Ciarán Ó Con Cheanainn (12 July 1981 – 4 February 2009) was an Irish

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

and youngest winner of the

Corn Uí Riada Corn Uí Riada is the premier sean-nós singing competition at Oireachtas na Gaeilge, an annually held arts festival of Culture of Ireland, Irish culture. It is named in honour of the composer and founder of the legendary male choir Cór Chúil Ao ...

. Ó Con Cheanainn was born in Galway. He was the youngest winner of the prestigious sean-nós

singing competition at

Oireachtas na Gaeilge Oireachtas na Gaeilge (, "The Irish (language) Gathering") is an annual arts festival of Irish culture, which has run since the 1890s. Inspired by the Welsh eisteddfodau, the festival has included different events connected with Irish langua ...

, an annually held arts festival of Irish culture. He studied at

NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

, graduating in 2002 with first class honours in Irish and

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

. In 2003 he was awarded an MA at UCD having completed his

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

, "Gnéithe de Sheachadadh na nAmhrán Traidisiúnta sa Ghaeilge." The following year he completed his thesis "Clár Amhrán Chois Fharraige", securing an M Litt in

Modern Irish Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

. The

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...

in 2004 awarded him a travelling studentship in

Celtic Studies Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celts, Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art h ...

, and he spent two years at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

’s school of Scottish studies. A regular competitor at Oireachtas na Gaeilge and Fleadh Ceoil na hÉireann, he won many prizes. He represented Ireland at the International Pan-Celtic Festival in 1999 and 2000, taking first prize on both occasions. He was a member of the committee o
An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann
and served on the board of

Comhar ''Comhar'' (; "partnership") is a prominent literary journal in the Irish language, published by the company Comhar Teoranta. It was founded in 1942, and has published work by some of the most notable writers in Irish, including Máirtín Ó Cadha ...

for six years. His published work includes entries fo
The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland
and Leabhar Mór na hAmhrán (both forthcoming), and articles and reviews for the

Journal of Music in Ireland ''Journal of Music'' (formerly ''Journal of Music in Ireland'', or ''JMI'') is an Irish music magazine founded in 2000. It "has been a critical voice in Traditional and Contemporary musics since 2000". In 2009 it was relaunched as the ''Journal of ...

. He made a number of recordings of his singing, and had recently participated in the Cumann Merriman winter school. Ciarán had recently been appointed to a lectureship in Modern Irish at UCD, and was looking forward to the completion of his doctoral thesis and the publication of two substantial books on the singing tradition of his native Conamara. Ciarán died suddenly on 4 February 2009 at 27 years of age.

External links

* http://igaeilge.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/bas-ro-og-chiarain-ui-chon-cheanainn/ * http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/obituaries/2009/0228/1224241983518.html * http://journalofmusic.com/article/810 * http://announcements.independent.ie/deaths/o-con-cheanainn-266298/ * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Hi9CbYNCV8 * https://web.archive.org/web/20110713121320/http://journalofmusic.com/contributor/169

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:OCon Cheanainn, Ciaran People from County Galway 2009 deaths 1981 births Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Sean-nós singers Irish-language singers 21st-century Irish male singers