Paddi Benson and Grace Lemon are two uilleann pipers who play and write music together in London. In their new Lyric Feature on RTÉ lyric FM, The Dead Reeds, they explore the stories bound up in uilleann pipe reeds – including those that no longer play – uncovering themes of connectivity, migration and cultural memory.
Below, they write about the notion of 'dead reeds' - and what it means to them and other pipers.
We’re often met with a raised eyebrow when telling people we're making a radio documentary about dead reeds. The first thing to explain is that we mean instrument reeds – specifically uilleann pipe reeds – that may no longer sound or ‘crow’, and have been set aside.
Pipers are eager to talk about reeds – there are seven of them in the uilleann pipes after all. Who made a reed is an integral piece of information that somehow unlocks more – hinting at the player’s background, their piping style, their preferences, their influences.#
In our documentary, we craft an obituary of sorts, talking to harvesters, makers and players at different stages of the reed's lifecycle.
Hand-crafted from organic material, no two reeds are the same. When we began writing music together, we started to notice how our own reeds interacted with each other – their quirks and idiosyncrasies. Acknowledging our attachments to these small pieces of cane, we found ourselves asking what they meant to us beyond their sound. It became apparent that a reed is a deeply cultural and historical artefact in its own right.
In our documentary, we craft an obituary of sorts, talking to harvesters, makers and players at different stages of the reed’s lifecycle. The story that emerges is one rooted in place and community – revealing the generosity of the piping community and their dedication to the passing on of knowledge across generations. These conversations took us on a journey – from London to Dublin, Armagh to Catalonia, Yorkshire to California and onwards – guided by figures who have shaped our own understanding of the instrument. In some instances, it was our first time meeting and speaking to the contributors. Others, we have encountered or known for years, via letters, workshops, mentoring, recordings, performances.
Looking back, they each fed our respective diasporic upbringings in London and Cambridge. They brought us together, creating space for our shared interest in dead reeds, and then in these forty or so minutes of recording a story in itself. There were dead reeds at play long before these discussions took root. We discover that reeds hold friendships and memory, and the process of making the documentary has been testament to the same. In telling the stories of dead reeds, we have also uncovered something about our own – stored in a pencil pot or old cassette box – still full of life and connected to those featured in the documentary, in their own way.
Paddi Benson and Grace Lemon’s The Dead Reeds is the Lyric Feature on Sunday 9th of November at 6pm - listen to more from The Lyric Feature here
Picture credit: Jack Whitehead
