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September 2002

The Uilleann Pipes and Irish Traditional Music

Neil Martin

Neil Martin will give a performance of traditional Irish music on both the cello and the uilleann pipes on Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center. This musical program, free and open to the public, will be in the Recital Hall of the UNF Fine Arts Center and initiate the eighth year for the John Francis Reilly Irish Studies Performance and Lecture Series on campus.
Uilleann pipes are the domesticated version of the bagpipes, and are considered sweeter in sound than their marching cousins. They are called "uilleann" (pronounced "ILL'un"), meaning "elbow" in Irish, because the piper fills the bag, not by blowing into it, but by operating a bellows with his elbow. A composer as well as a musician, Martin has worked with many leading musicians, both on the stage and in the studio, and has been a performer, arranger, conductor and producer. His music has taken him throughout Europe and North America, including performances at Carnegie Hall and the Royal Festival Hall.

Martin has also composed and directed music extensively for theater as well as composed for television, film and radio including various documentary films, plays and series for BBC, RTE and other television and radio broadcasters in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

A music and Celtic studies graduate of Queen's University, Martin lives in Belfast, where since 1990 he has juggled his working life between music and film-making with Flying Fox Films. He has produced many of the Flying Fox films during the last decade, including, most recently, a documentary for BBC Northern Ireland on Seamus Deane's novel "Reading in the Dark."
The Reilly Series itself has owed its existence since 1995 to annual grants from the Schultz Foundation of Jacksonville. The series honors the memory of the Irish-born father of Nancy Reilly Schultz.

A reception will follow the program, hosted by the Friends of Irish Studies. For more information contact Richard Bizot, professor of English and coordinator of Irish Studies, at rbizot@unf.edu or 620-2273.