He recorded, among others, the Drogheda singer Mary Ann Carolan, who had a gargantuan song store, and wrote the liner notes for her album when she eventually recorded an album in 1982. It was, he noted, every bit as alive in urban areas as it was in the country. The nascent ethnomusicologist was evident from his early teens, and in 1964 he co-founded the Old Drogheda Society with Caitlín Bean Uí Chairbre, searching out old songs across his home county, and dismissing jaded assumptions that the music could only be found in rural areas. The eldest of four, Seán attended St Joseph’s CBS, Sunday’s Gate Drogheda and from there, pursued Celtic studies in UCD and later, ethnomusicology in Queens University, Belfast. He was also a keen footballer in his day. His mother was a lifelong Labour activist, and Seán inherited her passion for defending workers’ rights, becoming a member of the League for a Workers’ Republic in the 1970s. His interests beyond music were no less eclectic. While he would have heard his grandfather sing sea shanties, it was his upbringing in a seaport town that introduced him to a rich store of songs that shaped his lifelong love of songs and song traditions. His grandfather on his mother’s side was a singer, and his paternal grandmother played both concertina and fiddle. His father, Terry, was from Crossakiel, Kells and his mother, Moira (née Quigley) was from Drogheda.

Seán was born in Clogherhead, Co Louth in 1946 and grew up there and later, in Drogheda.

Seán’s breadth of interests were best summarised by himself in his Twitter account: “Irish Singer, Vernacular Musicologist (Ceol na nDaoine), Audio and Film Documentary Maker, Fieldworker, Composer, Lecturer, Socialist, Unrecognised Genius”. A man of great warmth and sharp wit, he possessed an indefatigable appetite for mining the history of our unaccompanied song tradition. Irish traditional music is a poorer place following the passing, after a brief illness, of Seán Corcoran. Seán Corcoran Born: December 7th,1946 Died: May 3rd, 2021

Sean lomax