About Noel Hill

"Ireland is full of great musicians but only a few set standards." -PJ Curtis, Notes From the Heart

Noel Hill is one of those standard-setting voices in Irish music today. Few musicians in any field or in any generation achieve a position where both audiences and experts agree on their preeminence and mastery of an instrument; Noel Hill's virtuosity has firmly established him as the defining Irish concertina player of our time.

Noel Hill comes from County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, where 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 other household. It was into one of these households that Noel Hill was born, and as a young child Noel was forbidden to touch his older brother's concertina. But he couldn't keep his hands off the instrument and was always stealing away with it. One day when his brother was laboring through a hornpipe Noel gave himself away by taking the concertina and playing the tune with ease. That got everyone's attention, and he's had it ever since.

Noel Hill has taken the humble concertina from the house dances of County Clare on the west coast of Ireland to stages throughout the world. The concertina, like Irish music itself, is currently enjoying a tremendous increase in popularity, and Noel Hill is at the forefront of this movement, not only as an awe-inspiring performer but as teacher and a well respected authority on Ireland's music.

In his hands the concertina is a new instrument, yet resounds with the integrity of generations, for Noel Hill makes the music new not through experimentation in other genres, but through consummate exploration and illumination from within traditional Irish music.

Quotes

...Ireland's greatest concertina player
      --Seamus Ennis, piper, singer, broadcaster

...Noel Hill's fame preceeds him in the form of Albums and broadcasts that serve as a forum for his talents.
      --The New York Times

...Noel Hill pushes the possibilities for our music beyond all expectation. What better thing than this could be said of a musician?
      --Tony MacMahon, musician, T.V. producer/broadcaster

There is little doubt that in music there is a special place for the concertina when so brilliantly executed by Noel Hill.
      --The Irish Times

Ireland is full of great musicians but only a few set standards.
      --P.J. Curtis, 'Notes from the Heart'

I've heard it said that a gentleman is "someone who can play the accordion but doesn't." Quite what that makes of Noel Hill and Tony MacMahon I don't really know but I can tell you that between them they've managed to come up with one of the finest recordings of pure traditional music for many years.

Recorded in Muscrae, in Dan Connel's of Knocknagree to be precise, this is an album that like Johnny Leary's "Music For The Set", some years ago provides proof that int he right hands traditional music can become a living, breathing thing. The atmosphere throughout is enhanced by the presence of four of the area's best dancers on the record. Thus, the music is placed perfectly in context -- while its melodic and rhythmic nuances can be enjoyed and appreciated it is also entirely appropriate as dance music. Historically too, it has its relevance in that never before have the two free reed instruments been combined in this fashion.

The playing is exemplary. MacMahon's forte has always been his interpretation of the slow air, and he's never sounded better than he does on Port na bPucai. The two musicians combine beautifully on reels such as The Ash Plant with the chatter of the audience and dancers heightening the sense of involvement and commitment all round.

If records like this were the norm rather than the exception the world would surely be a better place.
      --Oliver P. Sweeny, reviewing In Knocknagree (ê Gcnoc Na Gra’)

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