October NUI Galway to Host Evening with Legendary Traditional Musician Joe Burke

NUI Galway’s 2018-2019 Arts in Action programme in association with the James Hardiman Library is delighted to present an evening with the legendary traditional musician and composer, Joe Burke on Wednesday, 24 October. The event is free and open to the public.

Joe Burke will be speaking to piper and RTÉ broadcaster, Peter Browne, with live music from special guests, Frankie Gavin (fiddle), Deirdre McSherry (flute and piano), Eileen O’Brien (fiddle) and Conor Tully (fiddle).

Joe Burke was born in Kilnadeema, Loughrea, Co. Galway in 1939. In 1956 with Paddy Downey he formed the Leitrim Céilí Band. He has won several All-Ireland fleadhanna and has toured as an accordion player in both England and America, living in St. Louis for a number of years.

In 1990 he married the noted musician Ann Conroy and in 1992 moved to Loughrea. He is the recipient of several music awards including RTÉ Traditional Musician of the Year, The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish World newspaper and Gradam an Chomhaltais.

Speaking about this special event, Mary McPartlan, Artistic Director of Arts in Action at NUI Galway, said: “The James Hardiman Library Special Collections have inspired me greatly in the curation and development of the Arts in Action programme. The archives generally are a major resource and it has been a great pleasure to put this special event in the Arts in Action programme which honours the great musician Joe Burke.”

Kieran Hoare, Archivist from the James Hardiman Library, NUI Galway, added: “The bulk of the collection covers a period of fifty years and reflects Joe Burke’s music career, both in terms of his stylistic roots and musical fellowships. The collection consists of 850 photographs, c.250 items of correspondence and nearly 400 press-cuttings and 120 reels of sound recordings.”

An Evening with Joe Burke will take place from 6pm-7pm on Wednesday, 24 October in the O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance at NUI Galway.

To view the full 2018-2019 Arts in Action Programme, visit: http://www.nuigalway.ie/artsinaction/.

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