Tradbally

Renowned uilleann piper and Bothy Band veteran Paddy Keenan has spent decades spreading Irish trad around the world, but headlining the Body Soul stage, sandwiched between French disco and English hip-hop, is a new experience, he tells Siobhán Long

TASMANIA, Borneo, Russia, Timbuktu, Vietnam and Japan. It’s all in a season’s itinerary for Paddy Keenan. The uilleann piper, who looks like he stepped out of the 1980 Walter Hill film about the Jesse James gang, The Long Riders, plays with a definition that’s all his own. This veteran of The Bothy Band, who has a couple of classic solo albums to his name (in particular, his 1975 Gael Linn release Paddy Keenan) has recently been spending more time in Ireland.

In the 1990s, he moved to the US, from where he carved a healthy solo career. In recent years, he has inspired the setting up of a pipers’ club in Moscow, and collaborated with blues and jazz musicians, as well as bluegrass players such as Junji Shirota and Tim O’Brien.

When Keenan moved back to Ireland last year, he settled in Shangarry, south Tipperary. It wasn’t quite what he had expected, though, due largely to matters meteorological.

“Man, that was a huge surprise for me,” he says. “I nearly froze to death. I stuck it out until February and then I went on the road. I want to come back, though, because I love Ireland, even though the States has been very good to me.”

Keenan makes no secret of his frustration at life in Ireland. He rails against the heavy price that people with disabilities and the unemployed are paying for the profligate behaviour of developers and bankers. And when it comes to bankers’ bonuses, Keenan sees Ireland as a “paradise for Al Capone”. It’s particularly infuriating when traditional musicians who have taken Irish music all over the world find themselves with no access to social security as they head towards retirement age, says Keenan.

“I’m sure that my 45 years of travelling, along with the rest of the musicians and bands, has helped tourism a lot here. But what do we get for it? Where is Comhaltas and the Arts Council?”

Aside from his beefs about the business end, Keenan is buoyed by the rise in popularity of piping across the world. Recently, while teaching in Newfoundland, off the coast of Canada, he encountered a young female musician whose piping astounded him. The popularity of piping among women players brings a whole new dimension to the instrument, he says. (In the past, the pipes were associated almost wholly with male players.)

“A lot of young male pipers are very much into the technical, speed and competition side of playing. They’re into a wilder, crazy kind of playing. You won’t find that among female players, and it makes for more individual playing. It’s warmer and there’s more mood being expressed.”

Keenan was delighted to be invited to perform at this year’s Electric Picnic, where he will be headlining the Body Soul stage on Saturday night/Sunday morning in between French disco legends Black Devil Disco Club and Mercury-nominated rap artist Ghostpoet.

“I consider myself so lucky, really. I can keep my head above water. But I make a CD every 20 years. You can’t stay in the eyes of the media at that rate. But I do hope to release an album by the end of this year, which will be a mix of live and studio recordings. After that, I plan to work on a new album of my own next year.”

He admits to struggling with the same challenge as all professional musicians: how to balance the work side of music with the pleasures that drew them to it in the first place.

“I love the travelling and playing. It’s an education for me. My dad once said to me, ‘music will break all language barriers’, and it’s done that for me. Even if I won €100 million in the lotto tomorrow, I’d never stop playing. The difference would be that I’d do it when I really want to do it.”

Although he’s relishing the prospect of sharing a bill with everyone from Arcade Fire and Beirut to PJ Harvey in Stradbally, he is circumspect about the current state of Irish trad.

“The bonus for me is that people like what you do, if you’re doing it for yourself. Irish music has always fluctuated, but it will never die. But there are kids playing music today who are being moulded, whether they sing or play well or not. Some of the albums should be called The Good, The Bad and Pro-Tools.

“But the music itself is thriving, and there are amazing players here now. Sometimes it’s just a case of allowing musicians time to mature so they can use all of their technique to create a mood, and that’s what makes for individuality.”

st Paddy Keenan plays Body Soul main stage on