Lúnasa to Thrill Fans of Celtic Music Dec. 5

KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Lúnasa, dubbed "the hottest Irish acoustic band on the planet," will make a stop at Kutztown University's Schaeffer Auditorium 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, as part of the KU Presents! Performing Artists series. Founded in 1997, the six-member band has toured throughout the world; their latest album is "Live in Kyoto" (2024). The players are known for their complex arrangements of traditional and original music, their impeccable musical chops and their collaborations with artists from outside the genre, such as Mary Chapin Carpenter and Bruce Springsteen.

Cillian Vallely, who plays the uilleann pipes, said they will be bringing vocalist Dave Curley as a guest for their winter tour. Curley, who is also a multi-instrumentalist, was formerly part of the band Slide. While it will not be a Christmas show, Vallely said, "a lot of the songs have winter themes, and we will do a wee bit of holiday music and tunes from the Breton tradition."

Vallely, who has lived in New York City for about 30 years, is originally from the town of Armagh in Northern Ireland, where his parents, Brian and Eithne Vallely, have run the Armagh Pipers Club, a school for Irish music, since 1966.

"My mother is from Donegal in the northwest and comes from generations of musicians, mostly fiddle players," he said. "My father is from Armagh and he's a well-known (visual) artist but started the pipes in the 60s. He’s a real organizer type and he got a club together to teach the pipes, and it has expanded to include many other instruments. It was all volunteers; at any one time there are 250 students, mostly children but also some adults."

Eithne, a school teacher, also presided over the publication of “tutor books” for Irish music, which are still in print and have been used all over the world by students of Irish folk music.

Because this was happening during The Troubles, it was not always an easy task. “Irish music was looked down upon and discriminated against,” Vallely said. “But that made my father even more determined to keep it going. He had to stop teaching because the British Army would stop him and make him late for class and harass him. It was seen as a threat; but in the North, the music and Irish language is now so strong. It didn’t work (for the British) to demonize it."

Vallely and his four siblings all learned to play the pipes, but Vallely was the only one to stick with the instrument, which he said is known for being obstreperous. “The pipes require a lot of work, outside of playing them,” he said. “They have seven reeds and about 300 parts that come apart with a change in climate. You’re always messing with them; it’s like having a used car. A lot of people give up on it.”

His brother, Niall, took up the concertina instead and performs with bands, writes music and teaches in college; his brother Caoimhín (pronounced “Keevin”) also plays piano and fiddle professionally and is an innovative arranger. “The youngest two have let it go,” Vallely said.

He remembers being taken to sessions, along with Niall, when the two were babies and as the oldest children, they were taken on tour in Europe. As for performing in public, he said, “I don’t remember when I started. There was music all the time. I was put on stage with loads of kids and I always played locally. I took it for granted."

At first, he didn’t intend to make music his career. He was an avid runner and was planning to continue that in college in Lubbock, Texas, but after an injury sidelined him, he began playing his pipes again. He dropped out of college and played gigs in Dallas and San Antonio and spent five months playing in a pub in New Orleans. Returning to England to finish a degree in business, he found “I had no interest in it,” and went back to the U.S., where he has devoted himself to music ever since.

After paying his dues by performing with various bands and as a sideman on recordings, he joined Lúnasa in 1999 at the same time as flutist Kevin Crawford and they have been members ever since, along with founders Hutchinson (bass) and Sean Smyth (fiddle). The newer members are fiddler Colin Farrell and guitarist Ed Boyd.

Vallely said he developed his distinctive, lyrical sound on the pipes by playing various styles with many bands because “I’m curious and like to do different things. A lot of pipers spend their lives in the piper world, but I’m always interested in how it works to play with other people. . . (In Irish music making), a lot of people sit beside each other and just see what happens, and that can work. But in Lúnasa, the rhythm is really important to us; I hit the accents along with the guitar and bass.

“My parents were against competition. There's a world of piping that emphasizes solo pipers and competitions, but we were always playing in groups, and arranged things similar to what Lúnasa plays. And when I was young I played classical flute with orchestras.” These experiences have made him mindful of the ensemble rather than focusing only on the solos, he concluded.

Tickets for Lúnasa are $39 for adults, $37 for seniors and $19 for students. Tickets can be purchased at www.KutztownPresents.org or by calling the KU Presents! Box Office 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday, at 610-683-4092. Established to be the center of cultural life at Kutztown University, KU Presents! serves the campus and community by bringing world-class live arts that entertain, educate and enrich.