Dicky Deegan Uillean Piper, An Phib CD Review by Fintan Vallely, Irish Sunday Tribune

CD SALES and VIDEO FOOTAGE

3.1.09

sessions

Have been doing a spot of playing now and again at The Punchbowl in Mayfair, London. Grand having two Uilleann Pipers!!!-Brendan McAuley and m'self. This pub has very good acoustics, a famous landlord (and a thouroughly good egg), top staff, has been sympathetically and tastefully renovated and excellent ale. Music is on Tues and Sun nights.

28.11.08

Museum of the Bohemian

Playing for the opening night of the Museum of the Bohemian, 90 UtrchtseStraat, Amsterdam, Sun Nov30 6pm onwards!

19.6.08

Wolds Hull Wales Bretagne

Gearing up for performing for the ECO Fest at Badger Farm on top of the Lincolnshire Wolds, 20th-22nd June. What a view! What a festival! A quick tootle somewhere in London and then it's time to head for the Welsh Pagan Federation Summer Camp on the Gower peninsla, 4th-6th July. Looking forward to that. Back to Hull and Ye Olde White Harte for a function on the 12th July. Then it's Bretagne on the 17th July-shall catch up with King Rollo's Travelling Show and then from the 1st - 10th of August I hope to be based at The Galway Inn, Rue Belgique for the Celtique International, Lorient.

25.4.08

London

Have been playing in London. Rose Bruford Drama College, party and various pubs finishing (sun 19th) with the Green Man and French Horn in Covent Garden. What can I say, I'm recovering back at Haworth Hall. Making reeds for a piper whose coming around at 9am on sunday27th-middle of the night!

10.11.07

Portrait

Many thanks go to Sarah for donating the oil on canvas portrait of me to the Maison Paudin household - I believe Didier Durassier has a copy of his portrait too. Thanks Sarah very generous of you, Mike and Lynda wil be over the moon. A wee copy can be seen on my myspace page. Excellent concert recently in the villiage of Theberton in Suffolk, thoroughly enjoyed playing there and in the Eels Foot on the Sunday evening. Lovely church St Peters, it's where David Frost got married to his first wife - the red carpets donated by David are still in use!

8.6.07

Dicky Deegan seriously "getting the grip" Tasmania 2002

Dicky Deegan Sydney Opera House 2001

A quick sketch by the talented Irish Artist, Pete Hogan 2001 - www.phogan.com

Dicky Deegan - Tasmanian Clouds 1993

The Biography of Dicky Deegan

Uilleann Piper Dicky Deegan has been playing the Uilleann Pipes for over 24 years. Throughout this period he has performed at most of the major Australian Music Festivals as well as many European, UK and Irish Festivals. Besides performing for ABC and SBS TV, Australia, RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta, Ireland, TV 1, France and the BBC, UK, his playing has been recorded by the Traditional Irish Archives, Dublin. He has performed with many artists and bands over the years including Maireid O'Sullivan, the late Billy Moran, The Crack, Rakish Paddy, Donal Lunny and Jackie Daly.

Dicky has also performed several seasons as Uilleann Pipes soloist at the Sydney Opera House. Additionally, he teamed up with the didgeridoo wizard Mark Atkins to perform a duo on top of the Opera House Sails to celebrate the Opera House’s 20th birthday.

Dicky was the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s guest artist for the Huntingdon Classical Music Festival in Mudgee, New South Wales. He shall be performing with the IHOS Opera Company’s production ‘To Traverse Water’ at the Adelaide Arts Festival in 2010.

Over the years, Dicky has held many workshops on the playing and maintenance of the Uilleann Pipes as well as demonstrating the art of single and double reed making. These workshops and performances (incorporating story telling) have been conducted for festivals and in schools throughout metropolitan, country and outback Australia in addition to Irish, UK and European festivals/schools. Presently residing in East Yorkshire, he is performing, holding workshops, teaching, recording and compiling a music collection.

Dicky is one of the members of the film producer Guy Richies Ceili Band, resident at his pub ,The Punch Bowl, Mayfair, London.

Uilleann Piper Dicky Deegan was born in Hitchin, North of London in 1958 to Irish parents (father-Emo, Co. Laoise, mother-Adamstown, Co. Wexford) and first attended Traditional Irish Music lessons at St Josephs, Luton and the Irish Centre, Camden Town, London, in the 1970's.
He plays a Geoff Woofe full set with double base regulator in the key of C# (being a Woofe copy of the J. Coyne set unearthed from an attic in Tasmania in the mid 1980's).

Reviews for the Album - An Phib

Irish Sunday Tribune Review of 'An Phib', by Fintan Vallely:

"Here is a hugely-interesting player in the 'gentleman' mould, greatly involved with his instrument and all its wondrous potential, particularly on airs. A soft spot for the harmonic is there in keyboard chordal drones, and adventuring into didgeridoo shows he is not shy of experiment. This is rather overwhelming, but if Paddy O'Brien's is humerously zany, and his tricks on 'Ask my Father' approach stuck-CD precision, curios like using regulators for melody notes and a great launeddas-like blast at times leave little room for tedium. His obsession with the technicalities of tight fingering and regulator effects is a constant lift - in moments pure Clancy or again Ennis, on perfectly tuned, high-quality instruments". Irish Sunday Tribune FV