Liam O'Flynn
Encyclopedia
Liam O'Flynn is a master uilleann piper
Uilleann pipes
The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a...

 and prominent Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 folk musician
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

. In addition to an impressive solo career and his work with the Irish traditional group Planxty
Planxty
Planxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...

, O'Flynn has recorded with many prominent international musical artists, including Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

, the Everly Brothers, Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...

, Mary Black
Mary Black
Mary Black is an Irish singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both folk and contemporary material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland, and in many other parts of the world....

, and Donal Lunny
Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...

. O'Flynn is acknowledged as Ireland's foremost exponent of the uilleann pipes
Uilleann pipes
The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a...

 and has brought the music of the pipes to a worldwide audience. In 1999, O'Flynn was named Musician of the Year at the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Awards, considered to be the foremost recognition given to traditional Irish musicians.

Early life

Liam Ó Floinn was born 15 April 1945 in Kill, County Kildare
Kill, County Kildare
Kill is a village and parish in County Kildare, Ireland near the county's border with Dublin beside the N7. Its population of 2,510 makes it the 13th largest town in County Kildare. Kill is the birthpace of the Fenian John Devoy, sometimes regarded as the "grandfather of the modern Irish state"...

 to musical parents. His father was a teacher and fiddle player. His mother, who came from a family of famous musicians from Clare, played and taught piano. From an early age, Liam showed musical talent, and was encouraged to pursue his interest in the uilleann pipes
Uilleann pipes
The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a...

 by the piper Tom Armstrong. At the age of 11, he began taking master classes with Leo Rowsome
Leo Rowsome
Leo Rowsome was the third generation of an unbroken line of uilleann pipers. He was performer, manufacturer and teacher of the uilleann pipes - the complete master of his instrument...

. He was also influenced by Willie Clancy
Willie Clancy
Willie Clancy was an Irish uilleann piper.Clancy was born into a musical family at Islandbawn near Miltown Malbay, County Clare. His parents both sang and played concertina, and his father also played the flute...

 and Séamus Ennis
Séamus Ennis
Séamus Ennis was an Irish piper, singer and folk-song collector.- Early years :In 1908 James Ennis, Séamus's father, was in a pawn-shop in London. Ennis bought a bag of small pieces of Uilleann pipes. They were made in the early nineteenth century by Coyne of Thomas Street in Dublin. James worked...

. In the 1960s, Liam began to receive recognition of his talent, winning prizes at the Oireachtas Festival and the Fleadh Cheoil
Fleadh Cheoil
The Fleadh Cheoil is an Irish music competition run by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann or more commonly known as "Comhaltas" ....

. During his early years, he was sometimes billed as Liam Óg Ó Floinn.

Music career

In 1973, Liam co-founded the Irish traditional music group Planxty
Planxty
Planxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...

 and remained a member throughout the band's various incarnations. While Seán Ó Riada
Seán Ó Riada
Seán Ó Riada , was a composer and perhaps the single most influential figure in the revival of Irish traditional music during the 1960s...

 and The Chieftains
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...

 had reinvigorated Irish traditional instrumental music in an ensemble format during the 1960s, Planxty built on that foundation and took it one step further. They brought a punch and vitality to acoustic music that drew heavily on O'Flynn's piping virtuosity.

As Liam grew in his skill as a musician, and as he began to meet legendary piper figures like Willie Clancy and Seamus Ennis, he became acutely aware of his position in the tradition of piping. His subsequent close friendship with Seamus Ennis (which began as a Master/pupil relationship) taught him that there was much more to being a piper than playing tunes. Liam noted, "Seamus Ennis gave me much more than a bag of notes."
Following the breakup of Planxty in 1983, Liam found work as a session musician with such prominent artists as the Everly Brothers, Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...

, Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...

, Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy is a British born violinist and violist. He made his early career in the classical field, and he has performed and recorded most of the major violin concerti...

, Rita Connolly
Rita Connolly
Rita Connolly is a Dublin-born singer who has lived and worked in Ireland. She is primarily known for her work with composer Shaun Davey Shaun Davey who wrote a song cycle for her called 'Granuaile' based on the 16th century pirate queen Gráinne O'Malley as well as including her in other of his...

, and Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

. He also worked on film scores, including Kidnapped (1979) and A River Runs Through It
A River Runs Through It (film)
A River Runs Through It is an Academy Award winning 1992 American film directed by Robert Redford and starring Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer, Tom Skerritt, Brenda Blethyn, and Emily Lloyd...

