Mickey Finn (31 December 1951 – 15 April 1987Sound Scene
Margaret Collins, 23 April 1987 The

Galway Advertiser The ''Galway Advertiser'' is a free newspaper distributed throughout Galway city and county each Thursday. It was the first of the regional newspapers under the "Advertiser" banner, which now also includes publications based in Athlone and Mayo ...

archive. Retrieved 20 February 2011) was a traditional Irish fiddler. He was a fixture 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 ...

traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

scene during the 1970s and 1980s, playing with artists such as Mary Coughlan,

Mick Lally Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broaden ...

, and

Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ...

Early life

Finn was born in

Callan, County Kilkenny Callan () is a town and civil parish in County Kilkenny in Ireland. Situated 16 km (10 mi) south of Kilkenny on the N76 road to Clonmel, it is near the border with County Tipperary. It is the second largest town in the county, and had a ...

. He began learning the

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 ...

in the early 1960s. After his family moved to

Ballinrobe Ballinrobe () is a town in County Mayo in Ireland. It is located on the River Robe, which empties into Lough Mask two kilometres to the west. As of the 2016 census, the population was 2,786. History Foundation and development Ballinrobe is con ...

, County Mayo in 1963, he was taken under the wing of a

Christian Brothers School The following is a list of the schools, colleges, and other educational institutions founded, run or staffed (in any capacity) by the Congregation of Christian Brothers (sometimes called the Irish Christian Brothers) since 1802. Some schools no l ...

brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

, Brother Forrestal, who trained him in the fiddle style of

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

fiddler Michael Coleman. The Ballinrobe trio of Mickey (fiddle), along with Joe Heneghan (piano) and Seamus O'Malley (accordion) finished 2nd in the 1965 All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil Finals (Under 14 Instrumental Trio) in Thurles. Mickey also came 3rd in Ireland (Under 14 Individual fiddle) at the same Fleadh Cheoil finals. They had qualified from the 1965 Connacht Fleadh Cheoil finals in Foxford, Co. Mayo.

Career

in 1970, Finn played in

sessions, particularly at the Cellar Bar, and became popular for his rock/

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

style, never playing a traditional tune exactly the same way twice. In an interview with Kevin McGuire in the

, Frankie Gavin told of the Cellar Bar sessions, believing Finn to be an influence on contemporary musicians in Galway.

Contemporaries

Finn's Cellar Bar sessions also included actor

, who was at that time more noted for his singing than for his acting. Lally was a great singer of comedy songs in the sean-nós style. Internationally renowned Galway-born blues singer Mary Coughlan was also a close personal friend of Finn. When she recorded a version of Johnny Mulhern's `Delaney's Gone Back on the Wine' she dedicated the song to him .

Dicklerfitz

In the early 1970s, Finn joined singer and guitarist Terry Smith to form the group ''Dicklerfitz'' with flute player Mick Treacy, and later, in 1974, with multi-instrumentallist

Alec Finn Alexander J. Phinn (4 June 1944 – 16 November 2018), known professionally as Alec Finn, was a British-born traditional musician who is famous for his unique style of accompaniment on the bouzouki. He was best known for founding De Dannan in 1974 ...

(no relation). Frankie Gavin (fiddler) took part in the group's sessions, as did Gerry Carthy (www.gerrycarthy.com), Pete Galligan, Charlie Harris, Johnny (Ringo) McDonagh, Sean Tyrrell, Jerry Mulvihill, and singers

Dolores Keane Dolores Keane (born 26 September 1953) is an Irish folk singer and occasional actress. She was a founding member of the group De Dannan and has since embarked on a solo career. Background Keane was born in a small village called Sylane (near ...

, Mary Coughlan and

Mary Staunton Mary Staunton is an Irish singer and accordion player. A native of County Mayo, Staunton released her first album in 1998. Her second, ''Circle of Friends'', was launched in County Galway in July 2010. ''Circle of Friends'' was launched at Conn ...

; from these sessions, the group

De Dannan De Dannan (originally ''Dé Danann'') is an Irish folk music group. It was formed 1975 by Frankie Gavin ( fiddle), Alec Finn (guitar, bouzouki), Johnny "Ringo" McDonagh (bodhrán) and Charlie Piggott ( banjo) as a result of sessions in Hughe ...

was formed. In 1976 Dicklerfitz supported

Planxty Planxty were an Irish folk music band formed in January 1972, consisting initially of Christy Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, harmonica), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitars ...

in Galway.

Christy Moore

has memories of those Galway days. On listening to the Johnny Mulhern song Hard Cases, Moore remarks on his Christy-Chat website how it brought him back to the Cellar Bar days in

. Moore also mentions Finn in his song "Sodom & Begorrah". In August 1987, Moore dedicated "Hard Cases" to Finn, saying that going to Galway would never be the same again without Mickey.

Media

Finn appeared in the 1985 Welsh-language TV film ''Pair of Shoes'' ''(Pâr o Sgidiau)'', comedy-drama road movie starring Neil Tobín, James Bartley and David Kelly. He also appeared in the Bob Quinn film ''Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoire'' ''(1975)''. The only known videos of Finn are from these two films. In March 2008, ''No Cure for Mickey Finn'' a biographical radio broadcast on

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 ...

described his music, personality, and "the symbiotic relationship between traditional music and alcohol". The program was nominated for the RTÉ

Prix Europa {{notability, Events, date=March 2021 PRIX EUROPA – The European Broadcasting Festival – is the Europe's largest annual tri-medial festival and competition. The event takes place in the third week of October in Berlin, Germany. PRIX E ...

2008 awards.

Family

Finn came from a musical family; his parents were accomplished piano players, his father Bill being a composer of tunes. One of Bill's tunes, which was re-arranged by Finn into a Slow-Air, became known as "Mickey Finn's Air" after Finn's death and was recorded by tin whistler Seán Ryan for his CD ''Minstrel's Fancy'' (1995) and by

on his CD ''Blue Shamrock'' (1995). Bill Finn is credited on the sleeve notes of these recordings. Finn was survived by his wife Lena Ullman, who plays

five-string banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

with the

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

band Moonshine,Moonshine – kamcollective.com
. Retrieved 21 February 2011 daughter Sadie; two brothers, Billy (who plays flute, whistles, and pipes) and Johnny (guitarist and singer-songwriter); and sisters, Elizabeth (singer), Mary (singer) and Jackie (piano player and singer).

References

;General sources *http://archive.advertiser.ie/pages/preview.php?ref=17343&ext=jpg&k=&search=%21collection904&offset=0&order_by=field8&sort=DESC&archive=0 *http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/10991 *http://archive.advertiser.ie/pages/preview.php?ref=97860&ext=jpg&k=&search=%21collection1925&offset=40&order_by=field51&sort=ASC&archive=0 *http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/obituaries/2010/0904/1224278192533.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20110706104208/http://www.getmusic.com.au/store/artist/music/detail.aspx?pid=60759&aid=61780 *https://web.archive.org/web/20110708151833/http://www.christymoore.com/lyrics_detail.php?id=159 *https://web.archive.org/web/20110708151823/http://www.christymoore.com/lyrics_detail.php?id=178

External links

documentary * https://thesession.org/discussions/21299 {{DEFAULTSORT:Finn, Mickey 1951 births 1987 deaths Irish fiddlers Irish folk musicians Musicians from County Kilkenny 20th-century violinists De Dannan members