Paddy Canny

Paddy Canny was all-Ireland champion fiddle player and founder member of the Tulla Céilí Band. A highly influential and stylish musician, he played with the band throughout Ireland and in Britain and the US, as well as making a solo appearance at Carnegie Hall.He was an uncle of the fiddler Martin Hayes

While he made many broadcasts on RTÉ radio and television, he made few recordings. He is featured on the highly-regarded 1959 recording All-Ireland Champions: Violin with P.J. Hayes and Peadar O'Loughlin, accompanied by Bridie Lafferty. Broadcaster PJ Curtis has written that the album "captured the pure essence of Irish traditional music at its very best".After a long absence from recording he returned in the early 1990s on concertina player Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin's album Traditional Music from East Clare and Beyond. Later he recorded his one and only solo album Paddy Canny: Traditional Music from the Legendary East Clare Fiddler.Critically acclaimed, it was described by one reviewer as "one of the all-time classics of Irish traditional music", while The Irish Times chose it as the top traditional album of 1997.He was predeceased by his wife Philomena and is survived by his daughters Mary and Rita.

Paddy Canny: born 1919; died June 28th, 2008