Irish Artist Paddy Hanna Promises ‘Laughter and Tears in Equal Measure’ at India Shows

Thanks to a fan named Peadar in the Irish Embassy, Dublin singer-songwriter Paddy Hanna secured funding to make his way to India with two shows in the country. While he just wrapped up a set at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay’s annual cultural festival Mood Indigo, the artist behind songs like “Bad Boys,” “Mario Lanza” and “Yoko Ono” will now perform at The Piano Man, New Delhi on December 22nd.

Intended as a special Christmas performance at the intimate venue in the capital, Hanna might just throw in rock-oriented songs like “Mario Lanza,” the hypnotic tune “Underprotected” and the more piano-driven song “New York Sidewalk,” the latter taken from his 2022 album Imagine I’m Hoping. It was in 2014 that Hanna — the frontman of the erstwhile art-pop duo Grand Pocket Orchestra — released his solo debut album Leafy Stiletto. Since then, he’s gone on to find fans in the likes of fellow Irishmen in post-punk act Fontaines D.C. and the late American songwriter Burt Bacharach. Hanna got to play support on the lineup with Bacharach at the latter’s Irish tour in 2019 and said at the time, “I was extremely nervous. What do you say to someone who’s met them all? But he’s just the coolest dude ever!” 

In an interview with Rolling Stone India, Hanna explains how he’s made his way to India, new material and playing Christmas music at the Piano Man gig in New Delhi.

Rolling Stone India: Is this your first time in India? What is it like making your way down here? How did the show come about?

Paddy Hanna: Everything happened by chance, a person named Arjun Bora stumbled across my music while surfing through Spotify, he asked me to play at the Mood Indigo festival in Mumbai. The idea seemed impossible to me given the distance required to travel, so we had to apply to the Irish embassy for funding, by an amazing coincidence an employee at the Embassy (Peadar) happened to be a fan of my music and he helped to arrange funding, so thanks to this serendipity we are here.

What is your set at The Piano Man going to include? I imagine it’s a bit festive-themed, so there’ll be a few Christmas songs?

There will be some Christmas music, I am a very sentimental person so you can expect laughter and tears in equal measure. It’s always a pleasure to play at The Piano Man.

It’s going to be about a decade since you’ve been releasing solo albums. What do you feel you ended up changing with each full-length record?

I go by instinct, the tone of my records changes as I do, I have released music which has been called slow and depressing, and some which has been called blissful and uplifting. It’s fun to surprise people.

What else is in store outside of the show in India while you’re here?

We are in Mumbai at the moment having performed at Mood Indigo, our set was wonderful and I absolutely adore the city and its people, I cannot wait to meet the people of Delhi next.

What else is coming up through 2024?

Album number 5 is what you can expect, what will it sound like? I’ll keep you in suspense.

Paddy Hanna performs at The Piano Man, New Delhi on December 22nd, 2023. Get tickets here.