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Seamus Creagh

Seamus Creagh

I just watched him on Geantrai via TG4 online, the March 3rd episode. He plays several sets with Jackie Daly. Go check it out if you can and remember him that way. Thanks for the great music, Seamus.

From: Paul de Grae <pauldegrae@EIRCOM.NET>
To: IRTRAD-L@LISTSERV.HEANET.IE
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 8:48:01 AM
Subject: Seamus Creagh

We mourn the passing earlier today of Seamus Creagh: fiddler, singer,
storyteller, friend, gentleman and gentle man.

Re: Seamus Creagh

Very sad news.

I remember Seamus well from the days he resided in Edinburgh where he struck up many a fine tune in Sandy Bells, West End hotel to name but a few.

More recently, I got to see him perfrom with Matt Crannitch.

Re: Seamus Creagh

Rest in peace Séamus. Thanks for the music.

Re: Seamus Creagh

sad to hear. god rest him

Re: Seamus Creagh

Thoughts and prayers to Seamus, his family and friends, and the many people he touched in some way through his music. Rest in peace.

Posted by .

Re: Seamus Creagh

Your music will always be with us…

YouTube ~ NLFF: Seamus Creagh & Matt Cranitch
Seamus Creagh & Matt Cranitch perform at the 2008 Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival in St. John’s, Newfoundland…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCG4BG7k0kk



"Seamus Creagh: Tunes For Practice"
https://thesession.org/recordings/3225

"Seamus Creagh: Came The Dawn"
https://thesession.org/recordings/2544

"Jackie Daly And Seamus Creagh"
https://thesession.org/recordings/942

"Seamus Creagh And Aidan Coffey: Traditional Music From Ireland"
https://thesession.org/recordings/1451

"Consistency - At the Heart of the Tradition"
Seán Laffey wanders into the Spailpín Fanach for an evening’s session with Séamus Creagh and Aidan Coffey.
http://www.folkworld.de/9/e/seamus.html

"Sean Keane, Kevin Burke, Paddy Glackin And Seamus Creagh: An Fhidil, Sraith 2"
https://thesession.org/recordings/671

"Hammy Hamilton, Seamus Creagh, Con O Drisceoil: It’s No Secret"
https://thesession.org/recordings/515

The Living Tradition review ~
http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/webrevs/osscd89.htm


I’m also sure I’d seen a recording of Seamus with a bunch of folk from Newfoundland but didn’t manage to find it.

Thanks for the craic…

Re: Seamus Creagh

Ah, jayz, Séamus was one the most pleasant, kind, knowledgable and helpful people you could ever hope to meet!

[Ceol, the album you’re looking for is ‘From Island to Island’, but it doesn’t seem to be listed here.]

Posted by .

Re: Seamus Creagh

Thanks Floss, appreciated, there were two ~

"Tickle Harbour: The Brule Boys in Paris"
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/arts/tickleharbour/default.html#brule
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/arts/tickleharbour/tickle2.html

1991 ~ A Newfoundland collaboration featuring Seamus Creagh, Paddy Mackey, Rob Murphy, Bob O’Donovan, Scott Schillereff, Gerry Strong, Don Walsh.

"Island to Island: Traditional Music from Ireland
and Newfoundland"

Seamus Creagh, Colin Carrignan, Aidan Coffey, Mick Daly,
Graham Wells, Billy Sutton, Jason Whelan & Paddy Mackey
http://www.copperplatedistribution.com/oss131.html

A collaboration featuring Seamus Creagh, Mick Daly and Aidan Coffey, all highly respected traditional Irish musicians combine with Graham Wells, Billy Sutton, Jason Whelan, Colin Carrigan and Paddy Mackey from the Newfoundland tradition.

The Living Tradition review
http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/webrevs/osscd131.htm

Re: Seamus Creagh

If anybody can find them there were also a few You-Tube vids available online of Seamus in Newfoundland. I’ll keep looking. I can think of few better ways to wake the man digitally than enjoying his music…

"Tickle Harbour: The Brule Boys in Paris"

http://www.heritage.nf.ca/arts/tickleharbour/brule.html

Seamus Creagh - Fiddle
Paddy Mackey - Bodhran
Rob Murphy - Flute
Bob O’Donovan - Fiddle
Scott Schillereff - Hammer Dulcimer
Gerry Strong - Tin Whistle
Don Walsh - Guitar, Bouzouki

There are a few listens here…

Re: Seamus Creagh

How sad. I saw him many times in the Corner Bar in Skibbereen. Monday nights. Another era slips away into the blue-grey twilight.

Posted by .

Re: Seamus Creagh

I was shocked and saddened to see this news of Seamus. I knew him well in the early 80s in Eire and Scotland and he stayed with me in Glasgow on a number of occasions. He was an amazing fiddler then and although I kept missing him over the years he remained an icon of musicality and good character. I was just telling another great fiddler, Ciomhain O’Raghallaigh three weeks ago while in Kerry of one of a handful of ‘classic’ recordings to have come out of Scotland in 30 years …and it was Seamus and Jackie’s together. Ciomhain excitedly agreed wholeheartedly. I was looking forward to meeting him again….What a loss.

Re: Seamus Creagh

A lovely fiddle player. I remember seeing him at Cheltenham folk club - the most ghastly scenario for anyone to have to play at - he was a star and quieted all the snide-mouthers. A wise man he was.