 (1992). He was adventurous enough to work with avant-garde composer John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, but his most natural alliance was with neo-romantic composer Shaun Davey
Shaun Davey
- Early years :Shaun Davey was born in Belfast in 1948. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in the history of Art in 1971. He then took a master's degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. In the late 1970s, he made his first recording, "Davey and Morris," with Donal Lunny and others...

.

The Bothy Band
The Bothy Band
The Bothy Band was an Irish traditional band active during the late 1970s. It quickly gained a reputation as one of the most influential bands playing Irish traditional music...

 were natural successors to the original Planxty, and one of its members, Matt Molloy
Matt Molloy
Matt Molloy is an Irish musician, from a region known for producing talented flautists. As a child, he began playing the flute and won the All-Ireland Flute Championship at only seventeen years old...

, who subsequently joined The Chieftains
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...

, played with The Chieftains
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...

' fiddler Seán Keane
Sean Keane
Seán Keane may refer to:*Seán Keane , fiddle player of The Chieftains*Seán Keane , Irish folk singer; brother of singer Dolores Keane...

 on O'Flynn's album, The Piper's Call, which was performed in the 1999 Proms season at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

. He has also worked on projects with Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...

, mixing poetry with music.

His name is mentioned in the song "Lisdoonvarna" by Christy Moore
Christy Moore
Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...


Discography

Solo albums
  • Liam O'Flynn (1988)
  • The Fine Art Of Piping (1991)
  • Out To An Other Side
    Out To An Other Side
    As is the case with a number of Liam's albums the title Out To An Other Side come from the writing of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney with whom Liam has performed live on numerous occasions...

     (1993)
  • The Given Note
    The Given Note
    The Given Note title was suggested by Liam's good friend Seamus Heaney winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature, Seamus also wrote a fine tribute to Liam which can be found in the sleeve notes of the album.-Tracks:1) O'Farrell's Welcome to Limerick...

     (1995)
  • The Piper's Call
    The Piper's Call
    The Piper's Call by Liam O'Flynn was released on CD as well as video in 1999. There was also a television programme which was shown on PBS in the US and TG4 in Ireland.-Tracks:1) The Humours of Kiltyclogher, Julia Clifford's...

     (1999)


With Christy Moore
  • Prosperous (1972)


With Planxty
  • Planxty
    Planxty (album)
    Planxty is the first album by the Irish folk group Planxty, released in 1973. Because of its dark cover, it is sometimes referred to as "the Black Album."...

     (1973)
  • The Well Below the Valley
    The Well Below the Valley (album)
    The Well Below the Valley is the second album by the Irish folk group Planxty. It was released in 1973 and takes its title from the sixth song on the album, "The Well Below the Valley".-Track listing:#"Cúnla"#"Pat Reiley"...

     (1973)
  • Cold Blow and the Rainy Night (1974)
  • The Planxty Collection (1974, compilation)
  • After The Break
    After the Break
    After The Break is a studio album by the Irish folk music band Planxty released in 1979. Now available to download from most major online retailers as well as on CD.- Track listing:#"The Good Ship Kangaroo"...

     (1979)
  • The Woman I Loved So Well
    The Woman I Loved So Well
    The Woman I Loved So Well is a studio album by Planxty released in 1980. Now available to download from most major online retailers as well as on CD.- Track listing:# "True Love Knows No Season"# "Out On The Ocean / Tiocfaidh Tu Abhaile Liom"...

     (1980)
  • Words and Music (1983)
  • Planxty (2004)


With Shaun Davey
  • The Brendan Voyage
    The Brendan Voyage
    Shaun Davey's first major orchestral suite which was composed for uilleann pipes played by Liam O'Flynn, depicting Tim Severin’s adventure in reconstructing Saint Brendan’s 6th century Atlantic crossing to America...

     (1980)
  • The Pilgrim
    The Pilgrim (1983 album)
    In 1983, following the hugely successful performance of Shaun Davey's work The Brendan Voyage the previous year, The Festival Interceltique de Lorient commissioned Shaun to compose The Lorient Festival Suite for orchestra and Celtic soloists representing the seven Celtic countries or regions and...

     (1983)
  • Granuaile
    Granuaile (album)
    Granuaile is a blend of Classical and Irish Folk Music written by Shaun Davey for singer Rita Connolly. It is based on the life and times of the 16th century Irish pirate queen Gráinne O'Mally, who was also known as Granuaile...

     (1985)
  • The Relief Of Derry Symphony (1990)
  • May We Never Have To Say Goodbye (2006)
  • Voices From The Merry Cemetery (2010)


With Seamus Heaney
  • The Poet & The Piper
    The Poet & The Piper
    The Poet & The Piper is a studio album by poet Seamus Heaney and piper Liam O'Flynn, recorded in 2003 and released in the same year. The album is made up of instrumental tracks and spoken poetry, both often mixed together. The recording features traditional and contemporary music, lyrics and poetry...

