The loss of a true gentleman..

We have lost a true Gentleman and another great musician, Brian Prior (Bannerman) passed away this morning. Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QadUo2Tz48I

play video

Brian brought me into Irish music through the Tuesday night session in Monkstown, as he did for so many others. Later I worked with him on the Foinn Seisiun series of tunebooks, and then on many other projects as a co-worker at Comhaltas.

He was one of the most generous musicians and warm-hearted human beings I have had the pleasure to know.

He was a good friend, and he will be missed. I’ll update the Comhaltas website with arrangements as soon as I have them.

Are we talking about https://thesession.org/members/2466 ?

Yes, Bannerman himself.

this is a painful loss to hear of the passing of Brian Prior who for many of us represented the best of Comhaltas in his genererosity, sincerity and commitment for traditional Irish music. We will miss his great fellowship, steady demeanor and prodigious efforts and work promoting Irish traditional music in and out of Comhaltas both in Monkstown and down in Clare where he made his home. this is but one forum where we will miss his contributions.
Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam.

That is very sad news indeed. I never met Brian but, through his posts on this site, he came across as not only very knowledgeable about the music, but as a thoroughly decent guy who never lost his cool - sometimes in the face of provocation.
May he rest in peace.

Ditto what murfbox said. Couldn’t agree more.

I’m deeply saddened by Brian’s passing. In the last year I got to know him through the slow slow sets he ran for us midweek. He will be sadly missed by all in Monkstown and throughout the wide world of Irish music.

I never met Brian either and only know him through his posts on here. I’m sad to hear of his passing and will echo what has already been said about how he always came across as a very decent guy.

My condolences to all who knew him. May he rest in peace.

That’s sad news alright, always a nice poster … there’ll be tunes played in heaven tonight. 🙁

I only knew him from this website, but he was a class act, and will be missed.

I never met him except through this board. His comments and insights were always much appreciated, and revealed a thoughtful, generous soul. My condolences to his family.

His contributions were some of the best aspects of this website.

I’m very sad to hear this tragic news. Bannerman was always one of the most helpful and knowledgeable members we had on this site. He’ll be sorely missed.
My condolences to all of his friends and family.

sorry to hear the awful news, he was a real nice person

I just can’t believe he isn’t with us any more. It’ll take me a while to accept that he has passed away.

I am totally shocked. I just had some tunes with him a month ago at the Ennis Trad Festival. He looked very ill, but he didn’t want to talk much about his illness.
Brian always was so welcoming, helpful and nice. I will miss him very much. My thoughts are with his friends and family.

Bannerman, I did not know you. Thank you so much for everything.

What sad news. I only knew him through his contributions on this site, which always brought great insights to any discussion. You could see his knowledge of and passion for the music. Condolences to his friends and family.

This is very sad news, I didn’t know Brian well but met him a few times, most recently at the national Fleadh. He was indeed one of the most sane, decent and helpful posters here, and always friendly and a gentleman.

Sad news indeed he gave me some sound advice via email a year or so ago and it helped me tremendously he will be missed by more than a few sleep in peace

Many of us knew him “only from his postings” here, but by all accounts we knew him well enough--he was just as helpful, friendly, and enthusiastic here as in person. Some people shine through, no matter what medium you meet them in. Brian cast his joy for the music far and wide indeed. He is sorely missed.

I only knew him from here, but my life was all the richer for it. I’ll miss his You Tube updates. He had the knack of finding rare old music video, and would always share.

http://www.youtube.com/user/clarebannerman

The arrangements for Brian have been decided:

* Removal on Wednesday evening , 16 December at 18.00 from Daly’s, Francis St., Ennis, Co. Clare to St. Joseph’s Church, Ennis.
* Mass on Thursday morning, 17 December at 11.00 in St. Joseph’s, and burial in Drumcliffe, Ennis.
* All are welcome to retire afterwards to Cois na hAbhna, Gort Road, Ennis. We’re sure that Brian would remind you to bring your instruments if you are so inclined.

I hope to see some of you at the session following. I miss him already.

Ar dheis de go raibh a anam dilis.

An update on the removal:

* Reposing on Wednesday evening, 16 December from 18.00 - 19.30 at Daly’s, Francis St., Ennis, Co. Clare.
* Removal at 19.30 from Daly’s to St. Joseph’s Church, Ennis.

Many of us “only knew him from” the Yellow Board, but our sadness is not virtual; surprising how you can feel that you know a bit about someone you have never seen or talked with.

Give him a lovely sendoff on Thursday, please.

He wanted the world to have the joy for the music that he had, which is the best you can say about any of us I suppose.

This is very sad indeed.

I don’t know what to say.

Like many here, I only knew him from this board and his great contributions on YouTube - and I think his postings there cost me hours of productive work all together - but it’s a great sadness all the same. A shock, too, to see that he was so young. I hope for his family and friends that the grief of his loss soon is overshadowed by the joy of his memory.

“All your diamond tears will rise up and adorn the sky beside me, when I go”

His enthusiasm and civility will be a great loss, not least to this site.

