There was nothing he relished more than the discovery of songs long forgotten, or indeed singers, whom he recorded for posterity with great skill and care, collecting first for BreandГЎn Breathnach in his native Louth in the early 1970s, and subsequently for the Irish Traditional Music Archive, for which he was the main collector of field recordings from Northern Ireland.

He appeared in many other recordings, and in 2012 recorded the pithily titled album Louth Mouths with DГіnal Maguire and The Voice SquadвЂ™s Gerry Cullen. Titled Sailing into WalpoleвЂ™s Marsh, he managed to complete this work while performing at the Festival of American Folklife in WashingtonвЂ™s Smithsonian Institute. SeГЎnвЂ™s first solo recording was made in the US in 1977 on the Green Linnet label. Later, Ronan Browne replaced Martin on pipes and the band released five critically acclaimed albums, and enjoyed considerable success, particularly in the Netherlands. SeГЎn later formed Cran with piper Neil Martin and flute player Desi Wilkinson, playing a mean bouzouki as well as occupying a pivotal role as singer with the group. He founded the Tradition Club on Capel Street in the 1970s with Tom Crean, and both were members of the acapella group, The Press Gang. SeГЎn was a member of The Rakish Paddies group in the 1960s, with Paul Brady and Mick Molony. The eclectic nature of SeГЎnвЂ™s many pursuits were reflective of a man who was, at heart, a born communicator and a catalyst for countless richly textured projects that magnified the rich song tradition of his native Louth, as well as the wealth of our wider heritage nationally. He recorded, among others, the Drogheda singer Mary Ann Carolan, who had a gargantuan song store, and wrote the liner notes for her album when she eventually recorded an album in 1982. It was, he noted, every bit as alive in urban areas as it was in the country. The nascent ethnomusicologist was evident from his early teens, and in 1964 he co-founded the Old Drogheda Society with CaitlГn Bean UГ Chairbre, searching out old songs across his home county, and dismissing jaded assumptions that the music could only be found in rural areas. The eldest of four, SeГЎn attended St JosephвЂ™s CBS, SundayвЂ™s Gate Drogheda and from there, pursued Celtic studies in UCD and later, ethnomusicology in Queens University, Belfast. He was also a keen footballer in his day. His mother was a lifelong Labour activist, and SeГЎn inherited her passion for defending workersвЂ™ rights, becoming a member of the League for a WorkersвЂ™ Republic in the 1970s. His interests beyond music were no less eclectic. While he would have heard his grandfather sing sea shanties, it was his upbringing in a seaport town that introduced him to a rich store of songs that shaped his lifelong love of songs and song traditions. His grandfather on his motherвЂ™s side was a singer, and his paternal grandmother played both concertina and fiddle. His father, Terry, was from Crossakiel, Kells and his mother, Moira (nГ©e Quigley) was from Drogheda. SeГЎn was born in Clogherhead, Co Louth in 1946 and grew up there and later, in Drogheda. SeГЎnвЂ™s breadth of interests were best summarised by himself in his Twitter account: вЂњIrish Singer, Vernacular Musicologist (Ceol na nDaoine), Audio and Film Documentary Maker, Fieldworker, Composer, Lecturer, Socialist, Unrecognised GeniusвЂќ. A man of great warmth and sharp wit, he possessed an indefatigable appetite for mining the history of our unaccompanied song tradition. Irish traditional music is a poorer place following the passing, after a brief illness, of SeГЎn Corcoran. SeГЎn Corcoran Born: December 7th,1946 Died: May 3rd, 2021

Sean lomax