If you haven't heard Paddy Keenan play, add him to your musical bucket list. He's a marvellous international treasure—the Jimi Hendrix of uillean pipes.
Paddy Keenan was a founding member of The Bothy Band, one of the most influential bands of the 1970s that turned traditional Irish music on its ear. Paddy's unmatched virtuosity on the pipes, combined with the ferocity and passion of his playing, made him, in the opinion of many, its driving force.
Bothy Band-mate Donal Lunny once described Paddy as "the Jimi Hendrix of the pipes"; more recently, due to his genius for improvisation and counter-melody, he has been compared to jazz great John Coltrane.
Recent awards include: 2002 Irish National Traditional Musician; 2010 Irish Music Awards Top Uilleann Piper; and in 2011 Irish Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award.
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