Rita Keane (born 31 December 1922, Caherlistrane, near

Tuam Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, Ireland – died 28 June 2009,

Galway City Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

) was an Irish

traditional singer A traditional singer, also known as a source singer, is someone who has learned folk songs in the oral tradition, usually from older people within their community. From around the beginning of the twentieth century, song collectors such as Cecil ...

and

accordionist Accordions (from 19th-century German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed in a frame). The es ...

. She was a member of a well known Irish musical family, and had a lifelong musical partnership with her older sister, Sarah. She was a paternal aunt of singers Dolores,

Seán Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Hiberno-English, is a male given name of Irish language, Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (Anglicisation of names, anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn (g ...

and Matt Keane.

Early life

Keane grew up with six siblings in a home where music was always present. The whole Keane family sang and played instruments, and frequently played host to other singers and musicians from East Galway and beyond. Keane's mother, May, was an assiduous collector of traditional songs and tunes, and passed on her passion to her children. When, in later years, Dolores, Seán and Matt Keane started recording professionally, they were able to draw on a wealth of material from their paternal aunts. In 1939, Keane and her sister Sarah were given accordions, which they would play at celebrations and funerals in the local area. In 1958, the sisters entertained guests at the wedding of local farmer John Corbett to Mary Murphy, who had recently returned to Ireland after spending five years living in New York.

Musical career

In the 1950s and 1960s Rita and Sarah played as part of Keane's Céilí Band, who performed for audiences of up to 1,000 people at dances in the local town of

. At one stage, Brendan Burke, father of John "Turps" Burke who later became a member of the Saw Doctors, played with the band. In the late 1960s the broadcaster

Ciarán Mac Mathúna Ciarán Mac Mathúna (26 November 1925 – 11 December 2009) was an Irish broadcaster and music collector. He was a recognised authority on Irish traditional music and lectured extensively on the subject. He travelled around Ireland, England, Sc ...

made recordings of the Keane sisters, which he broadcast on a series of radio programmes for

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

. These proved popular with listeners, and resulted in the recording of an album entitled ''Once I Loved'' in 1969. Their only other album, ''At the Setting of the Sun'', would not follow until 1985. Both albums feature a mixture of sean-nós (traditional unaccompanied Irish language singing) and ballads sung in English, and have subsequently been re-released on CD, indicating a continued interest in, and demand for, the Keane sisters' recorded work.

Later life and death

Keane's passion for music remained with her up until her death. Seán Keane recalls the Keane sisters saying, of music, 'Oh God, it keeps us alive!'. Keane reportedly played her accordion until a few days before her death on 28 June 2009, aged 86.

Personal life

Keane did not marry, and lived her whole life in the house of her birth at Caherlistrane with her sister Sarah, who survived her.

Discography

''Once I Loved'' (1969,

Claddagh Records Claddagh Records is a record label, based in Dublin's Temple Bar area, founded in 1959 by Garech Browne and Ivor Browne. It specialises in Irish traditional music, song and spoken word. Garech Browne had been taking uilleann pipe lessons at ...

)
''At the Setting of the Sun'' (1985,

Gael-Linn Records Gael Linn () is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation focused on the promotion of the Irish language and the arts. The organisation's funding includes government and lottery sources. History Gael Linn was founded in May 1953, followin ...

)

Recognition and awards

The cultural significance of the Keane family has been recognised both within Ireland and internationally, with their work having been highlighted by

broadcast media Broadcasting is the distribution of audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wit ...

from as far away as

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In 2006, Rita and Sarah Keane were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

television channel

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

for their contribution to traditional music.Irish Music Magazine
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keane, Rita Irish folk singers Musicians from County Galway 1922 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Irish accordionists 20th-century Irish women singers 20th-century accordionists Claddagh Records artists Irish women accordionists