Programme Six

Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh meets Tommy Keane & Jacqueline McCarthy

Tommy Keane
Tommy was born in Waterford City in 1953. While in his early twenties, after playing tin whistle for a couple of years, he met local piper Tommy Kearney who encouraged him to take up the uilleann pipes. As well as his early tuition from Tommy Kearney, Tommy also attended Willie Clancy Summer School where he learned further piping skills from pipers, including Pat Mitchell and Liam O'Flynn. The recordings of Willie Clancy, Séamus Ennis and Tommy Reck have also influenced his repertoire and style of playing.

In the 1980s Tommy spent seven years in London where he played with many of the legends of Irish music including Tommy McCarthy, Bobby Casey and Roger Sherlock. He was in demand as a session musician and worked with Elvis Costello on The Pogues album - 'Rum, Sodomy and the Lash'. Other recording credits in London include Clannad and Ralph McTell.

Jacqueline McCarthy
Jacqueline was born in London in 1957. Her parents had emigrated to England in the early 1950s. She grew up to traditional music, her father Tommy McCarthy being a piper and concertina player from Kilmihil, Co. Clare. She played with all the legendary players from Ireland who were living in London. Musicians like Máirtín Byrnes, Raymond Roland, Roger Sherlock, Danny Meehan, Paddy Taylor and Bobby Casey were all part of a thriving music scene that Jacqueline experienced first hand. She also recalls meeting John Kelly and Willie Clancy during frequent visits to Ireland.

With her father Tommy, sisters Marion and Bernadette and brother Tommy, Jacqueline performed throughout Ireland and the U.K. including The Royal Albert Hall, London. She was a member of The Sergeant Early Band who performed traditional music for a contemporary ballet production Sergeant Early's Dream by the London-based Rambert Dance Company. This association goes back to 1985 and has taken her to Poland, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Zambia, and all over the U.K. Since 1987 she has been living in Co. Galway where she teaches concertina.