TRIBUTES HAVE been paid to linguist and sean-nós singer Ciarán Ó Con Cheanainn who has died suddenly at the age of 27.
“A great light gone out,” was how Dr Lillis Ó Laoire, NUI Galway lecturer in Irish and folklore, described Ó Con Cheanainn’s death yesterday, while Cumann Merriman described his death as a great loss for Irish cultural life.
Ó Con Cheanainn, who was found dead earlier this week, was from Salahoona in Spiddal, Co Galway, and took his undergraduate degree at NUIG. He pursued postgraduate work at UCD and was lecturing there while also completing his doctorate on Irish language song tradition.
Dr Ó Laoire described him as a very accomplished writer, singer and academic, who was a “great hope” in terms of Irish language research and culture. “He was both a performer and a scholar, shy and unsure but with a wonderful instrument in his voice,” Dr Ó Laoire said.
Last year, Ó Con Cheanainn became the youngest winner on record of the Corn Uí Riada at Féile an Oireachtais before an audience of 700 people.
The award is regarded as the ultimate accolade for sean-nós singing.
He was also a committee member with Sean-Nós Cois Life, the Dublin sean-nós festival.