Eithne Vallely from Áras na bPíobairí, the headquarters of the Armagh Pipers Club, joined Damien O’Reilly on Countrywide bright and early to talk about the club and its history. The Pipers Club is credited with rejuvenating and promoting traditional music in the North of Ireland.
Eithne told Damien that anyone who had the grá for the Uileann Pipes would be familiar with the Willy Clancy Festival in Milltown Malbay in Co. Clare. It was there where the Donegal native met her now-husband, Brian Vallely. Through the jigs and reels of it, Brian opened up Áras na bPíobairí in 1966 and it’s been a thriving success ever since.
Our first session of the new term got off to a great start with over 100 young musicians and teachers! pic.twitter.com/dqjXpuL9Mg
— Armagh Pipers Club (@Armagh_Pipers) October 3, 2017
The Vallely family run a tight ship, with 50 classes in operation each week and 30 odd teachers between the club and neighbouring towns. Eithne explained to Damien that they never set out with a plan to grow to this size, it just happened.
"It grew gradually, there was no particular plan. It just kept growing."
Despite all the technical distractions on offer to children and teenagers these days, Eithne says that the club is still growing and it’s the social aspect of music that entices the younger generation. As they have links and connections with Scotland, the pupils in the club get a chance to meet up with others similar in age and with the same interests as they have.
"We have a lot of links with Scotland, so they’ve got Facebook friends and real friends. It is the social part of the music that appeals to them, especially teenagers."
For some, traditional Irish music conjures up an association with Republicanism. Eithne argued against this association, that it was simply music that people played to celebrate an occasion. Despite this, Eithne does admit that the troubles in the past did disrupt the flow of the music classes, just as they disrupted a lot of things in the North during that time.
Delighted that the work of the @armagh_pipers will be recognised at this year's #R2FolkAwards. They'll receive the Good Tradition Award for their contribution to traditional music. Well done! @BBCRadio2 @BBCMusic pic.twitter.com/NQLMCVGPkw
— BBC Radio Ulster (@bbcradioulster) March 11, 2018
Eithne shared with Damien that simple things like going to their neighbouring County Tyrone was an inconvenience when they would stop the car and all the instruments would have to be taken out.
"Even small things that you wouldn’t even think of. We taught classes in Co. Tyrone and in rural Armagh and you’d be stopped and the instruments taken out of the car and children would have things like that happening."
During this period of time, the Pipers Club had some difficulty getting teachers for their pupils as there was a ‘talent drain’ in the area. Eithne recalled that once their pupils (and some teachers) turned eighteen, they emigrated and many of them never came back, leaving a lack of people to pass on the music to the next generation.
"Once musicians got to 18 years of age, they invariably left and went off to England or Scotland or to University in the South and didn’t come back. So we couldn’t find people to teach."
Listen back to the full interview with Eithne Valelly on Countrywide here.
