Live in Galway - Review

RICHARD NEYLON
Live in Galway
Own Label, 12 Tracks, 55 Minutes
Live in Galway is a 12 track digital album recorded live at a special concert in St. Nicholas’ Church in Galway city. Featuring a host of musicians and guest singers, all having appeared on the night of recording.
Uilleann piper Richard Neylon surpasses all expectations once again with this collection. His distinctive sound resonates throughout. Neylon laid out the album himself and it’s done perfectly.
Opening with O’Neill’s March and Jigs, written as all tracks (with the exception of Sonda), by Neylon himself, we are immediately transported into the uilleann pipe land and dancing on our seat. Following on with a song, Lark in the Clear Air and the beautiful vocals of Moylan Brunnock, Neylon has changed the tempo and allows us to sit back and capture the wonderful lyrics and music accompanying. Cape Clear provides us with a beautiful introduction with the uilleann pipes before interaction with guitar and more and continuing to showcase the variety of this live piece.
As we near the end of the album is my firm favourite. Track 11 is the well-known song, The Green Fields of France. But this is different, it has Neylon’s personal stamp all over it. He’s transformed a piece of musical history and very much made it his own.
There’s something rather poignant listening to this wonderful collection from Neylon at present. With little live music available, this is the perfect time to release an album of a live recording. Just close your eyes and imagine you’re there! Neylon says this is an album featuring “me and some great friends” and this is exactly how it feels from beginning to end. It’s a gathering of friends and it’s a collection you’ll listen to again and again. A sonorous piece throughout.


Gráinne McCool

Irish Music Magazine

Gaita for sale

So I've decided to sell my Gaita (galician bagpipes). I bought them a few years ago after listening to Carlos Nunez playing them and I became fascinated with the sound. Initially I played them often, however as of late I just haven't been able to find them time to justify keeping them.

They were relatively easy to pick up from the beginning.  The scale and fingering was similar to other instrumemts I play, a mixture of tin whistle, saxophone and uilleann pipe scales. 

The Galician bagpipes I am selling were made by "Seivane". They are the most well known and respected makers of Galician bagpipes in Spain and the world. The pipes are in the key of C and the scale is similar to the scottish bagpipes and even the uilleann pipes and tin whistle.

The pipes are in perfect working order. The also have a handy drone switch on the two smaller drones to turn them on and off. They are loud but not as loud as the bagpipes and sweeter sounding (in my opinion).

This current set up would cost over 2000€ to configure and buy it directly from Seivane.

www.seivane.es/en/index.html

Listen to an example of how the galician pipes sound here:

https://youtu.be/9ktsF5bTInw


Bagpipe Details:

Gaita C 5, Granadilla wood, Bass Drone, Chanter, Tenor Drone and Single Reed High Drone, Anillado Metallic Silver, Standard, Black velvet with black tassels, No personalisation, Estatura 180 cms.

Irish Music Magazine Reviews Sonda

An All–Ireland senior champion in various categories on pipes, flute and saxophone, Richard Neylon should be a familiar name. Neylon’s playing is memorable too, old style, grand tunes, big sets of powerful piping, and a few flute pieces to lighten the mix.
I’m not sure if An Buailteoir Aerach refers to a hurler or a beater, but either way it’s a belter of a reel to open this debut album. Catalina is a much gentler track, the flute intro layered with pipes and saxophone on Maurice Lennon’s Waltz. Richard also provides drums, with accordion from Stephen Doherty and fiddle from Fiachra Hayes. More reels, including Finbarr Dwyer’s Hollybush and the great old Cameronian, really show off the pipes in a flowing yet rhythmic performance, a touch of wildness combined with some tight closed fingering and staccato triplets.
The pace and control are exciting, exhilarating, and the accompaniment from Conor Early drives the tunes along. Relaxed low whistle delivers a gorgeous version of The Kilnamona Barndance, and I’d have kept the pipes and sax back until the punchy shift into Lucy Farr’s. Neylon does a fine job of being a one–man Irish skiffle band in the vein of At the Racket, sticking a snappy Jim Ward’s Jig on the end for good measure.
Having run through most of the colours in his repertoire on the concert pipes, Richard switches to a Rogge low B set for a pair of classic piping jigs, regulators and drones providing the only accompaniment, a real virtuoso performance in the bygone style of fairground pipers. And then round we go again: a set of reels, the slow air An Spéic Seoigheach, three very familiar slip jigs with concertina from James Frawley, plus a few more reels and jigs.
The title piece is by Neylon, perhaps combining his Irish and jazz influences, and starts a trio of jigs with a more modern feel and a surprise ending on the old favourite known variously as Father O’Flynn or The Top of the Cork Road.
On the other hand, the final lament Cumha Mhichil Breathnaigh on solo pipes is stately and moving, a wonderful piece of piping and a melody, which will stay with me I’m sure. Look out for the name Richard Neylon, and expect great things.
Alex Monaghan

RICHARD NEYLON
Sonda
Own Label, 12 Tracks, 55 Minutes

http://www.irishmusicmagazine.com/releases/releases-march-2018/

RTÉ Choice Music Prize 2017

Great to see that my debut album 'Sonda' has made the list for the RTE Choice Music Prize 2017.

The RTÉ Choice Music Prize is an organisation established to encourage, highlight, showcase and promote Irish music of excellence.

The ethos behind the prize is to stimulate debate and interest in Irish artists and in Irish Music and to increase public awareness of music from Ireland annually.

The RTÉ Choice Music Prize aims to promote and showcase the health and growth of the local industry both within Ireland and overseas.

The project was established in 2005 to highlight those albums which deserve some extra time in the spotlight and, ultimately, to select the album which best sums up the year in Irish music. The focus and spotlight is ultimately on the ten annual short-listed artists and their respective albums.

