Oidhreacht Shean Uí Riada, edited by Gearóid Denvir. Published by the Oireachtas na Gaeilge as part of the Oireachtas’ 125th Anniversary Project. Paperback
On October 3, 1971, a few weeks before that year’s Oireachtas festival, Seán Ó Riada died, at only forty years of age. He was a music composer who had studied classical music and the traditional music of our ancestors and his exciting concerts were famous. The spirit of Uí Riada is still strongly felt in the music and singing of the Irish. His legacy was discussed at a symposium organized by the Oireachtas in Baile Bhuirne in 2021. This book is a collection of essays based on the lectures given at that symposium by the authors Gearóid Denvir, Tríona Ní Shíocháin, John O’Keefe, Peadar Ó Riada and Seán Ó Sé.
from the introduction in the book.
A young generation has emerged among the people who attend the Oireachtas na Gaeilge festivals every year who naturally tend to talk about Corn Ui Riada and who understand very well the importance of the Cup among Irish speakers, the status associated with it among musicians and the honour bestowed upon those whose names are forever engraved upon it. Some would have a reasonably good idea who Seán Ó Riada was, the trophy is named in his memory, a trophy that was awarded for the first time in 1972, a year after his death, to one of the great traditional singers of our time, Treasa Ní Miolláin, from Inis Mór, Árainn.
However, there are very few people who are deeply familiar with his characteristics, his personality, his revolutionary spirit, his appealing genius, and the ambition he had in relation to music and musical composition.
