Seán Keane (; 12 July 1946 – 7 May 2023) was an Irish

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

r, teacher and member of

The Chieftains The Chieftains were a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous w ...

. He was a member of Ceoltóirí Chualann in the 1960s, before joining The Chieftains in 1968. He had a unique style, especially in his use of ornamentation, perhaps influenced by the music of the

uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ), also known as Union pipes and sometimes called Irish pipes, are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the ...

Early life

Keane was born into a musical family in Drimnagh, a suburb of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. Keane's mother and father were both fiddle players from musical communities in

County Longford County Longford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the Local government in the Republic ...

and

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

, respectively, and would host many traditional players who traveled from all over Ireland to perform in Dublin city. The Keane household became a landmark in Dublin's traditional music scene in the 1950s and 1960s. These guests greatly influenced Keane and his brother, James, an

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, 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 (mou ...

player, as did their summer trips to Longford and Clare where they encountered much traditional music.

Legacy

In May 1981, Keane was profiled on RTÉ's ''Hand Me Down'' series, which looks at how traditional music is handed on from generation to generation. Each program features a traditional artist and looks at how they inherited Irish music from their family. In this extract from the program, Keane plays solo before accompanying members of the Castle Céilí Band with the Mullagh set dancers at the Willie Clancy Summer School. The Castle Céilí Band were reformed especially for the program which is now archived in the RTÉ Libraries and Archives. In March 2019, Keane was featured on Season 8 episode 1 of TG4's documentary series '' 'Sé Mo Laoch'', which features some of Ireland's greatest traditional musicians. The 25 minute-long documentary looked at his life and career from his childhood up until the present day and is archived on

TG4 Player 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 ...

Personal life

Keane was married and had three children, Deirdre, Páraic and Darach. Darach and Páraic are both musicians. The majority of Keane's grandchildren play: Molly, Alex and Ella play fiddle; Loulou and Clara play concertina; Ruby plays cello, while Jack plays uilleann pipes/tin whistle. His other grandchildren are Doireann, Páidí and Seán Óg. Keane died on 7 May 2023, at the age of 76.

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Gusty's Frolics'' (1975) * ''Seán Keane'' (1982) * ''Jig it in Style'' (1990)

Collaborations

* ''Roll Away the Reel World'' (with James Keane and Mick Moloney) (1980) * ''Contentment is Wealth'' (with Matt Molloy) (1985) * ''The Fire Aflame'' (with Matt Molloy and

Liam O'Flynn Liam O'Flynn, Óg Flynn (, 15 September 1945 – 14 March 2018) was an Irish people, Irish Uilleann pipes, uilleann piper and Folk music of Ireland, Irish traditional musician. In addition to a solo career and as a member of Planxty, O'Flynn re ...

) (1993) * ''Fire in the Kitchen'' (with

Paddy Moloney Paddy Moloney (; 1 August 1938 – 12 October 2021) was an Irish musician, composer, and record producer. He co-founded and led the Irish musical group the Chieftains, playing on all of their 44 albums. He was particularly associated with the re ...

) (1998)

References

External links

*
Irish Traditional Music Archive

''Hand Me Down'' (RTÉ Archives)

Sé Mo Laoch'' (TG4 Player)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keane, Sean 1946 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Irish fiddlers 21st-century Irish fiddlers Ceoltóirí Chualann members Claddagh Records artists Fiddlers from County Dublin Irish male fiddlers 20th-century Irish folk musicians The Chieftains members