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Blackstone River Theatre will present an evening of Irish traditional music featuring virtuoso uilleann piper Paddy Keenan along with flute player Jimmy Noonan on Saturday, November 5, 8:00 p.m., at the Blackstone River Theatre, 549 Broad St., Cumberland, RI. Admission is $15.00 advance / $18.00 day of show. For reservations or information call Blackstone River Theatre at (401) 725-9272.
Paddy Keenan, who has been referred to as “the Jimi Hendrix of the pipes” and “the King of the pipers,” is generally acknowledged as one of the most accomplished, innovative uilleann pipers playing today. Keenan, the 2003 recipient of the Irish National Traditional Musician Award, specializes in a wild, fluid style solely his own. He was a founding member of the Bothy Band, one of the most influential Celtic bands of the 1970s, and he continues to tour in Europe and the U.S., releasing several solo albums.
Paddy was born in Trim, Co. Meath. The Keenans were a Travelling family (the wanderers of Ireland known amongst themselves as Pavees) steeped in traditional music. Both Paddy’s father and grandfather were uilleann pipers and taking up pipes himself at age 10, Keenan moved to America at age 17 to play blues and rock and roll only to return to Ireland in the seventies. Paddy soon founded The Bothy Band, musicians who would go on to forever change the face of traditional Irish music, merging a driving rhythm section with traditional Irish tunes in ways that had never been heard before. Paddy’s virtuosity on the pipes combined with the ferocity of his playing made him, in the opinion of many, its driving force.
Keenan’s style has continued to mature in the intervening years since the break-up of The Bothy Band as he has pursued a solo career. Keenan is certainly one of the most brilliant musicians of his generation and in a live situation, Paddy has been called one of the most exciting traditional musicians in the world. His inventiveness and willingness to take risks most players wouldn’t even think of and pull them off, make his playing an endless source of fascination for traditional music lovers.
