THE OLLLAM are one of the biggest bands to play this year’s Belfast Trad Fest –  described by festival organiser Dónal O’Connor as having a sound between Radiohead and Planxty.

Ahead of Friday's concert at the Mandela Hall, the Andersonstown News spoke with Uillean piper John McSherry – who is originally from Ladybrook in West Belfast – and Grammy-nominated producer Tyler Duncan about their upcoming gig and how a chance meeting  began decades of musical collaboration.

Tyler said: “Our meeting was pretty serendipitous. I came over with my family from America when I was 13 as an aspiring young piper and the first place we went was Milltown Malbay in Co Clare for the Willie Clancy traditional festival. John was my favourite piper and I had been listening over and over to one of his tapes but the person who gave me it said he was called ‘Ron McSherry’.

“I was in a pub playing a session and someone asked who my favourite piper was. I said Ron McSherry and they said, who? Don’t you mean John McSherry? He’s sitting at the bar right over there! I finally gathered the courage to go up to speak to him and I was staring at him for ages and frozen wondering what to say. John’s partner at the time noticed I was just staring and said ‘John, there’s this kid staring at you’.

John added: “I turned around and we started laughing, I can’t remember what we said but we broke the ice and from then we developed a friendship and I became good friends with Tyler and his parents. Tyler would come over every year for the fleadhs and festivals and lived in Dublin for over a year when I was living there too. Tyler blended into my family and I blended into his, and we began playing music together all the time.”

Upon returning to the States, Tyler and John kept in touch, communicating by playing music to each other via long distance phone calls.

Tyler said: “This was before email or anything like that, and it used to be very expensive to call Ireland but sometimes I’d just call John up and we’d play the music over the phone, and things haven’t changed!”

John added: “Tyler would still come over from time to time after he got older and I remember showing him around Belfast and taking him to Kelly’s Cellars to play some sessions and it was about 15 years later that we started The Olllam.”

The Olllam have played Belfast a number of times, including at the Black Box and the Culturlánn. Asked about playing this Friday John said: “I think this gig will be our best one in Belfast yet. We brought an album out over a year ago there and we’re really excited to play all the new material. We’re really looking forward to it.”

Asked about the growth in traditional Irish music John said: “I think there are a lot more young people now playing Irish music than there used to be. I think there’s a lot of reasons for that and our type of music is easy to get across to young people who might not have grown up listening to Irish music to develop their interest in Irish music, and there are a lot of bands who aren’t strictly traditional but are a bit of a crossover between genres, I think we’re definitely a genre mixing band.”

Tyler said: “From coming over now compared with years ago I am definitely hearing more about new artists and projects and collaborations a lot more. There’s a lot of activity now which is really exciting. Irish music in the States isn’t a big thing outside of the big cities of Chicago, New York and Boston. I hope I’m not offending anyone in the US but my experience has been Irish music isn’t as common outside of those major cities.

“In Ireland there are so many good players everywhere and you can go anywhere and just hear some amazing players.”

John added: “We’re really looking forward to the gig on Friday and playing with Clare Sands, she’s a pretty new singer on the scene and her work is wonderful, we can’t wait to play Belfast again.”

The Ollam play Mandela Hall at Queen's on Friday, doors open at 7.30. Tickets are available here.