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Ring, Brendan

Category: Musician or composer

Brendan Ring [born 24th July 1968] is an Irish traditional musician, playing Uilleann pipes, wire-strung harp and low whistle. He studied for an M.A in music at University College Cork and is a qualified Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist. He is married to the writer and artist, Michèle Vassal-Ring.

Brendan is a professional musician and maker of uilleann pipes. The tune he is playing on the video is called Port na pBucai and has just Brendan playing the pipes.

He has written a book entitled A Shamanic Kundalini Awakening and already has a number of much praised CDs to his name. His first CD, 'Troublesome Things’ features pipes and low whistle; his gaelic harp CD ‘Cumha’, features a copy of the famous Brian Boru harp and cover art by Michele Vassal-Ring. His latest work, An tSli, is a collaboration with Bernard O’Neill, exploring shamanic themes.

He is a prolific composer and his music has been played by many groups and musicians, including Laoisie Kelly, Flook, Solas and Rura.

Brendan has also contributed to other people’s CDs, perhaps the best-known of which is John Spillane’s The Wells of the World album. He has played in numerous venues and was part of Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s, Lumen, the interval piece for Ireland’s hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The uilleann pipes are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Also known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish-language term píob uilleann, from their method of inflation. In a review of the Troublesome things CD, Geoff Wallis wrote in a review in Musical Traditions, that “Brendan Ring proves himself an undoubted master of their complexities”.