The Olllam

It begins with a tale of master and protégé......a tale of how then 13 year old Tyler Duncan from Ann Arbor, Michigan went to Ireland and tracked down his hero, uillean piper and whistle player John McSherry.

McSherry is the founder of Lunasa, Tamalin, At First Light, Ulaid, and a member of Donal Lunny’s supergroup Coolfin: the most innovative Irish piper of his generation - and co-author of Wheels of the World: 300 Years of Irish Uillean Pipers.

Duncan became his student, friend, and eventually his melodic partner in the olllam, a Transatlantic musical partnership.

The name derives from the old Irish word ollam, meaning a master of the highest rank in a particular skill.