Luigi Lai needs very little introduction to Armagh audiences. His first visit to the William Kennedy in 1995 was a veritable tour de force and he was accorded a standing ovation at the Festival Concert in Drumsill Hotel. Luigi comes from a very old piping tradition, perhaps the oldest as his instrument is pre 'Bagpipe'.

The Launeddas has been played in Sardinia for more than 2000 years and occupies a central place in the music of the Mediterranean island. Luigi has been playing all his long life and has taught the instrument to decades of young Sardinian musicians.

The Launeddas is a mouth blown triple pipes and for those familiar with the problems of bellows blown or mouth blown bagpipes it takes little imagination to understand the achievement in just getting a sound out of the instrument let alone the creation of the marvellous tapestry of sound produced by Luigi.

The Launeddas consists of a chanter playing melody, another chanter playing counterpoint and a single drone. To keep all this going requires mastery of what is known as circular breathing. The training for this is long and arduous and involves technical exercises over a long period of time before the seemingly effortless performance as exemplified by the likes of a Luigi Lai.