Darach O'Cathain
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| Darach Ó Catháin | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Darach Ó Catháin |
| Born | 1922 Mainin, Ireland  |
| Origin | Maimin, Lettermore, Connemara |
| Died | 1987 |
| Genre(s) | Sean nós |
| Occupation(s) | Farmer, Writer, Composer |
| Label(s) | Gael-Linn Records |
| Associated acts | Seán Ó Riada, Ceoltoiri Cualann |
Darach Ó Catháin (1922 – 1987) was an Irish Sean nós singer. Ó Catháin was born in Maimin, Lettermore, Connemara seventh in a family of twelve children, in 1922. In 1935 his family moved to new government created Gaeltacht of Rath Cairn, Co. Meath. His love of singing and many of his songs were learned from his mother. By the late 1950s he was established as one of the finest Sean Nós singers in the country. In the early 60s Seán Ó Riada had begun to broadcast a series of radio programmes, Reacaireacht an Riadaigh, on RTÉ Radio 1. These programmes were to transform the traditional music. Darach O Cathain was the singer in those programmes. In 1962 a commercial recording was issued. Out of all of this came Ceoltoiri Cualann and eventually The Chieftans. But - in the meantime - Darach disappeared. Darach fell in love and married when he was 19.
While he was performing with O Riada he was also working as a labourer on the building sites of London and the north of England. By 1963 he'd become convinced his family's future was in Leeds. In that year his wife, Brid, sold the family home and moved to Yorkshire. In the intervening years Darach released another recording, Traditional Irish Unaccompanied Singing" (1975). It cemented his reputation as a singer. Indeed, for many it established him as the greatest of the Sean Nós singers. Darach O Cathain became an iconic figure within the Irish Music tradition.
But O Cathain was never wholly Darach O Cathain, he was also Dudley Kane, the name by which he was known to his family and friends. Darach O Cathain was a stage name, the name O Riada gave him. When The Kane family sold their family home and moved to Leeds they were beginning an experiment that would not prove a total success. The Kanes are still in Leeds.
Dudley Kane - Darach O'Cathain - is here in Leeds follows that journey through the eyes of three of Darach's seven children and their mother, Brid. When the family made that journey the eldest daughter, Barbara, was 16 and already in Boston. She was later to rejoin her family. Bridie (15) and Monica (9) recall their early days in Leeds, their sense of dislocation - at loss in a language they had little knowledge of and the love they had for their father and his musical inheritance.[1]
"When you've music in you, you're hearing music always." Darach O Cathain