     (2003)


With other artists
  • The Rambles of Kitty Ceoltas (1966)
  • Celtic Folkweave
    Celtic Folkweave
    Celtic Folkweave is a studio album by the duo Mick Hanly and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, who toured under the name Munroe, although that name does not appear on the album. Recorded in Ireland and released on Polydor Records in 1974, the album was a clear precursor for Ó Domhnaill's subsequent work with...

     by Mick Hanly & Mícheál Ó Domhnaill
    Mícheál Ó Domhnaill
    Mícheál Ó Domhnaill was an Irish singer, guitarist, and composer, who was a major influence on Irish traditional music in the second half of the twentieth century...

     (1974)
  • Kidnapped by Vladimir Cosma
    Vladimir Cosma
    Vladimir Cosma was born April 13, 1940 in Bucharest, Romania, into a family of musicians.His father, Teodor Cosma, was a pianist and conductor, his mother a writer-composer, his uncle, Edgar Cosma, composer and conductor, and one of his grandmothers, pianist, a student of the renowned Ferrucio...

     (1978)
  • Fifth Irish Folk Festival Compilation (1978)
  • Rainy Sundays, Windy Dreams by Andy Irvine
    Andy Irvine (musician)
    Andrew Kennedy 'Andy' Irvine is a folk musician, singer, and songwriter, and a founding member of the popular band Planxty. He is an accomplished player of the mandolin, bouzouki, mandola, guitar-bouzouki, harmonica and hurdy-gurdy....

     (1980)
  • The Dreaming
    The Dreaming (album)
    -Personnel:*Stewart Arnold: vocals, background vocals*Jimmy Bain: bass*Ian Bairnson: acoustic guitar, vocals, background vocals*John Barrett: assistant engineer*Brian Bath: electric guitar*Haydn Bendall: engineer...

     by Kate Bush
    Kate Bush
    Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...

     (1982)
  • Cal (film soundtrack) by Mark Knopfler
    Mark Knopfler
    Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

     (1984)
  • Hounds of Love by Kate Bush (1985)
  • Born Yesterday by the Everly Brothers (1985)
  • The Emigrant Suite by Charlie Lennon (1985)
  • Ordinary Man by Christy Moore
    Christy Moore
    Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...

     (1985)
  • Enya
    Enya (album)
    Enya is a soundtrack album by Irish singer Enya, released in 1987 , accompanying the BBC documentary The Celts.-Background:...

     by Enya
    Enya
    Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...

     (1987)
  • The Celts
    The Celts (album)
    The Celts is an album by Irish musician Enya, released in 1992. It is a remastered re-release of her 1987 debut album Enya.In addition to having enhanced sound, this new release also contains a different version of the song "Portrait"; extended from 1:23 to 3:11, this version first appeared in 1988...

     by Enya (1987)
  • Notes from my Mind by Séamus Connolly (1988)
  • Best of Irish Folk Festival (1988, compilation)
  • Best of Irish Folk Festival Vol 2 (1989, compilation)
  • Jig in Style by Seán Keane
    Seán Keane (fiddler)
    Seán Keane was born on July 12, 1946 in Dublin. He is a well-respected fiddler, and also a fiddle teacher. He was a member of Ceoltóirí Chualann in the 1960s, before joining The Chieftains in 1968...

     (1990)
  • Brand New Dance by Emmylou Harris
    Emmylou Harris
    Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...

     (1990)
  • The Field (film soundtrack) by Elmer Bernstein
    Elmer Bernstein
    Elmer Bernstein was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions...

     (1990)
  • My Special Child by Sinéad O'Connor
    Sinéad O'Connor
    Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

     (1991)
  • Bringing it all Back Home (1991, compilation)
  • Out of Court by Maire Casey & Chris Newman (1991)
  • No Dowry by Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill
    Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill
    Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish traditional singer from Kells, County Meath. Known for her work with the short-lived, but very highly regarded Skara Brae and her collaborations with sister Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, as well as other traditional musicians...

     (1991)
  • Shepherd Moon by Enya (1991)
  • A River Runs Through It (film soundtrack) by Mark Isham
    Mark Isham
    Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...

