MUIRIS O ROCHAIN:MUIRIS Ó Rócháin, who died aged 67, had, with Martin Talty and Harry Hughes in 1973 founded Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy in honour of the great Clare piper who died that year.
It was Ó Rócháin’s belief that the locale of Milltown Malbay was central to the concept of the summer school; it was where Willie Clancy lived and enriched the people with his art.
The school quickly became a success, attracting traditional music lovers from Australia, France, the Netherlands, Sweden the UK and US as well as from all over Ireland. One piper travelled from Tibet.
An Irish Timeseditorial in July 1976 described Ó Rócháin as the school's "guiding spirit", and was full of praise for the event: "In the streets of Milltown Malbay at night there is splendid spontaneous music until dawn.
“It is all dedicated and full of gaiety – the right kind of cultural occasion, proving that Ireland, in spite of the terrible things happening in our country, can still be a haven of civilisation. We need many more festivals such as Milltown-Malbay.”
In its early years the school drew musicians such as Bobby Casey, Junior Crehan, Dan Dowd and Liam Ó Floinn, while Brian Vallely, Hugh Shields and Colm Ó Cléirigh contributed to the proceedings with learned papers. Music classes also were an important part of the school. Broadcaster Ciarán Mac Mathúna was impressed: “This is a real school, a learning place . . . where music lovers and learners love to go.”
Born in Dingle, Co Kerry, in 1944, Ó Rócháin qualified as a teacher and taught at Cahersiveen and Waterville, where he visited Irish speakers collecting folklore.
Moving to Dublin, he formed friendships with music collector and scholar Breandán Breathnach and John Kelly, the great concertina and fiddle player from west Clare. In 1970, he was married to Úna Guerin from Miltown-Milbay. They moved to Spanish Point, where he taught maths and Irish at St Joseph’s secondary school.
In 1972, he helped to found the journal Dal gCais, dedicated to "reawakening an interest in the past and making us aware of ourselves as a people living in a certain area with particular traditions and background [and] with something to contribute to the national image."
Proud of his adopted county, in 1980 he wrote in this newspaper that Clare was the foremost musical county in Ireland. He never forgot his origins, however, and in 2002 formally opened Geantraí Chorca Dhuibhne which discussed the west Kerry music tradition. He played an important role in the making of three films for RTÉ: My Own Place, produced in 1980 by accordion player Tony MacMahon; Cur agus Cúiteamh(1992); and the Story of the Dingle Wren(1991).
In 2001, he was selected as president of Oireachtas na Gaeilge, and his massive contribution to Irish music was acknowledged by a TG4 Gradam Ceoil award in 2010.
Muiris Ó Rócháin is survived by his wife Úna, son Seamus and daughter Máire.
Muiris Ó Rócháin: born 1944; died October 17th, 2011