Two young rising stars of traditional music will be awarded at the Patrick O’Keeffe Festival at the end of the month in the Sliabh Luachra music stronghold of Castleisland.
Roisín O’Connor (fiddle) from Malahide, Co Dublin and Éamonn O’Meachair (uileann pipes) from Cúl Aodha, Co Cork have both won the Young Musicians Award for 2023, and both musicians will perform in the Sliabh Luachra Concert on Saturday the 28th of October at this years festival.
The winners were invited to choose a musical hero of theirs to tutor them in advance of the concert, and perform with them in concert. Róisín has chosen Aidan Connolly, by popular consensus one of the leading fiddle players of his generation. Aidan is from Dublin but has very strong Sliabh Luachra connections. He has 3 studio albums to his name, and is releasing a new album in the coming month.
Eamonn O’Meachair has chosen Peter Browne as his tutor. Peter presented The Rolling Wave on RTÉ Radio 1 for many years. He is a founding member of the Patrick O’Keeffe Traditioanl Music Festival and a past recipient of the hugely prestigious ‘Dedication to the Music of Sliabh Luachra’ Award. Born in Dublin, Peter Browne learned the Music of the uilleann pipes from three of the great masters of the instrument – Leo Rowsome, Willie Clancy and Seamus Ennis. He was a member of the groups Rafferty, 1691 and, on occasion, the Bothy Band.
Róisín O’Connor’s earliest musical influences were her parents, Sliabh Luachra musicians Paudie O’Connor and Aoife Ní Chaoimh. She received fiddle tuition from Liam O’Connor and John McEvoy. She has developed her interest and knowledge of Sliabh Luachra music from her involvement with the Handed Down and World Fiddle Day events in Sacartaglen. In 2022, along with her mother Aoife, she led the fiddle recital at World Fiddle day having chosen the tunes to be played from the Handed Down Sliabh Luachra archive. Through her research in the archive she has developed a particular love for the music of Julia Clifford and Paddy Cronin. Over the past number of years Róisín has done numerous recordings for both RTÉ and TG4.
First inserted into the festivals programme of events in 2021, The Young Musician Award seeks to motivate and inspire young people to take an interest in Sliabh Luachra Music. This is the music of the area in which the festival takes place, the music of Patrick O’Keeffe, Julia Clifford, Denis Murphy and Johnny O’Leary to name just a few. The goal of the award is to promote and preserve the playing of Sliabh Luachra Music among the next generation.
“We are living through a huge cultural revival when it comes to traditional Irish music, and this revival has seen young musicians from all over Ireland and indeed the world take a renewed interest in Sliabh Luachra Music,” the Committee said.
This year’s programme includes a tribute to renowned musician Jimmy Doyle who died earlier this year and who will be remembered in this years Sliabh Luachra Concert on Sunday Oct 29th.