and artistic method was
a conscious one, based on a study of old recordings of Johnny
Doran

`When I was younger I used to play double beat through a tune.
It was all bump-bump-bump with the tune itself, and it wasn't
until I heard Doran's playing, you know, that I got the
regulatoring I have today in between hold-on, trebling, doubling,
it's a mixture of the lot. It's a lot nicer, too.'

As far as Paddy Keenan is concerned one cannot be a piper if one
does not play the regulators, and his own mastery of them is
complete. Sometimes he uses the heel of the hand, while at other
times he strikes the top regulator with his wrist, well above the
joint. There is not really any obvious repetitive pattern in his
playing such as one meets in the playing of most other pipers: he
is just as likely to hold a long single note as play a series of
vamping chords or pick out a countermelody on the regulators with
his right hand, and his accompaniment can change fundamentally
when the tune is repeated.

He arranges the top two regulators to face each other so that
they are close together for chord playing and he tunes the bass
regulators away from them, towards his body, thus leaving the
centre regulator easily accessible for single notes. This would
be very difficult with the standard regulator layout. The fact
that the bass regulator is turned towards him makes it easily
available for the playing of single notes. Its position also
brings it near the chanter and makes possible another Keenan
innovation, the playing of bass notes, particularly B and C, with
the thumb, while both hands still play the chanter. Paddy has a
very keen ear and this has a considerable influence on his
regulator playing as it often decides which note he plays:

`If I was playing for a while in a warm place and the pipes were
going out of tune I might be off - say the A in the tenor - so I'd
pick out single keys, the ones that are in tune.... I've sort of
got used to it, but mostly I like to get a chord. Even on a sharp
tap I like to get the full chord there.'
He is certainly the most fastidious tuner of pipes that the
author has encountered. In between tunes he continues to adjust
reeds and drones and even slits rushes to insert in the
regulators to compensate for pitch changes caused by the heat of
the room. All this is not the kind of affectation practised by
some older pipers but is done quickly and efficiently. He knows
what he wants and gets it without undue fuss. Even pieces of
sticking plaster are taken out of his pipebox to half cover the
holes of notes which have risen in pitch, and he is not averse to
sandpapering a reed between performances. The overall result is,
of course, music which is in tune at all times. Unfortunately
this is not so common as it should be among other pipers.

He is a fine reed-maker and has made reeds for at least one pipe
maker as well as keeping his own pipes well fitted with them. His
reed-making started before he began to play the pipes, and he
learned this skill from his father. His first reeds were made
from elder, as there was an elder tree growing beside the house.
He has memories of himself and his father playing pipes until
five o'clock in the morning and being thankful for the tone of
the elder reeds, which was quieter than cane and so more
acceptable to neighbours, not to mention one's own family, at
that time of day!

Paddy's pipes were made by Denis Crowley of Cork, who died some
years ago, and the chanter by the lately deceased Leo Rowsome of
Dublin. Paddy himself has replaced both bag and bellows with ones
of Keenan manufacture.

His attitude to reedmaking is unusual. The measurement of the
reed-staple and the cane and bridle details are normally
carefully guarded secrets, but while he admits to having got his
reedmaking skill from his father and some measurements from Matt
Kiernan, who makes chanters, he does not believe in slavishly
following measurements. His good ear enables him to adjust the
finished product to correct tuning and allows for considerable
tolerance in the initial staple and cane measurements:

`Making reeds and that, you've got to have a good ear. I mean,
there's no sense in making a reed, calling yourself a reed-maker,
if you can't tune them. It's a good thing to make your own
reeds anyway.'

The various points of Paddy Keenan's technique enumerated above,
and the details of his approach to piping, still leave one far
short of a proper appreciation of his style. Certainly a
knowledge of the sum total of his technical achievements does not
prepare one for the excitement of his playing. His fluid rolling
style of piping is further heightened by his sure instinct for
the right place to decorate the melody or even to interrupt its
flow by a staccato passage of exceptional brilliance. All the
time one feels a kind of controlled wildness in the playing,
reminiscent of the famous travelling piper Johnny Doran. The same
approach to performance is evident, a willingness to risk
everything for success, all the time reaching out for the
difficult but rewarding turn or variation rather than taking the
easy way around a musical problem. One gets the impression of a
performance which is not, as it were, preprogrammed, but is
allowed to find its own way into situations which call for
improvisation of a high order to bring one back to comparative
safety.

`There's a lot of things I do on a chanter, say, that other
pipers don't do. I don't really think a lot about it. I like to
be able to do it and all that, but you get so used to doing it,
you know. I've been doing it for years now, playing the same way:
it's improving all the time. It's like I play a tune once and
play it again, it's different - you'd never hardly play it the one
way: well I don't think I do, anyway. I just sit and play and let
it come. I don't really think about how I'm going to play it or
what I'm going to play, or what I'm going to do, or maybe a split
second before I do it I'll think about it and shove it in.

`You can destroy a tune by putting too much of something into it,
like too much rolling, too much tight fingering or some thing
like that. You've got to have the right place to put it and know
when you're putting it there and he [Johnny Doran] had it, you
know....'

Reprinted from `Traditional Music in Ireland' by Tomas o Canainn.
Published 1993 by Ossian Publications Ltd. Cork, Ireland.