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Seán Keane earned world renown as a pivotal member of The Chieftains who he joined in 1968 after coming to prominence with Ceoltóirí Chualann and the Castle Céilí Band earlier in the decade.

His powerful fiddle playing married technical virtuosity with an incredibly insightful and sensitive understanding of what made Irish traditional music distinctively beautiful. He was a beacon for our traditional art.

His professional career spanned nearly 60 years and his output was extraordinarily prolific, with The Chieftains, with musical confidantes Matt Molloy, Liam O’Flynn and many others and, strikingly, as an exceptional soloist. His 1975 recording Gusty’s Frolics is an enduring classic of Irish art. It was recorded the day after The Chieftains had performed in the Albert Hall for the first time. His other two solo recordings Seán Keane and Jig It In Style are essential parts of the canon of Irish music.

The body of breathtakingly brilliant non-commercial recordings in existence in ITMA is equally incredible, franking a very productive and important period in the history of music in Ireland.

Seán attributed his inspiration to his parents, from Clare and Longford respectively, and his connection with what he described as the ‘old music’ honed creatively through the generations and passed on to himself and his brother James as children.

Born in 1946, Seán grew up in the south Dublin suburb of Drimnagh and though imbued with music from the cradle, his technical development was strengthened by formal tuition in the School of Music and attentive listening to the great gramophone-era recordings of the Sligo master fiddlers Michael Coleman, James Morrison and Paddy Killoran along with Dubliner Frank O’Higgins.

He displayed an insatiable desire to learn the very best of what traditional music had to offer, frequenting the old Church Street and Pipers Clubs in Dublin and traversing the country as a youngster with his lifelong friend Mick O’Connor, playing with and learning from legends like Willie Clancy, Séamus Ennis and sean-nós singer Seosamh Ó hÉanaí.

He absorbed the unique components of the regional fiddle styles – the music of Pádraig O’Keeffe in Sliabh Luachra, John Kelly, Bobby Casey, Patrick Kelly and Joe Ryan in West Clare and John Doherty in Donegal. He also had a great love for the great Scottish fiddle music of Scott Skinner which formed a rich part of Seán’s expansive repertoire.

He was also very taken by the distinctive and vocal qualities of the uilleann pipes which influenced his highly stylized and original fiddle ornamentation.

The result was the emergence of a master, whose artistic ambition was unfettered.

He loved every minute of his career with The Chieftains and was deeply grateful to Paddy Moloney for his enduring leadership. They formed a very special bond musically and personally. Equally Seán carried great respect for Seán Ó Riada and the experience of sharing a creative period with musicians like Sonny Brogan, John Kelly, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy.

Naturally inquisitive and ambitious as a fiddle player, Seán always enjoyed working with different musicians and genres and excelled as a collaborator cherishing the opportunities afforded to him through The Chieftains.

However, he was single-minded in his respect for, and his interest in, source. He was utterly unpretentious, always returning to what inspired him – the great music passed down through our folk tradition. He never felt any contradiction that the ‘palette’ from which he drew as an artist was Irish traditional music.

Arriving back from an arduous Chieftains tour he could be practicing with Matt Molloy on a duet performance or recording within days. This rapport he shared with Molloy yielded Contentment is Wealth, one of the greatest recordings of Irish music.

He always made time to attend the annual Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, local performances and sessions and understood the existential importance of the Irish music community.

ITMA were honoured to have worked with Seán in making a documentary film in 2022. “A Portrait of an Artist: Seán Keane”, was shown at Miltown Malbay last July.

Clare held a very special place in Seán’s heart. His soulmate Marie, who he lost tragically in March 2020, hailed from Ennistymon. A kindred spirit, Marie was the bedrock of Seán’s life supporting his artistic career and as he said himself, essentially rearing their three children Páraic, Deirdre and Darach in his absence with the band.

Family was everything to Seán extending to his adoration for his grandchildren, palpable whenever the family would gather at musical events.

Dan was born in Birmingham, England on the 27 March 1945, and was predeceased by his Irish mother Nora Mary (nee Cremin) and Irish-English father, William Milner. During and after World War II his family lived in many other places including Ballybunion, Ireland, Toronto, Canada, as well as Brooklyn and Queens, NY where they became US Citizens. He attended schools in both New York City and in England.

Upon losing his student deferral for not carrying enough college credits, Dan received his draft notice during the Vietnam War era. He promptly signed up for the United States Air Force and served at Travis Air Force Base in California.

After leaving the military, he began working in the airline industry in California and then in New York. He started as a baggage handler, reservation agent, and eventually became a sales manager for two airlines. Coupled with the many moves he made during his childhood; travel became an important part of his life. Working for airline companies led to many spectacular trips around the globe.

He also worked as a National Park Ranger, a cartographer for the Census Bureau and most recently as a professor at St. John’s University in New York City.

The most important passion of his life was his singing. Music was in the family. His mother was a keen set dancer and his father a good singer and piano player. Dan’s first “performance” occurred when as a wee lad he became separated from his family at Coney Island Beach and was brought to the police station. When his mother came roaring into the station, there was Dan on top of one of the desks regaling the Irish cops with song. He narrowly escaped punishment!

A quick student, Dan learned not only his father’s repertoire, but began to absorb the canon of Irish, English, and Scottish traditional folk songs along with a strong dose of sea chanteys. In the United States, he won the Mid-Atlantic Fleadh Cheoil several times and competed in the Fleadh in Ireland twice. He was a renowned and respected singer and collector of Irish songs in the English language.

In the early 1970s he established the Eagle Tavern Folk Club in New York City. He ran weekly concerts there for 10 years attracting the best of traditional singers and musicians from here and abroad. He was a founding member of the acclaimed band, The Flying Cloud, who performed in the USA including the 1977 Philadelphia Folk Festival. Their one, eponymous recording, was with Adelphi Records. In 1983 he published his first book, The Bonnie Bunch of Roses: Songs of England, Ireland & Scotland.

Though work dominated his life at this time, he still kept a hand in music by going to sessions and concerts whenever possible. He met his beloved wife Bonnie at one such session at the Eagle Tavern. They were wed in 1989 and she encouraged him to get back to singing which led to a rich and rewarding life.

Over the years Dan made five CDs: three for Folk Legacy Records – Irish Ballads and Songs of the Sea, Irish in America, and Irish Songs from Old New England and two for Smithsonian Folkways: Civil War Naval Songs and Irish Pirate Ballads and Other Songs of the Sea.

Upon retiring and after a 37-year hiatus from college, Dan decided to go back and received his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Hunter College in New York City. He then pursued and completed his doctorate in American Studies back “home” at the University of Birmingham in England. His doctoral dissertation led to his second book, The Unstoppable Irish: Songs and Integration of the New York Irish, 1783-1883.

Attending the Inishowen Singers weekend in Ballyliffin, Ireland was a fixed highlight on his calendar, along with the Mystic and CT Sea Music Festivals. He and his wife, Bonnie, enjoyed their music and travels together during an incredible lifetime journey.