From County Kildare, master uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn was born into what he describes as "a very definite thing." His father was a schoolmaster and fiddle player and his late mother, who played and taught piano, came from a family of famous musicians from Clare. After a time on the tin whistle and a short spell 'scraping' at a small violin, Liam finally got started on the uilleann pipes. He had an obvious gift for this most stubborn and complicated of instruments, and was encouraged by all around him, notably by the Kildare piper Tom Armstrong. At the age of eleven, master-classes began in earnest with Leo Rowsome.

In his teens, Liam and his pipes began to attend music 'seisiuns' in the Kildare village of Prosperous. Here, for the first time, he met many of the people with whom he would later make his name and tour the concert-halls of the world. These were musicians like Christy Moore, Donal Lunny and Andy Irvine with whom, in the early seventies, Liam formed the legendary Planxty. One of Ireland's most important and influential groups, Planxty brought a style, innovation and 'cool' to Irish music which was to lead directly to the many Irish musical success stories during the decades that followed.

But behind the innovation and experimentation Liam O'Flynn has always managed to remain true to the great piping tradition. He has taken his instrument into previously unexplored territory - be it as a member of Planxty, as a soloist with an orchestra or working with artists as diverse as John Cage, The Everly Brothers, Van Morrison and Kate Bush. But whatever the situation, he has remained resolutely true to the music itself. And it's precisely this mix of credibility and durability which makes Liam O'Flynn one of our greatest musicians and someone long regarded among his peers as Ireland's Master Uilleann Piper.