Friday 18th July 2025
Location: Cleeres Bar and Theatre, 28 Parliament Street, Kilkenny
Noel Hill was born in Caherea in West County Clare, Ireland and has been a professional musician for the past 49 years. In County Clare the concertina tradition is so strong the instruments was nicknamed “the Clareman’s Trumpet” and legend has it there was once a concertina in every second house. It was into one of these households that Noel Hill and his 7 siblings was born. His parents, grandparents and grandaunts were all concertina players. He was particularly influenced by his uncle, Padraig A Chnoic (Paddy Hill), who also played the concertina. Noel lived in a house which was the last in the area to hold the traditional House dances, where musicians were always welcomed; particularly towards the end of the year when farm work was done. It was at these events he learned his early music. He started playing at the age of 8. Noel was lucky to have heard endless hours of Willie Clancy, Paddy Canny, Peter O’Loughlin and Paddy Murphy and much of the music in his repertoire today comes from the music learned as a child from these great players. Noel always said he wanted to be a uilleann piper but pipes were not readily available.
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