LIVE RECORDINGS FROM THE WILLIAM KENNEDY PIPING FESTIVAL Vol.2.

But it soon opened up to other instruments. With weekly classes and a collection of teaching manuals, it has helped to popularise traditional music among thousands of children and adults. The first William Kennedy Piping Festival was organised in 1997 by Brian Vallely, director of the Armagh Pipers Club. The festival was named after a blind piper who helped to improve the design and function of this iconic Irish instrument.

It was originally intended to be a one-off celebration. However, due to its success, it was decided to make it an annual event. The festival has since grown in size and reputation to the point where it welcomes pipers from all over the world. This album marks the twenty-fifth edition of the festival and the 250th anniversary of William Kennedy's birth. This collection of thirty-six tracks is not an attempt to catalogue the vast world of piping, rather it is a snapshot of the festival.

It features recordings spanning 14 years from 2003 to 2017. And a host of the world's best pipers. From Ireland of course, but also from Scotland, Outer Hebrides, Northumberland, Cape Breton, Brittany, Galicia or Sardinia. And then from Greece, Bulgaria, Belgium, Sweden and the French Morvan and the Jura. Let's mention some of them: Paddy Keenan, Seán Potts, John McSherry and Francis McIduff, Seán McKeon, Cillian Vallely, Louis Mulcahy, Allan MacDonald, Síle Friel, Jarlath Henderson, Patrick Molard, Loïc Bléjean or José Manuel Tejedor. And many others.

On these thirty-six titles the variety of styles is immense. As good music breeds good music, this double album will undoubtedly give rise to pipers.

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