0:01:49 > 0:01:51THEY PLAY LIVELY MUSIC
0:03:19 > 0:03:22CHEERING
0:03:22 > 0:03:25That's Niall Vallely, yeah.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Oh, yes, well, that's a great name!
0:03:28 > 0:03:30LAUGHTER
0:03:30 > 0:03:35And I have a beautiful picture of a piper, one of the other Vallelys.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Yeah, there's quite a number of painters as well...
0:03:38 > 0:03:41- There are, absolutely. - ..as well as fiddlers and stuff.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Listen, thank you so much for that.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Thank you very much for having us.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47It's great, a great celebration.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50APPLAUSE
0:04:02 > 0:04:05The idea of the garden party gives us an opportunity
0:04:05 > 0:04:08to say thank you to all of those who are working in communities,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12in voluntary groups, in fact delivering what is citizenship
0:04:12 > 0:04:14in a real republic and equally,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17and it's something we must begin to realise,
0:04:17 > 0:04:19that creativity and celebration...
0:04:19 > 0:04:21You have been listening to music
0:04:21 > 0:04:24and you have been listening to people who sing
0:04:24 > 0:04:27and to people who make music, the wonderful Armagh Pipers Club.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32Ta failte romhat, you are so, so, so welcome.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35APPLAUSE
0:05:43 > 0:05:47SHE PLAYS A TUNE
0:06:39 > 0:06:42APPLAUSE
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Shall we try the two jigs? Start with them?
0:07:48 > 0:07:51SHE BEGINS TO PLAY
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Great stuff, I can't fault that. Brilliant.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09Fantastic! You're getting the hang of it already!
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Here we are, in Big Banana Studios on the shores of Lough Neagh,
0:10:33 > 0:10:35recording the Cuig album
0:10:35 > 0:10:38and, yeah, Cuig are five amazing musicians
0:10:38 > 0:10:40and who all are members of the Pipers Club as well
0:10:40 > 0:10:42and, just when I was kind of leaving,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44from being a sort of full-time Armagh Pipers Club
0:10:44 > 0:10:47sort of teacher or member or mentor or whatever it might be,
0:10:47 > 0:10:48just when I started to go to uni,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51these guys were kind of starting to come through the club
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and I was really aware of their presence.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00It was great to see them kind of growing
0:11:00 > 0:11:03and taking their music really seriously, but enjoying it,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05you know, enjoying it so much.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13We've been very lucky, actually. We've been abroad a few times now.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16We were in Milan, Amsterdam and then we were lucky enough
0:11:16 > 0:11:19to go for a three-week tour there, to Germany.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22They are so up for it over there, 400 people every night,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25it was just incredible, like, and we are so young
0:11:25 > 0:11:27and very, very lucky to be doing this.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40I'd say 60% of the tunes that we're playing,
0:11:40 > 0:11:42- we got from the Pipers Club.- Yeah.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44And the bands that would have inspired us
0:11:44 > 0:11:45all went through the Pipers Club,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48like Buille and Flook and so they really did...
0:11:50 > 0:11:52..inspire us as a band.
0:11:52 > 0:11:53Cool, lads, just give it one more shot,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55just dropping in at the same place.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57Nice one.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54It was really great to get in the studio with them
0:12:54 > 0:12:57and just try and guide them and give them a hand
0:12:57 > 0:12:59and get the most out of their studio experience.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02It's nice to see things kind of go full circle again.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04The album itself has such a great mix of tunes
0:13:04 > 0:13:06from Ireland and Scotland and old tunes and new tunes
0:13:06 > 0:13:09and it is, in a way, it is representative of all the factors
0:13:09 > 0:13:13that the Pipers Club has been willing to bring into Irish music.
0:13:13 > 0:13:14# Take me to church
0:13:14 > 0:13:18# I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
0:13:18 > 0:13:22# I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knives... #
0:13:41 > 0:13:45My experience touring with Hozier was really incredible.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48The opportunity came out of nowhere and I just ran with it
0:13:48 > 0:13:51and, even now, looking back at it,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55it's kind of difficult to grasp the enormity of what we undertook.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59We played the main stage at Glastonbury, we played Bonnaroo,
0:13:59 > 0:14:04for me a highlight was Newport Folk Festival two years in a row.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07We performed on some of the biggest TV programmes in the world,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11on David Letterman, Ellen DeGeneres, Graham Norton
0:14:11 > 0:14:15and we played on Saturday Night Live.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17You know, it was really incredible.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Someone did a survey last year and said that
0:14:20 > 0:14:22we were the hardest-working band of 2015
0:14:22 > 0:14:24and the amount of ground we had covered,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28we'd made it two-thirds of the way to the moon, so we really...
0:14:28 > 0:14:29we really put in the leg work!
0:14:40 > 0:14:44The Armagh Pipers Club is more than just a school of music,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47it's definitely a force to be reckoned with
0:14:47 > 0:14:51and I think part of the reason that the club is so successful
0:14:51 > 0:14:55is that, you know, there is respect for the tradition at its core,
0:14:55 > 0:14:56but there's also a freedom there,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59where you can interpret the tradition however you see fit
0:14:59 > 0:15:01and I think that is part of the reason why
0:15:01 > 0:15:05so many incredible musicians have come out of the club.
0:15:17 > 0:15:18From a very young age,
0:15:18 > 0:15:24you are encouraged to play in groups and to naturally fit into groups
0:15:24 > 0:15:28and playing by ear, and you just have to find your way.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32When I got the call from Hozier to go on the road,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35one of the first things that they asked was, you know,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39"Can you play by ear or do you need us to send you sheet music,"
0:15:39 > 0:15:41and the sigh of relief when I said,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44"No, I can figure it out as I go along."
0:15:44 > 0:15:48You know, it's just really valuable to be able to just slot in.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Brian and Eithne have just really created something really special
0:16:06 > 0:16:10and the legacy of that club is going to be incredible.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH
0:19:13 > 0:19:16CHEERING
0:22:49 > 0:22:52The people we have playing represent every decade
0:22:52 > 0:22:54and the first group that's coming out now,
0:22:54 > 0:22:55we're just calling it the '70s set.
0:22:55 > 0:23:02Now, they are not all '70s vintage, but most of them are '60s or '70s,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06but it's a set of tunes that we discovered in an old programme
0:23:06 > 0:23:10that we had played in 1974 at some concert, you know,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14so we decided that we would play tunes that we'd played in the 1970s,
0:23:14 > 0:23:16so it's the 1970s set.
0:23:16 > 0:23:17It is a big get-together
0:23:17 > 0:23:20and it's amazing that they all were enthusiastic, you know,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24because they are all playing voluntarily, you know.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30I suppose I started the ball rolling,
0:23:30 > 0:23:32but I certainly didn't teach all of them.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34I taught a lot, certainly, over the years,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37but basically, the early pupils became the next wave of teachers
0:23:37 > 0:23:39and then there was the next wave of teachers,
0:23:39 > 0:23:44so it's constantly renewing itself in the club, you know.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46And, like, I'm delighted to still be around
0:23:46 > 0:23:48and taking an odd beginners' class.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:27:22 > 0:27:28The kind of spirit of the Pipers Club will always be the same,
0:27:28 > 0:27:30it will never falter or change.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50I just think it needs to keep going.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52I mean, my parents have done an amazing job
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and they should be very proud of it
0:27:55 > 0:27:58and hopefully it keeps going as long as it can.
0:28:10 > 0:28:16I had a limited agenda, which gradually developed
0:28:16 > 0:28:19and was honed by trial and error, mistakes,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22but it has taken all of those 50 years
0:28:22 > 0:28:25to really achieve what we have now.