The Glasgow musician who plays for Hobbit fans on famous NZ movie set

The Glasgow-born traditional singer and guitarist is the man behind the music at Hobbiton, the world-famous movie set for the Lord of The Rings and Hobbit trilogies in New Zealand.

“I’m lucky to play at Hobbiton quite often – my next function is the summer harvest festival on February 4,” says Gerry, who organises the live music for all the functions and events at the famous site.

“I’ve been playing there for about five years – the parties are epic. It's like stepping back in time, with armoured men on horseback, fire jugglers and us playing the traditional music….”

Gerry, left and fellow performers at Hobbiton. (Image: Gerry O'Neil)

Hobbiton, in the heart of North Island’s Waikato region, is now a tourist hotspot, attracting fans of Peter Jackson’s legendary movies from all over the world. The director fell in love with the site when he was scouting for locations for his Lord of the Rings trilogy, and he returned to film The Hobbit movies.

Gerry admits he was not initially a fan of traditional Celtic music.

“I never really got it before my 20s,” he admits. “To me, it was accordion players on the radio and it definitely felt like old people’s music. I didn’t connect.

“I loved music – when I was 15, I formed a band with my school mates, called Gazelle, and we stuck together for about 10 years, signed a couple of record deals and released two albums.

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“But it wasn’t until I joined the folk band Albanatchie – mainly because none of them could drive and I had a licence – that my eyes were opened to traditional music.”

He adds: “We had a fiddle player whose party piece was to play the fiddle and the didgeridoo at the same time. We had a great percussionist, and I just played grooves on the bass. That was when I first thought of Celtic music as being really cool.”

After playing at weddings and functions around Scotland, Gerry moved to New Zealand where he has been a professional musician for 20 years.

Playing solo, as part of The Celtic Connection duo, and with his acclaimed band The Grail, Gerry has played in Spain, Australia, Canada and America as well as touring the circuits around Thailand and all over Europe.

He has sung on television and on radio, has played for the New Zealand Prime Minister and the Thai royal family.

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Music has taken Gerry to some interesting places, he admits.

“I brought in the new year with an amazing musician called Sean Kelly, on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean at what I believe is the world’s first and only solar-powered Irish pub,” he smiles.

“It's called the Currach, it’s in the small village of Tryphena on Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf, about 90 miles off the coast of New Zealand mainland.

“Aotea is its proper name, its Maori name. It's called Great Barrier as it gets hit with all the massive weather systems coming in off the Pacific - which takes the sting out of them before they hit Auckland.”

Gerry O'Neil (Image: Gerry O'Neil)

Gerry admits he is “fortunate” to have found traditional music.

“It’s a great honour to be representing my old culture in my new country, and making a living doing it,” he says.

“It’s something I don’t take lightly. When I sing, I’m not just singing for those in the room, but for all those gone before too, and to let the next generations hear the old songs, to pass on the tradition. I’m like a link in the chain, carrying the culture forward… it’s so important to keep traditional cultures alive, wherever you’re from.”