The Arts Council and the National Concert Hall have announced Barry Kerr as the recipient of this year's Liam O’Flynn Award.
Here Barry tells us about his career highlights, the influence of Liam O’Flynn and what winning the award means to him.
1. Your career spans 20 years. What are the highlights that come to mind when you think of your achievements?
In that time I have performed in many guises both as a soloist and as a member of various ensembles around the world. There are many highlights that come to mind. I have enjoyed the excitement of performing arena tours of the USA in venues such as Radio City Music Hall, the fantastic Fox Theatres and the Greek Theatre in LA.
Performing these venues is a dream come true for many musicians and I appreciated the work at the time but of late I take more pride in hearing someone play or sing my own compositions.
As well as being a musician I'm also a visual artist and last year I combined my work as a composer with my work as a painter in a show called 'Continuum' at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin.
This was very fulfilling for me creatively and I was honoured to have my music presented by some of the best performers on the Island, singers such as Muireann Nic Amhlaoidh, Síle Denvir and Pauline Scanlon to name a few.
2. You started playing music at the age of 12. How did Liam O’Flynn influence your development as an uilleann piper?
I think Liam's piping was definitely in my subconscious long before I started my own journey on the pipes. My father was an avid Planxty fan and their music was always around - there was no escaping really.
At home we had video recordings of any traditional music that was on television, and shows like the legendary 'Pure Drop' were an amazing resource. Some of my early musical memories are of Liam playing 'The Fox Chase' and talking of Seamus Ennis and Willie Clancy.
As a boy with a practice set of pipes it was a magical insight into the world of uilleann piping and I had those recordings worn thin on repeat.
Later on I began to understand how giant and pioneering a figure Liam was in the world of Irish music. He managed, I think, more than anyone else to carry the weight of the tradition with him into new and innovative collaborations, all the while keeping his artistic integrity intact.
As traditional artists we all strive for this - to honour what has gone before and to develop creatively without sacrificing what we have learned for a lesser idea.
Liam's sound is so identifiable as his own, and whether he was playing an old tune from the traditional canon or playing a newly composed work with a symphony orchestra his tone and musicality is instantly recognisable. As a piper I, and many others, have learned so much from Liam's playing - he really set the standard that we dream of living up to and his legacy continues to inspire.
3. In addition to the uileann pipes you also play guitar, flute and bouzouki. Compare and contrast your relationship with each. And what are the benefits of being a multi-instrumentalist?
Growing up in a musical household there were always instruments lying around which meant that I could experiment with a few options. My primary instruments are flute and uilleann pipes, instruments which are a natural progression from each other. I have a special affection for the flute and I find great comfort in playing it.
I was fortunate to have been taught to play by the great Co. Sligo flute player Seamus Tansey who lives close to my home place. Seamus would often travel to the house on his bicycle and we would play for hours. He is a great man for a story and a song too and I am grateful for all that he gave me.
I spent many a happy summer at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay being taught the uilleann pipes by great pipers such as Ronan Browne and Robbie Hannon. Playing strings came a little later on when I began to sing and write and needed to accompany myself.
Being a multi-instrumentalist means that I often get called upon to fulfill many roles in a gig or recording studio situation. The versatility has kept me in work over the years and has enabled me to challenge myself musically too, often performing different genres of music which can be fun.
4. You released your first song album The World Looks Away in 2006. How did it come together and tell us about the recording process?
By the time I reached my early 20s I had been writing songs for a while and by good fortune around that time Karan Casey heard me sing a few at a party in Armagh. Karan recorded three of the songs on her Chasing the Sun album and encouraged me to put them down on my own record.
The album was very much made up of protest songs that I had written about the issues of the day. Karan's husband, the composer and musician Niall Vallely, offered to produce the album and it was recorded at their home in Cork. We employed the help of some great musician friends to join us and the album ended up being a catalyst for my songwriting to date.
5. Your next release was Boy In A Boat in 2015. Why was there nine years between both? How did your approach differ?
In the years between the two albums I was touring a lot and when I was home and off tour I spent a lot of my time painting for galleries in Belfast and Dublin. For me, it takes a lot of thought to put an album of my own songs out into the world and the beauty of touring is that I got to write a lot on the road. When eventually I got back into the studio to record my own music I had plenty of songs to choose from.
I am currently recording a new album of songs and this time around I have tried to dig a little deeper into my own thoughts and life experiences for inspiration. In the recording process I am conscious that I want the entire album to have a mood, a particular sound and feel. I think I'm more confident in the studio now and I know what sound I want to achieve and I know what I want to say. I suppose that comes with age.