Each year, a panel consisting of 13 media and Industry professionals, representing Irish print, radio TV, on-line and other assembled music professionals select the RTÉ Choice Music Prize short-list. This consists of 10 albums released by Irish acts for the very first time in any given calendar year.

Instead of using sales or airplay as criteria, the RTÉ Choice Music Prize judges focus, simply and solely, on the music.

The RTÉ Choice Music Prize short-list is announced in January each year, with the judges meeting in March to select the winning act at the RTÉ Choice Music Prize live event.

Richard captures the magic of uilleann pipes with 'Sonda'

uilleannpipemagic.jpg

Connacht Tribune

December 21st, 2017

Arts Week with Dara Bradley

“You’re just trusting your own ear,” says multi-All-Ireland champion musician Richard Neylon about the process of composing an original piece of music. Sonda, Irish for sonorous, is a newly-composed tune; one of the highlights of Richard’s debut album of the same name, which will be officially launched in January.

The distinctive sound of Richard’s uilleann pipes, made by Cillian O’Briain and Andrea Rogge, sings beautifully on this recording.

“The translation for Sonda is a ‘voiced sound’. I wanted a word that would describe the sound, almost,” he says. “Sometimes you’d sit down and say ‘I want to write a piece’ and go through it mechanically almost. Other times you’d just be playing something and it would just come to you. Sonda came to me, just from playing around.

“I wrote that one a good few years ago when I was living in Dublin and I wasn’t able to practise the pipes really, because I was living in a house and the walls were like paper and there were neighbours everywhere,” he says of the tune. “When I got home from college or after work, I used to take out the whistle – something quieter – and I was just playing around with that, and bits of it came out and I put it together then.”

Richard’s parents, Des and Teresa, are both primary school teachers with an interest in music, which they passed onto their son. Now aged 31, he began playing piano in playschool growing up in Wellpark in Galway City, and then when the family moved out to Loughrea, he got involved with the local branch of Comhaltas.

It was there Richard developed a love of Irish music – and the uilleann pipes, in particular.

His first encounter with this uniquely Irish musical instrument came when he was 12 or 13, when pipe player and maker, Eugene Lambe from Kinvara, brought them to Comhaltas one day.

“He took them out of the case and started playing,” recalls Richard. “I just loved the sound. I thought it sounded cool. That’s my first memory of me saying, ‘yeah, I want to play the uilleann pipes’.”

He was taught by some great Galway pipers including Tommy Keane and Richard Murray of Oranmore, and attended regularly at piping summer schools around the country.

http://connachttribune.ie/richard-captures-magic-uilleann-pipes-sonda/

 

Album Launch Concert - January 6th 2018 - St. Nicholas Church, Galway

Album Launch.jpg

I'm delighted to announce that my official album launch concert will take place on Saturday the 6th January 2018.

The concert will be launched by RTE Raidió na Gaeltachta presenter Bríd Ní Chualáin. I will be joined on the night by an array of fantastic Irish musicians; Stephen Doherty (flute, accordion), Shane McGowan (guitar), Fiachra Hayes (fiddle), Andrew Neylon (songs), James Frawley (concertina) and many more surprise guests!

Doors @ 7.30pm.

The album 'Sonda' will be available for sale on the night.

Ballyhannon Castle Magic

A real treat it was to play at this intimate wedding in Ballyhannon Castle, Quin, county Clare.

What an amazing setting, and such a great idea to be able to hire out this fantastic castle for a wedding. The wedding ceremony was held by candlelight in The Great Room of the Castle.

The pipes felt right at home here..

Stephanie and Mike were kind enough to leave me with these lovely few words:

 

"Planning a destination wedding in Ireland from the United States came with its challenges, but Richard certainly was not one of them! We discovered him through a few online searches and knew immediately he was the musician for us! I walked down the aisle, or in my case, spiraling castle steps to ‘Ag Criost an tSiol’ and I still get chills down my spine thinking about it. No true words can explain the sound of Richard’s Uilleann Pipes echoing through a 15th century castle! Richard is a true professional and kind soul. He made our wedding day and ceremony truly unforgettable. Wish we could go back and do it all over again! Thank you Richard!”

-       Stephanie and Mike - Ballyhannon Castle June 2017

Titanic Dance

A throwback to the time I played with the fantastic production 'Titanic Dance' in the Odyssey Arena Belfast.  The Arena is host to many of the biggest names in music and sport and of course home to the Belfast Giants Ice Hockey team. An amazing experience to be backstage in this grand arena.

I was also lucky enough to perform with this show in the Millennium Forum in Derry and An Grianán Theatre in Letterkenny.

The Auld Triangle

The song has great memories for me..

I played at an amazing festival in Tatihou, France with Freewheel some time ago. One of the most incredible places I've ever been. We put together an alternative setlist before the show, which included this song.. performed 'a cappella' by the four of us singing in harmony. We saved it for the last set, before a blast of jigs. You could hear a pin drop in between each of the verses. It was special, hair standing on the back of your neck stuff.

When we met people after the show, it was the one piece everyone spoke about. They wanted to hear it again!

Here it is, on uilleann pipes.

Merry Sisters Of Fate

So here's what I got up to on my Sunday evening..

I decided to try and record a reel on a few different instruments, while recording video of myself making the audio recordings. I've used Logic to record the audio and iMovie to put the video together. It's the first time I've used Apple's iMovie.. tricky enough to use. Trying to get all the videos to match the audio isn't as straight forward as it seems. After many 'Help' searches and 'how to' tutorials I managed to throw something together.

So here is the finished article. Hopefully I'll make a few more of these in the future.

Richard Neylon plays the 'Merry Sisters of Fate' Reel on Uilleann Pipes, Flute, Bodhran and Keyboard.

Irish Uilleannn piper