Seán Ó Riada
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| Seán Ó Riada | ||
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 Seán Ó Riada C. 1955
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | John Reidy | |
| Born | August 1, 1931 | |
| Origin |  County Limerick, Ireland |
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| Died | October 3, 1971 | |
| Occupation(s) | Composer | |
Seán Ó Riada (August 1, 1931 - October 3, 1971), born John Reidy, was a composer and bandleader, and perhaps the single most influential figure in the renaissance of traditional Irish music from the 1960s, through his participation in Ceoltóirí Chualann, his compositions, his writings and his broadcasts on the topic.
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[edit] Early life
Born John Reidy in Adare, County Limerick, he was educated at St Finbar's College, Farranferris. He played the fiddle and studied classics at University College Cork, graduating in 1952. While there Ó Riada was the auditor of the UCC Philosophical Society. In the same year he became assistant director for Radio Éireann. He married Ruth Coughlan in 1953. During the evening he played piano with dance bands. In 1955 Ó Riada abandoned his prestigious job, his wife and his newborn son Peadar, and moved to Italy and France, adopting a wild bohemian lifestyle. While studying composition under Aloys Fleischman he wrote avant-garde music. He drank heavily, and acquired a passion for expensive fast cars. Over the next ten years Ó Riada wrote several orchestral pieces called "Nomos". The third was left incomplete and some of the others took years to finish. None of them were publicly performed more than once. Ruth went in pursuit of her husband and found him living in poverty in Paris. She persuaded relatives to give them money and brought him back to Ireland, where he became musical director of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin for five years. At about this time he changed his name from John Reidy to Seán Ó Riada.
[edit] Mise Éire
As a classical composer Ó Riada's real strength was for music of the theatre and film. In 1959 he scored a documentary film by George Morrison called "Mise Éire" ("I am Ireland"). It is about the founding of the Republic of Ireland. It has repeatedly been used in other documentaries and is available on CD, together with other film music - "Saoirse" (1960) and "An Tine Bheo" ("The Living Fire"). The recording is conducted by Ó Riada himself. These works combine traditional Irish tunes and "sean-nós" (old style) songs with an orchestral arrangement. Ralph Vaughan Williams had already done this sort of thing with English folk music, but in 1950s Ireland traditional music was still held in low regard. His first attempt to combine Irish song with the classical tradition was in 1958 when an Irish radio station in Cork commissioned a short work. "Mise Éire" brought him national acclaim and allowed him to start a series of programmes on Irish radio called "Our Musical Heritage". Ó Riada told people that one should listen to sean-nós either as a child would listen or as if they were songs from India.
[edit] Ceoltóirí Chualann
Between 1961 and 1969 Ó Riada was leader of a group called Ceoltóirí Chualann. Although they played in concert halls dressed in a black suits with white shirts and black bow ties, they played traditional songs and tunes. An ordinary céilidh band or show-band would have musicians who competed with each other to grab the attention of the audience. Ceoltóirí Chualann played sparse lucid arrangements. Ó Riada sat in the middle at front playing bodhrán, a hand-held frame-drum. This was an instrument that had almost died out, being played only by small boys in street parades. Ceilidh bands generally had jazz-band drum-kits. Ó Riada also wanted to use the clarsach or wire-strung harp in the band, but as these were as yet unavailable, he played the harpsichord instead - the nearest sound to a clarsach. Unknown to Ó Riada, Irish folk music was being played ensemble-style in London pubs, but for most people of Ireland this was the first time they heard these tunes played by a band. The membership of Ceoltóirí Chualann overlapped with membership of The Chieftains, so it is surprising that the six albums they recorded are not better known. They recorded the soundtrack of the film "Playboy of the Western World" (original play by John Millington Synge) in 1963. Their last public performance was in 1969, and issued as the album "Ó Riada Sa Gaiety".
[edit] Final years
In 1964 Ó Riada moved to Cúil Aodha (English: Coolea) in West Cork, an Irish-speaking area. Ó Riada demanded that his wife learn to speak the language within three months. He established Cor Cú Aodha, a male voice choir. He turned toward church choral music, including "Aifrean 2" (premiered posthumously in 1979). Other works include "Five Greek Epigrams" and "Holdlerin Songs". In 1996 Kate Bush recorded his song "Mná na h-Éireann" on the compilation album "Common Ground". "Mná na h-Éireann", performed by the Chieftains, is used as a romantic overture throughout the Stanley Kubrick movie Barry Lyndon. He did a setting of the poetry of Thomas Kinsella, who returned the favour by praising Ó Riada in verse. He became involved in Irish politics and was a friend of several influential leaders. Ó Riada and Ruth both drank regularly at a local pub which still advertises itself as his being his local. He suffered sclerosis of the liver. He was flown to King's Hospital, London for treatment and died there. He is buried in St Gobnait's church, Ballyvourney, County Cork. Willie Clancy played at his funeral.
A Gaelscoil in Cill Coca (Kilcock) - Scoil Uí Riada is also named after him.
[edit] References
- Our Musical Heritage Sean Ó Riada edited Thomas Kinsella/Tomas Ó Cannain Dolmen Press 1982 ISBN 0 85105 389 0 pbk
- A recent biography is Seán Ó Riada: His Life and Work by Tomás Ó Canainn (Collins Press, 2003)
