A Day in the life - Paddy Cleere, Kilkenny Musician

Tullaroan native Paddy Cleere has been playing music all his life. The youngest of nine, Paddy recalls many sing-songs and sessions of traditional music and song at home.

At the age of 10, he started on guitar, banjo and mandolin, and by his 20s was an expert on the bouzouki.

Siobhan Donohoe with Paddy Cleere at the launch of Kilkenny Tradfest

When Paddy is not playing traditional music, he is a luthier, making musical instruments to the highest quality. He specialises in bouzouki and mandolins with customers all over the world. His workshop is in Tullaroan and he is regarded as one of Ireland’s leading stringed instrument makers. He has even been described as the cardiologist of the guitar world!

Paddy is a member of Reel to Reel, which was formed in Kilkenny over 30 years ago. Reel to Reel will be performing at this year’s Kilkenny Tradfest on March 17 on the Festival Stage, for an outdoor free concert at 4pm. Paddy will also be playing extensively on Kilkenny Tradfest's Music Trail and all year round, Paddy plays every Saturday night in Kytelers Inn with Rosín Dubh.  

Paddy married Ellen in 1995. They have three children - Aidan who plays guitar, Leanne who also plays guitar and Amy who plays thee whistle concertina and mandola.

Here is a glimpse into Paddy’s world of trad… 

You grew up in a very musical family. What is your first memory of learning tunes?

It was after one of our house sessions or singsongs, when I said to our neighbour Paddy Fitzpatrick that I wanted to learn the guitar. I was 10 years of age at the time.

The following week Paddy called with a guitar. He showed me three chords and taught me my first song. My brother Billy took over teaching me chords when Paddy Fitz wasn’t around and that was my start in music.

I went on to play Bodhran on a breadboard with a butter knife, I nearly drove my mother insane with the racket!

My brother Jerry who plays the button accordion showed how to play my first chords and tunes on the banjo. We played a bit around Kilkenny in the late 1980s along with his son Damian in bodhran and Mary Moore. Jerry and myself still meet up and have a few tunes every now and then in Tullaroan and Kilmanagh. 

It’s hard to believe that bouzouki and even mandolins are such recent additions to traditional Irish music. What do you think makes them so popular now? 

Johnny Moynihan brought the Greek bouzouki to Ireland in the mid-60s. At that time, he played in a group with Andy Irvine called Sweeney's Men and he introduced the bouzouki to Andy Irvine.

Andy introduced this to Donal Lunny who changed the octave strings to unison strings. Donal and Andy then commissioned Peter Abnett who was a luthier to build a bouzouki. The Greek Bouzoukis have a round or bowled back. Peter Abnett made the first flat back bouzouki which has become known as the Irish bouzouki of today.

Mandolin, bouzouki, and banjos became really popular in the 70’s and 80’s when they were played by the likes of Planxty with Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny, De Dannan with Alec Finn and Stockton’s Wing with Kieran Hanrahan. Every group wants a bouzouki, mandolin or banjo now of some sorts. 

How did you get into instrument making?

When I was in the vocational school in Kilkenny, I enquired about apprenticeships to make instruments but could not find any in Ireland.

Back then and even now most people don’t know what a luthier is. So, I left school at 16 and served my time as a bricklayer with my brother Billy. It was not until 2012 when I had a knee operation and couldn’t do heavy work that I got the opportunity to learn about instrument making.

In 2012, I completed a course in musical instrument making and repair in Cork. I was married with three young children, so I completed the one-year course while driving up and back every day.

In 2013 I started my own business. I started making just bouzoukis and then moved to mandolins, mandolas and guitars. I also do repairs, set-ups, re-fretting etc on all string instruments.

Which is better, a gig for which you have rehearsed or a good session? 

This is an easy one, it’s definitely a session. Don’t get me wrong, if you are rehearsing for a gig at a festival like the Fleadh Cheoil or the Kilkenny Tradfest you have the best of both worlds because you know you can meet up and have a few tunes with friends when the gig is done.

Every trad musician looks forward to the likes of the Fleadh Cheoil or the Kilkenny Tradfest to meet with other musicians, to play a few tunes and enjoy the crack without any pressure.

People often say that sessions in full flow have a magical or mysterious effect on the player. What session has taken you to another level? 

It was the Fleadh Cheoil in Sligo 1989. I was 18 and arrived in my red Renault 5 with a small tent for 3 of us - Eddie Hennessy, Marty Ramsbottom and myself.

We met my brothers in a pub called Holly Mc Loughlin’s on the Friday night. Within an hour the whole of Kilkenny and probably half of Ireland were there!

It got so full, and the crack and music were so good, that the barman took the door off the hinges and anyone who came in had to dance on it! That went on until Monday and it's where I met most of the Kilkenny musicians I still play with today. 

You’ve been involved with Kilkenny Tradfest since it started ten years ago. What’s so special about it for Kilkenny? 

Kilkenny is probably known for hurling more than anywhere in Ireland, which is great as I’m from Tullaroan - the home of hurling and proud to be. But Kilkenny is also home to some of the best musicians in Ireland.

Also, the best musicians in Ireland move to Kilkenny to live. Since Tradfest started in Kilkenny, more musicians are arriving to it every year and more musicians are moving to Kilkenny as well.

It’s always great to see different musicians, especially young musicians and kids hearing and wanting to learn music from this. If I hadn't had the privilege of hearing and listening to music when I was growing up, I probably wouldn’t be playing music today.

What would be your desert island disc - the one album you would take if you were stranded on a desert island? 

This is a hard one, I’ve been inspired by so many albums since I’ve started playing music. I learned to play bodhran on a breadboard and knife to the Wolfe tones around 1980. Been inspired by Barney McKenna from the Dubliners playing the banjo and later Kieran Hanrahan from Stockton’s Wing early mid 80s and then Planxty and De Dannon in the late 80s on Bouzouki.

But in 2012 when I was driving every day up and down to college in Cork, I got hold of a CD that was originally released in December 1976. The CD was Andy Irvine, Paul Brady, joined by Donal Lunny and Kevin Burke. I listened to this CD every day driving up and back and I still could listen to it every day.

Little did I know then that I would meet Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny in 2015 and become good friends. So, if I was stranded on a desert island, I would take that album because I already know I can listen to it forever.

Did you enjoy the process of making the Snug Cheoil and Geantraí programmes for TG4? Is it a much different process from your normal musical life? 

Of course, I enjoy the process of making recordings for TG4. If it wasn’t for them Irish traditional music would not be as popular as it is now. They give the normal musician like me the chance to promote the music of Ireland, be it professional or non-professional, be it original or non-original it doesn’t matter.

It’s not like my music life as a session player because it must be rehearsed, but as a performer it must be right. 

Music for me is always learning, it never stops, you learn something new every time you play, be it a new tune, a new song or a new musician putting a new twist, chord, note or variation in a different place that changes everything for the better or worse. 

 Visit Kilkenny Tradfest https://kilkennytradfestconcerts2023 for a fantastic line-up of musicians coming to Kilkenny this St. Patrick’s weekend.

For information on Cleere Instruments visit http://www.cleereinstruments. ie/