We wish to announce that Gay Mc Keon resigned as Chairman of Na Píobairí Uilleann at the board meeting held on Friday October 20th 2006 and Robbie Hannan was elected to succeed Gay who will continue in his role as acting CEO of the organisation
Robbie was raised in Holywood, Co Down and began playing the uilleann pipes in 1976 at the age of fifteen. A member of Na Píobairí Uilleann since 1977 he has been greatly influenced by the piping of Séamus Ennis, Willie Clancy and Tommy Reck and he has a keen interest in the fiddle playing of Co. Donegal. He has taken part in many concerts and workshops in America and Europe and has made one solo album and another with the Dublin fiddle player Paddy Glackin. A former presenter of the traditional music programme The Long Note on RTÉ Radio 1, he has been presenting traditional music programmes on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltacha for many years. Robbie studied Celtic Languages and Literature and Law at Queen's University, Belfast and is currently Curator of Musicology at The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. He lives in Belfast with his wife Pádraigín and their five children. |