Here’s to you Seamus.

Re: Seamus Creagh

Just posted a similar comment on the other, eponymous thread. Sad news indeed.

Re: Seamus Creagh

Sad news indeed. He was always so generous with his time. Every christmas he would come and for the homwless in Cork. He’ll be missed.

Re: Seamus Creagh

Tragic news - RIP, Seamus. He made a huge impression on a lot of players in Scotland when he made that trip "Jon Jay" refers to, [ early 80s ? ] and it was a privilege for us to welcome him back to Aberdeen as a guest at the fiddle festival in 2007. He’ll be much missed.

He’s also on this recording with Jackie Daly :

https://thesession.org/recordings/1092

Posted by .

Re: Seamus Creagh

Early eighties… 1982 to 1983 approx.

I also had the pleasure of hearing him in Aberdeen that year(2007) too with Matt.

Re: Seamus Creagh

Very sad news - I’ve heard and loved his music for many years. Hearing him in the flesh at the NAFCO festival Kenny and Jon Jay mentioned above, was a tremendous treat.

Posted by .

Re: Seamus Creagh

I too have fond memories of Himself..
I was a house musician at McGanns in doolin for a few years close to 30 years ago, & will always remember the summer Seamus spent staying with helen & john Brown in the restaurant next door.
By early afternoon there’d be tunes , songs & tales down by the window.
I learned alot of tunes sitting next to him…though I can’t remember which ones now.
He was a great man for the comical exaggerated songs…& a grand fiddler.
That was a summer that stood out amongst some very good ones
Saw him only once since about ten years ago on a trip back across the pond.
Cheers Seamus

Roger Burridge

Séamus Creagh - adding one recording and repeating another - - -

"An Bodhran: The Irish Drum"
- Colm Murphy with De Danann, Conal Ó Gráda, Máirtín O’Connor, Frankie Gavin, Jackie Daly, Seamus Creagh, Seán Ryan, Eoin Ó Riabhaigh, Alec Finn, Ciarán Ó Gealbháin
Tracks 5 & 8 - with Seamus Creagh & Jackie Daly
https://thesession.org/recordings/536

"The 3rd Irish Folk Festival In Concert"
- Jackie Daly, Seamus Creagh, De Danann, Andy Irvine, Treasa ni Mhiollain, Clannad
https://thesession.org/recordings/1092

Re: Seamus Creagh

http://www.irishmusicmagazine.com/2009/03/30/seamus-creagh-rip/

http://folkworld.de/9/e/seamus.html

From the CD:
"Seamus Creagh & Aidan Coffey: Traditional Music From Ireland"
https://thesession.org/recordings/1451

Seamus Creagh was born into a farming family in Killucan, County Westmeath, in 1946. He grew up in an enviroment that was, at best, indifferent to traditional music. Showbands ruled the musical landscape, and traditional music was seen as the remnant of an impoverished past. Seamus recalls hearing that a granduncle, whom he never met, had once played the fiddle.

Two neighbours were to play a part in his musical development. The first, Larry Ward, was a fiddle player, although his repertoire was not traditional and consisted almost exclusively of waltzes, quicksteps and fox-trots. The other was Nicholas Moore, who left a tin whistle behind in the Creagh household. Seamus came accross it, and started picking out tunes.

He studied violin in Mullingar for six months or so but " that didn’t suit at all, it was way to rigid ". He learned the pieces by heart, and inserted parts of his own making, hardly a recipe for success in the world of classical violin. His greatest outside influence in those pre-television, pre-cassette days was the radio. However he paid regular visits to Larry Ward, whose teaching methods were informal, and who used a similar tablature method to that of the Sliabh Luachra fiddle master, Padraig O’Keefe.

In his late teens Seamus discovered O’Donoghue’s Pub in Dublin, which was a regular haunt for traditional musicians such as John Kelly, Joe Ryan, Ted Furey and Seamus Ennis, and thus began a weekly pilgrimage. He had put his fiddle to one side at the time and was more interested in football, hurling and shooting. His only musical involvement lay in playing electric guitar with a local showband. The O’Donohue’s session drew him in the direction of traditional music. "I started listening, picking up bits and pieces, nearly unconsiously. Ted Furey gave me a lot of tips."

Although he lived in London (where he combined working in the construction trade with a bit of busking) at a time when the Beatles and Rolling Stones were at the peak of their popularity, the Swinging Sixties passed Seamus by. Nevertheless, music was becoming a central part of his life. On his return to Dublin, he joined a ballad group called "The Dragons", where ,on his own admission, he "battered a guitar for two years." On the demise of the group in 1967, he went to Baltimore in West Cork for what was intended to be a weekend break. It was to change his life.

Seamus Creagh ~ YouTube

Seamus Creagh & Jackie Daly - From Dan Connell’s Pub
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBSz0Ce9gfo


Seamus Creagh & Jackie Daly - polkas: "Sullivan’s" / "Britches Full of Stitches"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upEilWXAJn4


Seamus Creagh & Jackie Daly - Slides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70SvnrzLQOI


Seamus Creagh & Matt Cranitch - slides: "Knocking About" / "The Brosna" / Where’s The Cat?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeN4Vkj_Q9E