Cork composer Peadar Ó Riada is named Person of the Month
BOOK OF HIS MEMOIRS PLANNED BY MUSICIAN, ARTIST AND DIRECTOR OF CÓR CHÚIL AODHA
THE Cork Person of the Month for June is composer and musician from Cúil Aodha, Peadar Ó Riada.
The citation for the award recognises Peadar’s contribution to Irish culture as a composer, musician, choir director and broadcaster over many years.
As well as being a significant award in itself, this accolade means Peadar is in the running to be named as Cork Person of the Year at an awards ceremony to be held in January next year.
From his youngest years, Peadar always had an interest in music - no wonder as he is the son of Seán Ó Riada - and at the age of 16 had to play the harmonium and direct Cór Chúil Aodha, the all male choir founded by his father, at Seán’s funeral mass. Seán died at the age of 40 after a long battle with illness.
People have often asked Peadar whether he feels it’s a burden to continue on, as they say, in his father’s shadow but he turns it around and says that it’s easier to work in the light of his father.
Ever since the funeral of his father in 1971 Peadar has been involved in numerous musical projects, many of them high profile on the most important stages in the country and some of them out of the public light.
During the COVID-19 period, he has been composing a suite of 19 tunes, all named in Irish after wild flowers, and posting videos of him teaching and performing the tunes on video sharing platform, You Tube.
“During the normal Summer, people are preparing and practising for festivals and fleadhanna ceoil - I thought this would be a way of helping them keep going on.
“The videos are up on You Tube - the Covid tunes are simple tunes, jigs, reels, polkas, hornpipes and the likes, and the notation is also included.
“In the future when people play these tunes, they will remind people of this particular time, a time which we all realised again the importance of family and community in our lives.”
Every Sunday during the pandemic, Peadar Ó Riada and a skeleton crew of Cór Chúil Aodha have been broadcasting Mass from Cúil Aodha on Facebook. This is now continuing every Sunday at 10am.
After graduating with a B. Music degree in 1976, he has been s teacher, co-op manager, festival director, commercial beekeeper, broadcaster and educator. He has lived his life in Cúil Aodha, in the Múscraí Gaeltacht where he raised his family with his wife, Clare woman Geraldine Moloney.
Over the years he has performed with many different groups. In 2008, he performed with the traditional Irish group, Triúr (with Martin Hayes and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh), in 2013 with the traditional group The Drôle (with John Kelly and Eamon McGivney), and in 2014 with Continuing Traditions (with Wajahat Khan). He has been taking his father, Seán Ó Riada’s, place at the keyboards and directing Ceoltóirí Chualan since 1971. He also regularly performs in a duet with Seán Ó Sé.
The contributions that Peadar has made during his career have been invaluable to the traditional music community, at both a local and national level. In 1986, he founded the all-female choir Cór Ban Cúil Aodha.
He founded the traditional University Acadamh Fódhla in 2000, the Irish Cultural trust Iontaoibheas Fódhla in 1999, and in 2011 the international festival “Féile na Laoch” commemorating his late father Seán Ó Riada.