Seosamh O hEanai - O Mo Dhuchas

(February 2009)

Seosamh Ó hÉanaí (1920-1984) was one of the great Conamara singers of his generation - many would say the greatest.

In 1955 he was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal for sean-nós singing at the Oireachtas festival. From 1957 he played a leading role in Gael Linn’s Oícheanta Seanchais at the Damer Theatre, Dublin, and was featured both on Gael Linn’s earliest record releases and on their radio programme on Radio Éireann.

This 2CD set includes all the tracks from both of Seosamh Ó hÉanaí’s solo albums with Gael Linn: Seosamh Ó hÉanaí (1971), and Ó mo dhúchas: Sraith 2 (1976), and includes many of the greatest songs from the Irish tradition.

Seosamh Ó hÉanaí spent many years in both Britain and the United States where his singing and storytelling introduced an appreciative new audience to Ireland’s heritage.

His years in America were punctuated by frequent visits to Dublin, where he added to the gaiety of many a seisiún in O’Donoghue’s Merrion Row pub.