Tag: Composer

#OTD in 1959 – Birth of musician, Gavin Friday, in Dublin.

08/10/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

Birth of Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey) in Dublin. He is a singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter and founder of post-punk band The Virgin Prunes. Friday was born in Dublin and grew up in Ballygall a neighbourhood located on Dublin’s Northside located between Finglas and Glasnevin where he went to school. When […]

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#OTD in 2013 – Death of uilleann piper, accordion player, singer, composer, researcher, writer and lecturer, Tomás Ó Canainn.

15/09/2023.Reading time 1 minute.

The uileann piper was probably best known as a member of Na Filí, along with fiddler Matt Cranitch and whistle player Tom Barry, who brought Irish traditional music to an international audience in the 1970s. The Derry native was an engineering lecturer and in the early 1970s moved to work at University College Cork, where he […]

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#OTD in 1738 – Irish harpist and composer, Turlough O’Carolan, died at Alderford House, the home of his patron Máire MacDermott Roe, in Ballyfarnan, Co Roscommon.

25/03/2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Death of Irish harpist and composer Turlough O’Carolan. His wake lasted four days! At age 18, he was blinded by smallpox and took to playing the harp. O’Carolan travelled Ireland most of his life as a wandering minstrel and composer achieving a level of fame that was unusual for the time. At age fifty he […]

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#OTD in 1883 – Birth of songwriter, revolutionary and house-painter, Peadar Kearney, in Dublin; best known for writing the words of the Irish national anthem.

12/12/2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

In 1907, Kearney wrote the lyrics to ‘The Soldier’s Song’. It was used as a marching song by the Irish Volunteers and was sung by rebels in the GPO during the 1916 Easter Rising. Its popularity increased among rebels held in Frongoch internment camp after the Rising, and the IRA in the Irish War of […]

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#OTD in 1959 – Birth of musician, Gavin Friday, in Dublin.

08/10/2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

Birth of Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey) in Dublin. He is a singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter and founder of post-punk band The Virgin Prunes. Friday was born in Dublin and grew up in Ballygall a neighbourhood located on Dublin’s Northside located between Finglas and Glasnevin where he went to school. When […]

Read More

#OTD in 2013 – Death of uilleann piper, accordion player, singer, composer, researcher, writer and lecturer, Tomás Ó Canainn.

15/09/2022.Reading time 1 minute.

The uileann piper was probably best known as a member of Na Filí, along with fiddler Matt Cranitch and whistle player Tom Barry, who brought Irish traditional music to an international audience in the 1970s. The Derry native was an engineering lecturer and in the early 1970s moved to work at University College Cork, where he […]

Read More

#OTD in 1738 – Irish harpist and composer, Turlough O’Carolan, died at Alderford House, the home of his patron Máire MacDermott Roe, in Ballyfarnan, Co Roscommon.

25/03/2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Death of Irish harpist and composer Turlough O’Carolan. His wake lasted four days! At age 18, he was blinded by smallpox and took to playing the harp. O’Carolan travelled Ireland most of his life as a wandering minstrel and composer achieving a level of fame that was unusual for the time. At age fifty he […]

Read More

#OTD in 1883 – Birth of songwriter, revolutionary and house-painter, Peadar Kearney, in Dublin; best known for writing the words of the Irish national anthem.

12/12/2021.Reading time 4 minutes.

In 1907, Kearney wrote the lyrics to ‘The Soldier’s Song’. It was used as a marching song by the Irish Volunteers and was sung by rebels in the GPO during the 1916 Easter Rising. Its popularity increased among rebels held in Frongoch internment camp after the Rising, and the IRA in the Irish War of […]

Read More