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Details were recently announced of the first US tour since 1997
by master uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn & The Piper's Call Band.
The Tour which is scheduled for March 2001 has already a number
of high profile concerts including, The World Music Institute in
New York. The tour which is still booking promises to be the highlight
of The Band's calendar for 2001. With a number of dates still to
be confirmed, Helen Bommarito, Liam's US agent is confident the
tour will be a big success. Be sure to check back for updated tour
schedule.
Liam O'Flynn &
The Piper's Call Band US Tour 2001
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Date
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Venue
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Apperaring With
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Mar 15th
|
State University, Chico, CA |
The Piper's Call Band
Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill |
| Mar 17th |
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ |
The Piper's Call Band
Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill |
| Mar 19th |
Freight & Salvage, Berkeley, CA |
The Piper's Call Band |
| Mar 20th |
Kuumbwa, Santa Cruz, CA For Info, celtsoc
or Ph 408-847-6982 |
The Piper's Call Band |
| Mar 21st |
Venue TBC, Sebastopol, CA |
The Piper's Call Band |
| Mar 23th |
First Presbyterian Theater, Fort Wayne, Indiana (More
Info) |
The Piper's Call Band
Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill |
| Mar 24th |
Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL. 2 Shows |
The Piper's Call Band
Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill |
| Mar 25th |
Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN |
The Piper's Call Band |
| Mar 28th |
KUOW 94.9 FM in Seattle, WA (2.30-3.00pm) |
The Piper's Call Band
Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill |
| Mar 29th |
Mt. Si High School for 'Snoqualmie Valley Live', North
Bend, WA. |
The Piper's Call Band
Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill |
| Mar 30th |
Washington Center for Performing Arts Olympia, WA. (More
Info) |
The Piper's Call Band
Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill |
| Mar 31st |
Meany Theater, Univ. of Washington Seattle, WA |
The Piper's Call Band
Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill |
| Apr 1st |
Lincon Theatre, Mt. Vernon, WA. |
The Piper's Call Band
Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill |
Liam O'Flynn & The Piper's
Call Band
Each concert by Liam O'Flynn and The Piper's Call
Band is a unique event. The core members of The Piper's Call Band
are Arty McGlynn on guitar and Liam Bradley on percussion, whose
immense talents provide the perfect setting for Liam's piping. The
band are regularly joined by friends and guests who each bring a
special magic to the show. Because of the calibre of musicians,
endless rehearsals that can erode the spontaneity of a concert are
a very rare event with Liam and the band, thus ensuring each concert
is a special event for the musicians and audience alike.
Liam and the band have performed acclaimed concerts
at The Royal Albert Hall (as part of the prestigious BBC Proms concert
series), Dublin's National Concert Hall, Glasgow's Celtic Connections
Festival, Barcelona's Palau de la Musica, Lorient's Interceltique
Festival, Denmark's Tonder Festival, Krakow's St. Catherine's Cathedral
and London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. In addition to these concerts
Liam and 'The Band have also had a number of very successful tours
in Ireland, France, Spain, Finland and Italy as well as a coast
to coast tour of America and Canada. In all cases standing ovations
and rave reviews were a regular occurrence
Arty
McGlynn has been performing with Liam for many years. He
comes from a family steeped in traditional music. He is one of the
most sought after musicians and producers in Ireland working with
most of the country's top artists. Arty's picking of tunes is hugely
impressive, the impact he has made to the use of guitar in traditional
Irish music, is beyond question.
Liam
Bradley, Who also hails from the north of Ireland has now established
himself in the elite of percussion players not only in Ireland,
but on a wider international scene. Over the last ten years he has
worked with top Irish artists such as Frances Black, Dolores Keane,
Brian Kennedy, Maura O'Connell, Kieran Goss, Mary Black and Eleanor
McEvoy. In addition to which he has also recorded and toured with
household names such as Van Morrison, Sinead O'Connor and The Chieftains.
