Join us as we celebrate the life and work of our namesake, Séamus Ennis, on the date of his 99th birthday.

Robbie Hannan was born in Belfast and raised in Holywood, Co. Down. He began to take an interest in Irish traditional music as a result of listening to his parents' record collection. Hearing the recordings of Paddy Maloney with the The Chieftains and Liam O'Flynn with Planxty, he decided to take up the pipes in 1977. Influenced by the piping of Séamus Ennis, Willie Clancy and Tommy Reck, he has also adapted some of the repertoire of the Donegal fiddle playing tradition to the pipes. Robbie has made numerous recordings including a duet recording with fiddle player Paddy Glackin (for Gael-linn) and has taught the advanced piping class at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Co. Clare and at Scoil Acla in Co. Mayo for several 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.

Paddy Glackin, a former member of the well-known Bothy Band and a noted commentator and lecturer on Irish music is also greatly in demand as a session player.
Paddy, as a young fiddler, became close to Séamus Ennis from 1970 onwards. “Séamus was a legend even in the 1950s and 1960s... I remember one night in the 1970s he did a gig without a note of music – just talk. And he got a standing ovation at the end of the night.”
Now a senior producer in RTÉ Radio, Paddy is as comfortable playing the music of John Cage as he is sitting down to play tunes with Robbie Hannan.