Launch of the 18th WKPF
The 18th William Kennedy Piping Festival was launched 12th October in St Patrick's Trian, Armagh. The festival was launched by Jimmy Deenihan Minister for Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht representing the Government of the Republic of Ireland and Carál Ní Chuilín Minister for Arts, Culture & Leisure representing the Government of Northern Ireland. The Mayor of Armagh Cllr Freda Donnelly launched the festival on behalf of Armagh City & District Council who once again generously supported the festival.
The Chairman of Armagh Pipers Club Eamonn Curran was MC for the event and the Festival Director Brian Vallely also spoke.
William Kennedy was born 243 years ago in 1768 and the first Piping Festival in his honour was held in 1994 exactly 160 years after his death at the age of 66 in 1834. From that beginning, as a once off event within the framework of the Armagh Together Festival promoted by Armagh City & District Council, the William Kennedy Festival has grown into an internationally renowned event attracting participants and visitors from all over the world.
The event this year is supported once again by Armagh City & District Council among many other public and private bodies.
This year Armagh again will host visitors from most European countries as well as further afield including North America, Asia and Australia attracted by the common bond of piping.
The programme each year has always highlighted the diversity of the pipes hosting pipers from the cold northern climates of Western Europe to the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and from deep in the Sahara Desert.
This year we welcome for the first time the famous Galician Band Lume de Biqueira which with the Anxo Lorenzo Band and O Paxaro Tolo bring a distinct Spanish flavour to the festival.
Lunasa, which numbers Armagh piper Cillian Vallely and guitarist Paul Meehan in its ranks, returns for the fourth time as one of the acts in the 45th Anniversary Celebrations which will bring together many of the Armagh Pipers Club past pupils playing solo or with their bands. Cillian will join his brother Niall Vallely and Karan Casey for the opening concert of the Festival on Thursday night.
The 45th Anniversary will be further celebrated with a performance by a group of more than 45 uilleann pipers under the direction of Donal O'Connor who has been commissioned to orchestra a number of traditional tunes for an uilleann pipes ensemble.
One of the cornerstones of the William Kennedy Piping Festival has been the related piping and Gaelic song tradition of Ireland and Scotland. This year is no exception and the festival will showcase both solo and group ensembles featuring both instrumental music and traditional Gaelic singing. Dàimh has in recent years created their own musical dynamic bringing together piping and Gaelic singing to create their own unique sound.
Angus Nicolson from the Isle of Skye, no stranger to Armagh, brings his new group which includes fellow islanders Andrew MacPherson and Murdo Cameron.
The solo piping tradition including Canntaireachd will be represented by three of the living legends of Scottish Piping Roddy MacLeod MBE,Rona (MacDonald) Lightfoot and Allan MacDonald.
Last year's big innovation was the 'Hooley in the Hotel' a ground breaking experiment in creating an outdoor festival indoors with multiple stages and upwards of 15 major international bands. This year it will be 'Hooley in the Theatre' with four stages and another great 15 band line-up including Guidewires (Ireland), Dàimh (Scotland), Anxo Lorenzo Band (Galicia), Angus Nicolson Trio (Skye), Georgi Makris (Greece), Duo Lagrange Rutkowski (France), Anach (Achill Island), Daniel Philippe and Jil Léhart (Brittany), O Paxaro Tolo (Galicia), Ioscaid, and the Armagh Pipers Club Big Band.
The Uilleann Pipe Concert traditionally closes the Festival each year and Artistic Director Caoimhín Vallely has brought together an innovative line-up of pipers some of whom will be playing for the first time in Armagh.
The Rowsome Quartet led by Kevin Rowsome and including Mick O'Brien, Denis Brooks and Leo Rickard will perform alongside solo pipers Seán Óg Potts, Eamonn Dillon, Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn and Mark Donnelly Bursary winner Conor Mallon.
The Festival is also concerned with education and the academic side of piping and this year will have the most ambitious programme of classes and workshops to date with something virtually for everyone. The usual school performances will take place in the beautiful surroundings of Armagh's Market Place Theatre and the festival lecture in Armagh Public Library by piper Peter Browne will celebrate the life of one of Ireland's greatest innovators in the field of traditional music Seán Ó Riada.
Brian Vallely
Festival Director
