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Paddy O'Brien
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 A
product of County Offaly in the midlands of Ireland, Paddy O’Brien is
regarded
by serious players and collectors of Irish traditional music as one of
the
tradition’s most important repositories; in a musical career that spans
more
than forty years, he has collected more than 3,000 compositions—jigs,
reels,
hornpipes, airs, and marches, including many rare and unusual tunes.
His
mastery of the two-row button accordion was also acknowledged through
prestigious awards: he was named Oireachtas champion four times, and
All-Ireland senior accordion champion in 1975.
In Ireland, he played and recorded with the famed Castle
Céilí Band and
Ceoltoiri Laighean. In 1978, Paddy began playing regularly in the
United
States, in Washington D.C., Saint Louis, Saint Paul, San Francisco,
Boston, New
York, and many places between. He has been featured on three recordings
with
Shanachie Records since 1978, and in 1988 released his first solo
album, Stranger
at the Gate, on the Green Linnet label.
Paddy has taught at the Swannanoa Gathering, the Catskills Irish Week,
the
prestigious Willie Clancy Summer School held in Milltown Malbay, County
Clare,
and served as a master artist in the Minnesota State Arts Board Folk
Arts
Apprenticeship Program.
In the fall of 1994, Paddy received a $6,500 grant from the National
Endowment
for the Arts to record and annotate 500 reels and jigs from his vast
repertoire
of traditional tunes; the result of that effort, The Paddy O’Brien Tune Collection:
A Personal Treasury of Irish Jigs and Reels, has received
accolades from
players of Irish music around the world. In 2007 Paddy received a Bush
Artist Fellowship to help support the completion of The Paddy O'Brien Tune Collection, Volume
Two, which will comprise another 500 tunes from his impressive
repertoire.
In
addition to leading The Doon Ceili
Band, Paddy
currently records and tours internationally with Chulrua, a trio with
fiddler Patrick Ourceau and guitarist and singer Pat Egan.
Paddy's
Links
Chulrua: Irish Traditional Music
Paddy O'Brien Tune Collection: A
Personal Treasury of Irish Jigs and Reels
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