| Piper Liam takes top honour at 2007
Traditional Music Awards  WORLD-renowned
piper Liam O’Flynn is the winner of the 2007 TG4 Gradam Ceoil (Traditional
Music Awards).
Kildare man Liam has been a member of some of the most influential traditional
music groups including Planxty and has also performed specially-commissioned
orchestral suites such as The Brendan Voyage to national and international
acclaim.
He is acknowledged as Ireland’s foremost exponent of the uilleann
pipes and has brought the music of the pipes to a worldwide audience.
The other award winners were:
Ceoltóir Óg na bliana (Young Musician): Fiachna Ó
MongáinFiachna was born and raised in Dumha Thuama near Gaoth Sáile
in the north Mayo Gaeltacht.
He started playing music at six years of age beginning on the tin whistle
and graduating to the accordion when he was nine.
Gradam Saoil (Hall Of Fame): Paddy Cronin
Paddy was born into a musical family in Ré Buí near Gneeveguilla
in Co. Kerry in the 1920s.
Like so many of his contemporaries in Sliabh Luachra his strongest musical
influence outside the home was the master fiddler and teacher Phádraig
O’Keefe.
While he learnt much from O’Keefe and the other great Sliabh Luachra
musicians Paddy went on to develop his own distinctive style of fiddle
playing and is recognised by authorities in the world of music as a supreme
craftsman.
In 1949 he cycled from his home to Macroom in Co. Cork to meet Séamus
Ennis who was recording for Radio Éireann at singer Bess Cronin’s
house.
He made his first recordings there and later travelled to Dublin where
he recorded 10 further selections of tunes for the radio station.
Later that year he emigrated to the United States where Boston became
his home for more than 40 years. While there he played music with many
resident and visiting musicians.
He also featured on the radio series American Journeywork recorded by
Ciarán Mac Mathúna in the US in the early 1960s.
Cumadóir na bliana (Composer): Jim McGrath
This composer and accordion player is a native of Cullen in Co. Fermanagh.
He grew-up listening to the music of the local Monea Accordion Band. He
taught himself to play guitar and banjo at 16 before spending two years
living and working in London.
On his return to Fermanagh he began to learn the accordion coming under
the influence of local musician Larry Hoy.
Amhránaí na Bliana (Singer): Dara Bán Mac Donnchadha
Dara is a native of An Aird Thoir, Carna which is situated in Iorras
Aithneach probably the richest area in Ireland for sean-nós song
and singers.
Gradam na gCeoltóirí (Musician): Ciarán Mac Mathúna
Ciarán is a native of Limerick city. He began his career with the
newly-formed Place Names Commission before joining Radio Éireann
in 1944 as a scriptwriter with special responsibilities to collect music
and song for broadcast.
His first recording trip was to Clare in 1945 where he met musicians such
as Mrs Crotty.
In the following years he travelled regularly recording at gatherings
and house sessions throughout Ireland and among the emigrant community
in Britain and later the United States.
n The awards will be presented at a televised gala awards ceremony and
concert in Cork Opera House on Easter Sunday April 8. |
