Padraig O'Keeffe
| Padraig O'Keeffe | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Patrick O'Keeffe |
| Born |
8 October 1887 Glountane, Castleisland, County Kerry, Ireland |
| Died | 22 February 1963 St.Catherine's Hospital, Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland |
| Genres | Irish |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Teacher |
| Instruments | Fiddle, Melodeon |
| Years active | 1920-1963 |
Padraig O'Keeffe (Irish: Pádraig Ó Caoimh) (1887 – 1963) was a noted Irish traditional musician.
O'Keeffe was born in Glountane Cross (in the townland of Knockdown), Cordal, Castleisland, the eldest of eight children from a musical family. He is known for his talented fiddle playing, self-devised system of notating music, numerous skilled pupils, as well as his notorious quick-wit and humor. He is regarded largely as the greatest fiddler of the Sliabh Luachra style, and one of the greatest fiddlers of all time. His death marked the end of the travelling Fiddlemasters of Munster.
There is no great consistency in the spelling of the anglicised version of his name. On returns from the 1901 Census of Ireland, he is listed as Patrick O'Keeffe. He was known locally as Patrick or Padraic Keeffe. On recording labels his surname is recorded as O'Keeffe (and incorrectly) O'Keefe.
Padraig was born to John Leahy O'Keeffe of Glountane, a schoolmaster and skilled dancer, and Margaret O'Callaghan of Doonasleen ("Doon"), Kishkeam, County Cork, the latter of whom played fiddle and concertina. In that part of the country it was then a tradition to send the eldest son to his maternal grandparents to be raised.
Living in the same townland as Padraig's grandparents was his uncle Callaghan "Cal" O'Callaghan. Cal had emigrated to the United States as a young man and had picked up various contracts as a buffalo hunter on the Great Plains for railroad companies, as well as one logging in Ohio. A fiddler himself, Cal is said to have worked with numerous Scottish immigrants who left major influences on him, among them tunes and technique. Upon returning some 20 years later, Cal is said to have played constantly and is credited as being a major influence on Padraig.
Local legend cites that Padraig was able to tune a fiddle at the age of 4. He is supposed to have received some formal instruction of the fiddle at his father's request but it is unknown who his instructor was.
Padraig attended school at Glountane until he was sent to his grandparents, attending Ummeraboy National School to the age of fifteen. He is then supposed to have attended the Ballydesmond National School for secondary school. Upon graduation he left for Dublin to train as a national school teacher upon his father's request where he learned some music theory. After qualifying he returned to Kerry, where he taught brief stints at a number of local schools and substituted at Glountane. After his father's death of recurring illness on April 30, 1915, he was called upon to take over as principal of Glountane National School, adjacent to the O'Keeffe home in Glountane Cross. John O'Keeffe had been known as a hard schoolmaster (even inciting a boycott against him in 1890), but Padraig did not carry on this legacy and was thought to have been as kind as his father was strict, and was thought to have been very progressive in his lessons, even holding lessons outside (in a style more reminiscent of a hedge school).
...
Wikipedia