6. In 2018 you released the album Castor Bay as flautist with your sister Laura who plays the fiddle. How did the project come about?
As often as possible my wife Síle and I love to travel to Dingle, Co. Kerry to visit my sister Laura and her family and to play some music with our friends there. Laura's partner Donogh Hennessy has a recording studio and he had been trying to persuade Laura, who is a fantastic fiddle player, to record for some time.
Having grown up learning and playing music together Laura and I have a shared musical repertoire that we like to play, tunes from around home, from Belfast sessions, Donegal fiddle tunes and the like.
On one of my visits to Dingle we got behind the microphones and three days later the album was almost finished. We called it Castor Bay in honour of our home place on the shores of Lough Neagh.
7. You have worked and toured with a dizzying array of musicians and ensembles. What did you learn from the US dates with various Symphony Orchestra under the direction of David Brophy? Do you have a stand-out memory from the tour?
As a traditional musician, walking into the orchestral world can be a daunting task. Most of what we do is learned by ear and being surrounded by fantastic musicians reading from score invariably brings on fear and it can be difficult not to second guess your parts.
Fortunately, working under the direction of someone like David Brophy, nerves are soon put at ease and the excitement of the performance takes over.
David often works with traditional musicians in classical settings and is truly skilled in getting the best from his musicians. He even managed to get me to understand the difference between an upbeat and a downbeat! A stand-out gig on that a tour was performing alongside the 27 Grammy award winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Playing uilleann pipes in that setting is something I will never forget.
8. You recently teamed up with Steve Cooney for the Tradition Now series. What was it like to collaborate with Steve?
Steve has been a musical hero of mine for as long as I can remember. I first heard him play many years ago to a packed Point Theatre with Seamus Begley and the room was on fire. To have the opportunity to work together on some of my own music at the NCH was an unforgettable experience. He brings so much to the table both as a musician and as a human being. I really enjoyed our chats during rehearsals and getting an insight into what makes him tick. There is an empathy in his accompaniment that only the greatest musicians possess, which comes from deep in his heart and a lifetime of experience on the road.
9. How does your music influence your visual art and vice versa?
Storytelling plays a big role in both my musical composition and in my work as a painter. I take influence from the landscape, the people and the culture of this Island to inform my work in both disciplines. I see no difference in what inspires me to write a tune or to paint a painting and I draw from the same well to create both. When I paint I often listen to sean-nós singing which brings me to a particular place creatively. I feel that the ancient tones are inextricably linked with the land and sea and inform my pallet in both paint and sound.
10. Your songs have been covered by artists such as Beoga, Aoife Scott, Karan Casey, Brian Finnegan and Kate Rusby. Is there one cover that stands out? Where the artist brought something very different to your composition?
It is the ultimate compliment when an artist I admire covers my work and I have been very fortunate in that regard. I recently wrote a song about a hare called 'Of Sportsmen Bold' which is very much in the vein of the great Ulster hunting songs. It is being recorded at the moment by Niall Hanna, a grandson of my favourite traditional singer Geordie Hanna.
Niall sings the song powerfully and channels all the beauty of the Ulster singing tradition through the song. It really is an honour for me to have it in Niall's repertoire. Damien O'Kane covered my song 'Ravens Wing’ with his wife Kate Rusby and Mike McGolderick.
The song is about the darkness of alcoholism and I think Damien's version really goes to an emotional place and touches at the heart of the story.
One of my tunes 'Back to Belfast' was recently covered by Jiggy and it was a real thrill for me to hear the band's drum and bass signature sound bring the tune to a new place.
11. You have said you are intrigued by Liam O’Flynn’s outlook on life and his collaborations with people such as Seamus Heaney. Can you elaborate?
I believe that Liam O'Flynn was very aware of the threads that connect the arts, be it music, literature or visual art. He was very aware of our oral history and its relationship with the music. #
Not only did he understand the music, he understood the importance of the narrative that accompanies our rich heritage. O'Flynn could talk in depth about almost every tune he played, and being a storyteller myself this aspect of his art always intrigued me.
12.The Liam O’Flynn Award affords great opportunities to the recipient. What do you hope to achieve as a result of being this year’s winner?
First of all I am truly honoured and grateful to be this year's recipient of the Liam O'Flynn award. Every artist strives for the simplest of things - time and space - to create, and this award will give me just that.
During this time I hope to compose a new body of work inspired by Liam O'Flynn's personal archive which has been kindly donated by Liam's wife Jane to the Irish Traditional Music Archive.
I'm really looking forward to delving into this material to create new music which will be presented in collaboration with some fantastic musicians and a spoken word poet at the NCH.
