Name Joe Heaney | Role Singer | |
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Died May 1, 1984, Seattle, Washington, United States Albums The Road From Connemara, Say A Song Similar People Seamus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Sarah Makem, Margaret Barry, Sean Keane | ||
Seosamh o heanai joe heaney roisin dubh
Joe Heaney (AKA Joe Éinniú; Irish: Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) (15 October 1919 – 1 May 1984) was an Irish traditional (sean nós) singer from County Galway, Ireland. He spent most of his adult life abroad, living in England, Scotland and New York City, in the course of which he recorded hundreds of songs.
Contents
- Seosamh o heanai joe heaney roisin dubh
- Joe heaney the rocks of bawn
- Biography
- Partial discography
- Documentaries
- References
Joe heaney the rocks of bawn
Biography
Heaney was born Carna, a remote village in Connemara, County Galway, along the west coast of Ireland. This is an Irish-speaking district. He said he started singing at the age of five, but his shyness kept him from singing in public until he was 20. He learned English at school in Carna. When he was 16 years old, he won a scholarship to attend school in Dublin. While there he won first and second prizes at a national singing competition. Most of his repertoire (estimated to exceed 500 songs) was learned while growing up in Carna.
In 1949, he went to London where he worked on building sites and became involved in the folk-music scene. He recorded for the Topic and Gael-linn labels. He was married for six years until his wife died of tuberculosis.
He was recorded by Pádraic Ó Raghallaigh for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, and by Peter Kennedy for the BBC in 1959. The BBC recordings were assembled on a BBC LP, not commercially issued, as BBC LP 22570.
He came to America in 1965 at the invitation of the Newport Folk Festival. After singing at Newport, he decided to move to America and settled in New York City.
From 1982 until 1984, Heaney was an artist-in-residence at the University of Washington in Seattle, and previously had taught at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. The Joe Heaney Collection of the University of Washington Ethnomusicology Archives was established after Heaney's death in 1984.
The Féile Chomórtha Joe Éinniú (Joe Heaney Commemorative Festival) is held every year in Carna. A biography of him has been written by Liam Mac Con Iomaire.
Partial discography
In 2009 Wife of the Bold Tennant Farmer from Irish Traditional Songs in Gaelic & English was included in Topic Records 70 year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten as track sixteen on the third CD.