     (1992)
  • Rita Connolly
    Rita Connolly (album)
    Rita Connolly is the first solo recording by Rita Connolly. It features guest appearances by Davy Spillane, Liam O'Flynn, The Voice Squad, Máirtín O'Connor, Palle Mikkelborg, Ray Lynam, amidst others. The album includes a number of Connolly's own compositions.-Track listing:#"Venezuela" – 4:49 Rita...

     by Rita Connolly
    Rita Connolly
    Rita Connolly is a Dublin-born singer who has lived and worked in Ireland. She is primarily known for her work with composer Shaun Davey Shaun Davey who wrote a song cycle for her called 'Granuaile' based on the 16th century pirate queen Gráinne O'Malley as well as including her in other of his...

     (1992)
  • The Seville Suite by Bill Whelan
    Bill Whelan
    Bill Whelan, is an Irish composer and musician. He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The end result, Riverdance, was a seven-minute display of traditional Irish dancing that became a full-length stage production and spawned a worldwide craze...

     (1992)
  • Fire Aflame by Matt Molloy
    Matt Molloy
    Matt Molloy is an Irish musician, from a region known for producing talented flautists. As a child, he began playing the flute and won the All-Ireland Flute Championship at only seventeen years old...

    , Seán Keane, and Liam O'Flynn (1992)
  • Mercury Years by the Everly Brothers (1993, compilation)
  • Idir Dhá Chomhairle (In Two Minds) by Aine Ui Cheallaigh (1995)
  • Golden Heart
    Golden Heart
    Golden Heart is the debut solo album by Mark Knopfler, following a successful career leading the British rock band Dire Straits and composing a string of critically acclaimed film soundtrack albums. The album was released on 26 March 1996...

     by Mark Knopfler (1995)
  • Voyager by Mike Oldfield
    Mike Oldfield
    Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...

     (1996)
  • Sult Compilation (1996)
  • We Wont go Home Till Morning by Brendan Begley (1997)
  • Kashmir: The Symphonic Led Zeppelin
    Kashmir: The Symphonic Led Zeppelin
    Kashmir: Symphonic Led Zeppelin is an instrumental album inspired by Led Zeppelin songs. The music was arranged by Jaz Coleman, and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Peter Scholes.- Track listing :...

     by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
    London Philharmonic Orchestra
    The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...

     (1997)
  • Finisterres by Dan Ar Braz
    Dan Ar Braz
    Dan Ar Braz, born Daniel Le Bras , is a French guitarist and the founder of Héritage des Celtes.- The apprenticeship years :...

     (1997)
  • With Friends Like These by James Keane
    James Keane (musician)
    James Keane is an Irish traditional musician and accordion player. The Italian Castagnari company issued and continues a line of signature instruments called keanebox in his honor....

     (1998)
  • Os Amores Libres by Carlos Núñez
    Carlos Núñez
    Carlos Núñez is a Galician musician who plays the gaita, the traditional Galician bagpipe.-Life and career:Nuñez was born in 1971 in Vigo, Galicia, Spain. He began playing the bagpipes when he was eight years old. In his early teens, he was invited to play with the Festival Orchestra of the...

     (1999)
  • Bilbao Oo:Oh by Kepa Junkera (1999)
  • Speaking With Angels by Mary Black
    Mary Black
    Mary Black is an Irish singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both folk and contemporary material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland, and in many other parts of the world....

     (2000)
  • Volume 3: Further in Time by Afro Celt Sound System (2001)
  • Way Out Yonder by Andy Irvine (2001)
  • Journey: The Best of Donal Lunny by Dónal Lunny
    Dónal Lunny
    Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...

     (2001)
  • The Girls Won't Leave the Boys Alone
    The Girls Won't Leave the Boys Alone
    The Girls Won't Leave the Boys Alone is an album by Cherish the Ladies released in 2001 on the Windham Hill label. The title reverses the lyrics "the boys won't leave the girls alone" from the Irish song "Belle of Belfast City/I'll Tell Me Ma", popularized in the album Irish Heartbeat by Van...

     by Cherish the Ladies
    Cherish the Ladies
    Cherish the Ladies is an American all-female Irish-American super group. The band began as a concert series in New York in January 1985, the brainchild of Mick Moloney who wanted to showcase the brightest female musicians in America in what had been a male-dominated scene...

     (2001)
  • To Shorten the Winter by Tommy Sands
    Tommy Sands (Irish folk singer)
    Tommy Sands , Mayobridge, County Down, Northern Ireland, is a folk singer, song writer, radio broadcaster, and political activist. He performs with his 3 siblings as The Sands Family; solo as Tommy Sands; and with his son and daughter as Tommy Sands with Moya and Fionán Sands...

    (2001)
  • Blue Idol by Altan Narada (2002)

External links

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