Martin Mulvihill (born in Ballygoughlin,

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Munster , subdivision ...

, Ireland in 1923; died 21 July 1987) was an Irish traditional musician, composer, teacher, and author. He composed roughly 25 tunes in the Irish traditional style. Although his mother Brigid Flynn played the

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

and

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

, Martin, the youngest of her ten children, was the only one to become a musician. He began his study of music at the age of nine. From a violin player in the neighboring town of Glin, he learned the rudiments of the fiddle and how to read and write music; from his mother he learned the Irish traditional style. His early repertoire was learned both from written sources such as the Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music, Ker, and O'Neill's 1001, and from local musicians. In 1940 at age 17, he joined the

Irish Army The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. The Ar ...

. After his discharge, he played with Meade's Dance Band in Glin. In 1951 he emigrated to

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, England; there he married Olive McEvoy from

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

, with whom he had his four children, Brendan, Brian, Gail, and Dawn. Mulvihill continued playing music during this time, expanding his skills to include

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 ...

and

piano accordion A piano accordion is an accordion equipped with a right-hand keyboard similar to a piano or organ. Its acoustic mechanism is more that of an organ than a piano, as they are both aerophones, but the term "piano accordion"—coined by Guido Deiro ...

. The latter became his main instrument for several years. In 1971 the Mulvihill family relocated to New York City. He began teaching music lessons part-time, but as his reputation grew this quickly became his full-time occupation. He taught in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Washington, D.C., and New York. Former students include

Eileen Ivers Eileen Ivers (born July 13, 1965) is an American fiddler. Ivers was born in New York City of Irish-born parents, grew up in the Bronx and attended St. Barnabas High School. She spent summers in Ireland and took up the fiddle at the age of ni ...

, Mary Rafferty (of

Cherish the Ladies Cherish the Ladies is an American female supergroup (music), super group that plays Celtic music. The band began as a concert series in New York in January 1985. It was the brainchild of Mick Moloney who wanted to showcase the brightest female ...

), Willie Kelly, and Patrick Clifford. In 1984, Mulvihill was honored with a NEA

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...

. In 1986, he self-published a songbook titled ''First Collection of Traditional Irish Music''. On 21 July 1987, while on vacation in

, Ireland, he suffered a heart attack and died. All four of the Mulvihill children are musicians, with Brendan having become a noted performer and recording artist in the traditional Irish fiddle genre.

Discography

*''Traditional Irish Fiddling from County Limerick'' (Green Linnet LP/cassette, 1978), with

Mick Moloney Michael Moloney (15 November 1944 – 27 July 2022) was an Irish-born American musician and scholar. He was the artistic director of several major arts tours and co-founded Green Fields of America. Early life Moloney was born in Limerick, Ire ...

*''Irish Music: The Living Tradition'' (Green Linnet LP/cassette, 1978), Martin Mulvihill School *''The Humors of Glin'' (Global Village cassette, 1986), with Donie O'Sullivan and Gabriel Fitzmaurice

References

External links

* *
Biographical informationBillboard Magazine's archive of Mulvihill's recordings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulvihill, Martin 1923 births 1987 deaths Irish male fiddlers Irish male songwriters Musicians from County Limerick National Heritage Fellowship winners 20th-century Irish fiddlers 20th-century Irish male musicians 20th-century Irish songwriters