The Companion to Irish Traditional Music

V

728 Vallely, Fintan. (1949– ). Flute player, writer, songwriter, born in Co. Armagh. His father’s mother was a member of Carl Hardebeck’s Gaelic Choir in Belfast; his mother’s father (a descendant of eighteenth-century harp-maker Cormac O’Kelly) played fiddle with the local Banba céilí band at Ballinascreen, Co. Derry. Fintan took up whistle at fourteen and was introduced to music on the local and Co. Tyrone circuits. He took up flute, then uilleann pipes, playing at fleadhanna and sessions throughout the country and recorded two albums of flute music (1979, 1990), and one of satirical song with Tim Lyons (1988). As a result of teaching flute and working in print, he produced traditional music’s first flute tutor, Timber – the Flute Tutor, in 1986. He was the Irish Times traditional music correspondent and reviewer 1994–8, wrote a weekly column in the Sunday Tribune 1998–2002,and has variously contributed to, edited or written books and journals on Irish music including The Blooming Meadows – the Soul of Traditional Music (1998, with Charlie Pigott and Nutan), Crosbhealach an Cheoil – The Crossroads Conference Papers (joint editor, 1999), The Companion to Irish Traditional Music (1999), Together in Time (a biography of Antrim flute player John Kennedy, 2002), Sing Up! Comic Songs and Satires of Modern Ireland (2008), and Tuned Out – Traditional Music and Identity in Northern Ireland (2008), and Tailor’sTwist – Ben Lennon’s Life in Traditional Irish Music (2011). From 1995 to 1997 he was programme consultant for RTÉ’s traditional music productions Pure Drop, High Reel and Willie Clancy Sessions. He was an initiating organiser for the 1996 and 2003 Crosbhealach an Cheoil traditional music conferences in Dublin and Derry, and was education consultant for the Coleman Heritage Centre, Gurteen (1997). He has been a contributor to many conferences and seminars on music and cultural affairs, and was on the board of the ITMA 1996–9. Since 1990 he has specialised in research and writing about traditional music, lecturing at NUIM, UU, TCD and DkIt. Vallelys of Armagh. Brian. (1943– ).Uilleann pipes and flute-player, teacher and organiser.He was born into an Armagh family with strong Gaelic associations in sport and language, and studied art in Edinburgh. He was influenced initially by Ballad Makers Saturday Night on RÉ,but hearing Ó Riada’s music at a local Gaelic League function in 1959 inspired him to play.Access to recordings of Willie Clancy, Michael Gorman, Margaret Barry, Séamus Ennis and Leo Rowsome led him to whistle, then flute; Glasgow uilleann piper Pat McNulty introduced him to piping. The Comacs of Tyrone developed this interest further, and he became secretary of the Armagh branch of CCÉ.Disagreements about the nature of traditional music led him to set up the Armagh Pipers’ Club in 1966. A highly-acclaimed painter, the theme of traditional music is dominant in his prolific output of some four thousand canvasses. Eithne. (1945– ). Fiddle, pipes, song. Née Ní Chiardha from a line of fiddlers in Co. Donegal, Eithne’s grandmother played fiddle and concertina ; her grandfather, father and uncles also played fiddle. Her mother’s family from the Kilcar area has fiddlers also, these including Francie Dearg and Mickey Byrne. Taught whistle at national school by Seán Brady (father of singer Paul), Irish was her home language and she began on fiddle at nine. While studying Irish at UCD, the Dublin Pipers’ Club introduced her to Séamus Ennis and Tommy Potts, through whom she met Breandán Breathnach for whom she transcribed tunes for his CRÉ 1, and through Helena Rowsome, daughter of pipe-maker Leo, began piping, taking lessons from Dan O’Dowd. Living in Armagh since 1969 she has been central to the local Pipers’ Club and the author of its many tutor books for whistle, pipes, fiddle and song since 1972.Teaching music locally inspired her to instigate in 1997 a training scheme for traditional music teachers,and through the 1990s she was also involved in the NI National Curriculum Planning for Music Education. An organiser of Crosbhealach an Cheoil, she lectured in traditional music at SPD (Dublin). V Voice Squad, The 729 Niall. (1970– ). Began playing concertina at seven, and while studying music in Cork formed Nomos in 1990. His solo album Beyond Words came out in 1999, Callan Bridge (with Cillian) in 2002, Buille (with Caoimhín) in 2005 and Buille 2 in 2009.His tunes have been performed by Lúnasa, Sharon...