TG4 Gradam Ceoil: Paddy Glackin scoops top prize; two Cork winners also revealed
Paddy Glackin: Musician of the Year award.
On its twenty-fifth anniversary, this Easter Sunday April 17, TG4's annual Gradam Ceoil Awards will take place in Dublin's National Concert Hall - its first time in the capital city.
Known as ‘the Oscars of traditional music’, the awards "pay homage to musicians who have advanced, strengthened, and preserved traditional music in Ireland".
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Dolores Keane - a defining generational voice in the genre, from her time in Dé Dannan, to decades of solo work, to collaborations with Emmylou Harris, The Chieftains, Paul Brady and many others.
The 2021 Musician of the Year will be awarded to Paddy Glackin, a fiddle player who continues to innovate in the genre over five decades into his career, from co-founding the Bothy Band, to working with avant-garde icon John Cage - as well as leading distinguished careers in broadcasting, teaching, and archiving the genre's history.
From Cúil Aodha in Cork, Diarmuid Ó Meachair is this year’s recipient of the Young Musician of the Year award. Having started on the tin whistle and growing up singing with the Cór Cúil Aodha, Diarmuid is one of the most exciting box players of his generation.
Connie O’Connell will be awarded Composer of the Year - from Cill na Martra, in the Múscraí Gaeltacht of West Cork, he has been influenced by the renowned fiddle players of the nearby Sliabh Luachra area such as Denis Murphy, Pádraig O’Keeffe, and Julia Clifford. In 2014, a collection of 69 of his compositions was released as two CDs, along with a book of the tunes. UCC – where Connie has taught fiddle since the 1980s – has made this Bóithrín na Smaointe project available as a free, online learning resource.
Edwina Guckian from Drumsna in Co. Leitrim receives the Outstanding Contribution Award - steeped in the music of Leitrim and Roscommon as a young child, she is a dancer, dance teacher, choreographer, artistic director, and cultural activist. Through The Airc Damhsa Culture Club, The Leitrim Dance Project, The Modern-Day Mummers and her most recent projects Sowing the Seed and Jenny put the Kettle on, she has engaged thousands of children and adults in dance, all in a fun, non-competitive environment.
Conamara sean-nós singer Sarah Ghriallais is this year’s Singer of the Year. Growing up in Cinn Mhara in the Conamara Gaeltacht, she won Corn Uí Riada at Oireachtas na Gaeilge in 1984, an award won eight times since by various members of the Griallais family. Sarah was appointed singer in residence at NUIG in 2017.
A new award introduced this year, the TG4 Group Award, goes to Skara Brae. Skara Brae’s emergence in the early 1970s rejuvenated interest in Irish traditional singing at a time when it was in danger of dying out, creating a ground-breaking sound that challenged the traditional view of sean-nós singing, taking influence from the Beatles, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Their 1971 album continues to inspire generations of traditional Irish singers and musicians to this day.
- The TG4 Gradam Ceoil will air live at 9.30pm on Easter Sunday, April 17, on TG4, and be available on Seinnteoir TG4.
