SÉAMUS CREAGH: SÉAMUS CREAGH, who has died aged 63, was regarded as one of the premier exponents of the Sliabh Luachra style of fiddle playing.
He was known for his superb technique, subtle ornamentation and had a delightful lift to his playing.
His relaxed style brought him to international attention, particularly his duets with accordion player Jackie Daly and more recently with Aidan Coffey.
The composer Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin wrote: "When you listen to Séamus, it just seems natural that the words 'flowing' and 'bowing' should rhyme! One of his own compositions, Lament for Kinsale,is an architectural masterpiece with all the various motifs interlocking in a classical 'sean-nós' style. . . there is more here than formal beauty - there is real feeling born of experience."
Reviewing his 1977 album with Jackie Daly, Bill Meek in this newspaper congratulated the duo on "playing the music as it ought to be played, completely traditionally". Born in 1946 into a farming family, he grew up in Killucan, Co Westmeath. None of his immediate family was musically inclined. "I often wonder if I was a changeling," he said. "Nobody in our house smoked, drank or made music."
A neighbour, Larry Ward, introduced him to dance band violin. He later played electric guitar with a local showband, before joining a ballad group. In the mid-1960s, he sat in at sessions in O'Donoghues in Merrion Row, Dublin, and Ted Furey was his mentor.
In 1967 he travelled to Baltimore, Co Cork, for a weekend break, but stayed on to work on the construction of a new slipway. Extending his stay, he became a postman on Sherkin Island. He began attending Friday night sessions organised by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann at the Country Club Hotel, Cork. It was here in 1969 that he met Jackie Daly, from Kanturk.Their Gael Linn album in 1977 attracted widespread attention and they spread their wings, touring extensively. They ceased performing formally as a duo in 1979.
In 1988 Creagh travelled to St John's, Newfoundland, with the assistance of a Department of Foreign Affairs grant, to research songs and tunes. Back in Ireland, he teamed up with the former Dé Dannan member Aidan Coffey from Bunmahon, Co Wexford. They commenced a residency at An Spailpín Fánach, in Cork. Recently he had been playing gigs with Matt Cranitch, and with Raymond O'Brien.
He married, first, Deirdre O'Donovan with whom he had two sons; he next married Marie-Annik Desplanques, who with his children Oisín, Donal, Deirdre, Jenny and Mary survives him.
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Séamus Creagh: born 1946; died March 15th, 2009