Derryborn Frank Gallagher has worked with many artists since
leaving university with a master's degree in music.For the past
eight years he has played violin,viola,whistles and keyboards with
Mary Black.In addition to recording and touring extensively with
Mary he has worked with Sinead O'Connor,Ronan Keating,Midge Ure,Bonnie
Tyler, Ralph McTell and Nightnoise.As a producer and arranger Frank
has worked with Charlotte Church,James Galway,Phil Coulter and the
Celtic Tenors, and he has also composed and orchestrated for TV
and film.
The Piper's Call Band Reviews
Through an expertly controlled selection
of jigs, reels and slow airs O'Flynn built up an emotive, expressive
mood of music that is both of its time and timeless. Cynics might
argue (and occasionally I might agree) that between the jigs and the
reels all traditional music sounds the same. Experience a Liam O'Flynn
concert and you will have to think otherwise.
Tony Clayton-Lea - Irish Times
The Liam O'Flynn band played with a classical symmetry
and precision indicative of the early formality of Irish dance music.
Liam himself is of the inscrutable school of Irish pipers - impassive
as music of pure soul flows from his fingers.
Tony Rose - The Guardian
A huge roar of applause greeted the very sight
of Liam O'Flynn and his band at the Whitla Hall on Friday and the
mood continued throughout a mighty concert.
O'Flynn is one of the few people who can coax Arty McGlynn onto
the road these days and he was complimented by another of the great
guitarists in the land, Steve Cooney. With Rod McVey on keyboards
and percussionist Tommy Hayes, this was a band of the highest quality
and so was the music, from the stately Galician tune which opened
proceedings through to the final blast, The Gold Ring. The high
point of the weekend.
Belfast Newsletter Nov. 30th 1998 - Geoff Harden
Without compromising his strong traditional lineage,
Liam O'Flynn has in his three solo albums and session projects successfully
managed to take the uilleann pipe's sound into other contexts, like
rock, European folk music and movie sountracks.
O'Flynn has always been equally respected for the charisma of his
live performance, a charged mix of cool delivery and unhurried fluency.
Add to that an empathetic band that includes Arty McGlynn and Rod
McVey, and it's only natural that the Whitla Hall audience should
expect something unique. A great man for the jigs, O'Flynn began
with a pair of Muineiras, Galician/Spanish tunes. These were a perfect
way of introducing the band, allowing for a democratic, bouncy interplay
between lead and rhythm instruments.
The reels too were presented in a setting that left plenty of room
for O'Flynn's snapping grace notes, Steve Cooney's guitar rolls
and Tommy Hayes's bodhran work. Arty McGlynn started and shared
the melody during the 'Willie Clancy's Reel/milliner's Daughter'
tunes.
For the song-air Sliabh na mBan (The Women's Mountain), O'Flynn
moved to tin whistle, turning in a lyrical version, with solos expertly
taken by Cooney and McVey (keyboards).
An Droichead (the Bridge), written by O'Flynn for Mary McAleese's
inauguration, showed his ability to create in the traditional mode.
Liam O'Flynn's band has been evolving at its own good pace, slowly
gathering people who know exactly where he's coming from and what
sound he's after. And judging by his solid performance, what begun
as a piper working with friends has become, naturally, a unit in
its own right.
The Irish News Nov. 30th 1998 - Michael O'Hanlon
Uilleann pipes maestro Liam O'Flynn and his friends
took the Whitla Hall by storm last night. This was a vintage performance
which captivated the appreciative Friday night audience, The Co.
Kildare piper led an all-star quintet through a one-and-a-half-hour
traditional music session of the highest quality. And what a band
it was - ace guitarists Artie McGlynn and Steve Cooney, keyboards
player Rod McVey and percussionist Tommy Hayes. The other three
did a sound job, but it was O'Flynn and McGlynn - 'the rhyming couplet',
as I like to call them - who stole the show. They were the main
men as we were taken through a delightful set of Irish, Scottish
and Galician dance tunes and airs. I have been listening to both
of them now for upwards of 30 years, and I still marvel at their
sensitivity and feel of their music. McGlynn was in majestic form,
matching O'Flynn note for note in even the most demanding of fast
Irish reels. And the piper was at his virtuosic best too, notably
on tunes like The Bridge, which he composed (at her request) for
Mary McAleese's inauguration. All in all, a superb night's entertainment.
Belfast Telegraph Nov 28th 1998 - Neil Johnson
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