Oh my, I am unable to say more. What a lovely man, what a sweet and generous soul. I will miss him very much, our chats, his generosity. I always looked forward to his contributions, and I always listened to any link to music he gave, which were regular and appreciated. I will miss the balance he helped give me when we shared the controversial. I admired his thoughts on his slow sessions and his reports on progress and change and Comhaltas and all things ~ appreciated, valued ~ I will so miss his presence here, and having him to shoot the bull with. He was one of the souls here that kept me involved, and ~ I’ll stop here. Dear friend, you made things richer for many… I can’t believe this, taking his presence for granted, that he’d always be here to help strike a balance, and for a chat and a laugh… Keep a seat free for me…

First they live with us, then they live within us - always.

ah sh*t.
I never knew that was him!

One of the first people I ever played with.
A patient gentleman.

That’s awful.
RIP.

‘May God give him a bed in heaven’
I never met the man but was so familiar with his ‘handle’ that I felt like I knew him for years. There was even a chance I would meet him in Cavan in August. We had a similar history. How old was he?

I was lucky enough to know Brian personally. He encouraged me so much, musically, as he did with so many people. I still can’t believe he is gone. He was one in a million. He will be greatly missed by both family and friends.

I believe he was in his early 60’s.

This is awful. Never had the pleasure of meeting Brian in person, but had some correspondence with him via this site and YouTube. Very generous man; he dug into his treasure of videos on more than one occasion for me and posted them to his site on YouTube. One of them was that great video of Conal playing back in the early 90s. He did all of that for a complete stranger, just for the love of the music. Wish I had the chance to meet him. God bless him.

A sad loss to all of us. Condolences to those who knew him.

There seems to be a bit of confusion among some of the contributors to this discussion: Bannerman here at The Session was not the same person as clarebannerman on YouTube:

https://thesession.org/discussions/17361#comment361521

RIP Brian.

Terrible news, I’m very saddened to hear

A very sad loss. You could not have had a more welcoming and generous person with the music. The first time I met him, on one of my first visits to Ireland when I was unsure what my welcome would be as an English newcomer, I was walking down the street on the last day at the Fleadh Nua, and Brian coming the other way, a complete stranger but seeing the fiddles under our arms, pressed us to go to the “farewell session” at the Queens. We went and had a great time, inspiring in fact. Every year after he would greet us like old chums and I always felt that I had a friend “on the spot” and met lots of other people through him too. I’m sure everyone who knew him must have had similar experiences. It’s ironic that his last discussion submitted was the very moving description of Sonny Murray’s funeral.

I can’t believe this… I too only knew him through this website but his posts were always class. He’ll be severely missed in the Irish Music community the world over. R.I.P

Echoing many of the above posts, I had never met him and knew him only through posts on here. This is truly sad news. My condolences to all his family and friends. He will certainly be missed on this website.

I see Bannerman’s last post onto this site was only 2 weeks ago
https://thesession.org/discussions/23240#comment483231
Fairly normal, no sign of anything wrong. He was one of the “family” here.

That’s terrible. Very sad to hear of his passing. God rest him.

Sad news indeed.

He was surely one of the stalwarts here & always a voice of reason.

I had a few chats with Bannerman on various threads here over the years and we disagreed over some things, notably trad music exams. But I’d have to say that I agreed with him more often than not and learnt a bit along the way. And for that I am grateful, may Brian rest in peace, the silence between the notes wherein lies the music.

All that I am able to say of ‘Bannerman’ has already been said. I also, unfortunately, never knew him personally, or even really spoke to him much on this site. It seems he definitely changed a lot of people’s lives for the better.
Rest in peace.

https://thesession.org/members/2466/history

Thanks sherryc for making the link to Brian’s slow session. He sent me his tune list when he started these up and there was some talk about synchronizing some of our sets. And there was his ‘extra slow’ session too, anything to promote the music in a way that was welcoming and gave folks a chance to find their place, plant their feet on solid ground and get their balance… I don’t know how he managed it all, one in Dublin and one in Ennis and everything else he put his heart, mind and efforts to… We talked about getting his slow sessions online, and to further promote the idea, and he being the person he is, he just did it, made it happen ~ with the help of friends, of which he had in great abundance…

Someone asked how old he was ~ ageless…

Condolences to all his family and friends. It’ll be a hard Christmas for them this year.

I never met the man, but I’ve greatly enjoyed his wonderful contributions to YouTube. Looking back over some of his comments, he contributed a lot of wisdom to this site also (It is hard to remember specifically who said what when, when all you have to go on is a username). A sad loss.

I am so saddened at this news. I read more than I talk, but have benefited greatly from the wisdom here over the years. My thoughts are with his family and friends. A great loss for trad.

I look after the Monkstown Slow Slow session which started last January. It very quickly grew to about 20 musicians which Brian led with gusto and passion until his health deteriorated. He would arrive in from the drive from Ennis and straight into playing from 8 pm until going home time. It is ironic that we were to celebrate the end of our first year with a gathering tonite.
It will continue in his honour.

What a tragic loss -- an exceptional person he was and a tune should be named after him.

I keep stumbling across his comments, part of the valued comment on this site…

& more here:

Discussion: Brian Prior - A great send off.
# Posted on December 17th 2009 by MadTrad
https://thesession.org/discussions/23388

I’ve only just read about Brian’s passing (8 years ago!) and its quite a shock to realise he’s gone. I fondly remember meeting him at the Kilfenora fleadh in 2009 and can’t help wondering if he knew then what was ahead. Such a good person.