Joe Burke (11 April 1939 – 20 February 2021) was an Irish musician. He was noted for being a pre-eminent

button accordion A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons. This differs from the piano accordion, which has piano-style keys. Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs categorize it as a free reed aerop ...

player, recording and performing traditional music for over half a century.

Early life

Burke was born in Kilnadeema, south of

Loughrea Loughrea ( ; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The town lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains, and the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral, St Brendan's, dominates the town's skyline ...

in east

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, on 11 April 1939. He started playing traditional at age four, and bought his first accordion in the 1950s. He won the All-Ireland Senior Accordion Championship in Thurles in 1959 and again in Boyle the following year. Together with fiddler Aggie Whyte, he won the All-Ireland duet championship in 1962 in Gorey, Wexford.

Career

Burke co-founded of the Leitrim Ceili Band with Padden Downey in 1956. Other members of the east Galway-base band, which won All-Ireland Championships in 1959 and 1962, included flute players

Paddy Carty Paddy Carty (1929–1980) was a three-time all-Ireland champion Irish flute player from Loughrea, County Galway. He was well known for his flowing rhythm and his virtuoso skill on his Radcliff System flute, on which he could play freely in key ...

, Ambrose Moloney and Tony Molloy; button accordionists Mick Darcy and Sean McGlynn; fiddlers Michael Joe Dooley, Paddy Doorhy, Aggie Whyte and Séamus Connolly; drummer Sean Curley and pianist Anne-Marie Courtney. The band toured in England and released an LP on the New York-based Dublin label. Burke first toured in the U.S. in 1961, and lived mainly in New York from 1962 to 1965, during which period he formed a musical partnership with fiddler

Andy McGann Andy McGann (1928-2004) was an Irish-American fiddle player and a celebrated exponent of Sligo-style fiddling. He was born in New York to immigrant parents from County Sligo, living first in west Harlem before moving as a child to Mott Haven in t ...

. With McGann and pianist Felix Dolan, he recorded an LP, ''A Tribute to Michael Coleman'', first released in 1966 on Burke's own Shaskeen label. Burke would later record again with this trio, issuing ''The Funny Reel'' LP on the Shanachie label in 1979. Other musical collaborators over the years have included Belfast fiddle great

Sean McGuire Sean Maguire (born 1976) is an English actor and singer. Sean Maguire or McGuire may also refer to: People *Sean Maguire (footballer) (born 1994), Irish footballer * Sean Maguire (American football) (born 1994), American football player *Sean MacG ...

, piper Michael Cooney, harper Máire Ní Chathasaigh, fiddler Kevin Burke, pianist

Charlie Lennon Charles Lennon was a Republic of Ireland international footballer. Lennon was capped three times for the Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consist ...

and his wife Anne Conroy Burke (guitar, button accordion), whom he married in 1990. Burke's first solo LP, ''Galway's Own'' was released in 1971. He also toured extensively for the next two decades, including with groups sponsored by

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (; meaning "Society of the musicians of Ireland") is the primary Irish organisation dedicated to the promotion of the music, song, dance and the language of Ireland. The organisation was founded in 1951 and has pr ...

. From 1988 to 1991, he lived in St. Louis, Missouri where he had a musical residency at John D. McGurk's Pub and hosted radio programmes at two stations, one of them the "Ireland in America" programme on KDHX. He represented Ireland in 1989 and 1992 at the International Accordion Festivals, in

Montmagny, Quebec Montmagny () is a city in the Montmagny Regional County Municipality within the Chaudière-Appalaches region of Quebec. It is the county seat and had a population, as of the Canada 2011 Census, of 11,491. The city is on the south shore of the Sain ...

, along with accordion greats who included Cajun player

Marc Savoy Marc Savoy ( ) (born October 1, 1940) is an American musician, and builder and player of the Cajun accordion. Early life He was born on his grandfather's rice farm near Eunice, Louisiana. His grandfather was a fiddler, who occasionally played w ...

and jazz accordionist

Art Van Damme Art Van Damme (April 9, 1920February 15, 2010) was an American jazz accordionist. Van Damme toured Europe and was popular with jazz enthusiasts in Japan. Van Damme was married, and had three children. After he retired to Roseville, California, ...

. After residing in the US from 1988 until 1991, Burke returned to Kilnadeema in 1992. There, he carried on teaching and performing music. He died on 20 February 2021 at Galway Hospice. He was 81.

Awards

Burke was named

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

's Traditional Musician of the Year in 1970. He went on to win both the AIB Traditional Musician of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the ''Irish World'' in 1997. A Joe Burke Tribute Concert was held in April 1997 at the Town Hall Theatre in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

, on his reception of the AIB award. Three years later, he received an award in Musical Mastery from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

. Burke was later conferred Gradam an Chomhaltais in 2003.

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Galway's Own'' (1971). Outlet SOLP 1015, reissued as ''Joe Burke'' on Outlet PTICD 1015. * ''The Tailor's Choice'' (1983)

Collaboration – Joe Burke, Michael Cooney and Terry Corcoran

* ''Happy To Meet Sorry To Part'' (1986)

Collaboration – Sean McGuire and Joe Burke

* ''Two Champions'' (1971)

Collaboration – Joe Burke and Charlie Lennon

* ''Traditional Music of Ireland'' (1973) * ''The Bucks of Oranmore'' (1996) * ''The Morning Mist'' (2002)

Collaboration – Joe Burke, Andy McGann and Felix Dolan

* ''A Tribute to Michael Coleman'' (1966) * ''The Funny Reel. Traditional Music Of Ireland'' (1979)

Collaboration – Joe Burke, Brian Conway and Charlie Lennon

* ''A Tribute to Andy McGann'' (2007)

Collaboration - Joe Burke, Jerry Sullivan, Terry Corcoran

* ''Happy To Meet Sorry To Part'' Released 1986

References

External links

*
Biography of Joe Burke, Irish accordion player

AllMusic biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Joe 1939 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Irish accordionists Musicians from County Galway People from County Galway Irish folk musicians 20th-century accordionists 21st-century accordionists Green Linnet Records artists Shanachie Records artists