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Book Cover for: Bright Star of the West: Joe Heaney, Irish Song Man, Sean Williams

Bright Star of the West: Joe Heaney, Irish Song Man

Sean Williams

Bright Star of the West traces the life, repertoire, and influence of Joe Heaney, Ireland's greatest sean-nos ("old style") singer. Born in 1919, Joe Heaney grew up in a politically volatile time, as his native Ireland became a democracy. He found work and relative fame as a singer in London before moving to Scotland. Eventually, like many others searching for greater opportunity, he emigrated to the United States, where he worked as a doorman while supplementing his income with appearances at folk festivals, concerts and clubs. As his reputation and following grew, Heaney gained entry to the folk music scene and began leading workshops as a visiting artist at several universities. In 1982 the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Heaney America's highest honor in folk and traditional arts, the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship. Although Heaney's works did not become truly popular in his homeland until many years after his death, today he is hailed as a seminal figure of traditional song and is revered by those who follow traditional music.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • Publish Date: Jan 1st, 2016
  • Pages: 274
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.10in - 6.10in - 0.70in - 0.90lb
  • EAN: 9780190469627
  • Categories: GeneralEthnomusicologyGenres & Styles - Folk & Traditional

About the Author

Sean Williams is a professor of music, Irish Studies, and Asian Studies at The Evergreen State College. She has written and edited several books, including The Sound of the Ancestral Ship: Highland Music of West Java (2001) and Focus: Irish Traditional Music (2010).

Lillis Ó Laoire is an award winning Gaelic singer, scholar, and writer from the Gaelic speaking region of Donegal, Ireland. He teaches courses in Gaelic language, culture and folklore at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and his publications include On a Rock in the Middle of the Ocean: Songs and Singers in Tory Island, Ireland (2005).

Praise for this book

"An engaging and exhaustive study of the historical developments and social realities that impacted Heaney's attitudes, performance styles, and his eventual rise to prominence as the sean-nós ("old-style") singer par excellence...an intimate and important look at the life of a major figure in Irish folk music. It is a significant work for ethnomusicologists, folklorists, and scholars of Irish culture, and a fitting tribute to the life and art of Joe Heaney.: --Journal of Folklore Research

"In Bright Star of the West, Williams and Ó Laoire have written a text that contextualizes and gives further meaning to the music and life of Joe Heaney." --The New Hibernia Review

"Authors Sean Williams and Lillis Ó Laoire [deliver] a book that is layered, beautifully non-teleological, and intimate, like loosely-sutured memories that do not strive to tell the complete social fact, but which instead subtly connect illuminating moments of performance and interpretation." --Ethnomusicology