{"id":282606,"date":"2026-01-13T20:37:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/282606\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T20:37:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:37:06","slug":"renowned-irish-traditional-singer-sean-o-se-dies-aged-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/282606\/","title":{"rendered":"Renowned Irish traditional singer Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9 dies, aged 89"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the country’s best known Irish traditional singers Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9 has died.<\/p>\n

Mr \u00d3 S\u00e9 would have been 90 on Friday.<\/p>\n

A renowned tenor singer, the retired schoolteacher was affectionately known as ‘The Pucker’ or ‘An Pocar’, a play on the comic song ‘An Poc Ar Buile’ which he made famous in a surprise 1962 hit single.<\/p>\n

A gifted singer in Irish and English, he came to prominence in the 1960s with Irish composer and musician S\u00e9an \u00d3 Riada’s group, Ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed Chualann.<\/p>\n

He later toured internationally with Comhaltas Ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed \u00c9ireann visiting Canada, the United States, Moscow, Shanghai and Havana.<\/p>\n

A contributor to many radio and television programmes over the years, among those he recorded with are Donal Lunny, Dermot O’Brien and Peadar \u00d3 Riada.<\/p>\n

Born in 1936, he was a native of Ballylickey in County Cork, but home has been Cork city for decades, where he finished his teaching career as principal of St Mary’s on the Hill, in Knocknaheeny.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Mr \u00d3’ S\u00e9 was awarded the TG4 Amhr\u00e1na\u00ed na Bliana\/Singer of the Year Award at the annual Gradaim Ceoil event held in Belfast.<\/p>\n

Last October, Mr \u00d3 S\u00e9 received an honorary doctorate from UCC in recognition of his immense contribution to Irish traditional music and heritage.<\/p>\n

Mr \u00d3 S\u00e9 was predeceased by his wife Eileen last year.<\/p>\n

He is survived by his three children, \u00c1ine, Con and \u00cdde.<\/p>\n

See more on Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9 from the RT\u00c9 Archives:<\/b><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/archives\/2023\/0412\/1376585-singer-sean-o-se\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin paid tribute to Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9 and said that he was an iconic figure in Irish education, culture and traditional music.<\/p>\n

“He was renowned for his singing performances, particularly for An Poc Ar Buile, and did great work with C\u00f3r C\u00fail Aodha,” he said.<\/p>\n

“His friendship with the late Se\u00e1n \u00d3 Riada was a unique one. They had a very strong bond, and Se\u00e1n was the definitive interpreter of \u00d3 Riada’s music.<\/p>\n

“Many generations of Cork people will always associate him with All Ireland teams coming home, when he would invariably bring celebrations to a rousing conclusion with a stirring rendition of The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee.”<\/p>\n

The Lord Mayor of Cork, Fergal Dennehy, said that Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9 was one of Cork’s most recognisable cultural figures.<\/p>\n

“Most recently, he featured in the Remember and Renew gala concert marking the close of the national Decade of Centenaries, performing alongside orchestras and choirs in a night dedicated to reflection, remembrance, and celebration of Cork\u2019s history,” he said.<\/p>\n

“His presence at such significant civic occasions reflected not only his musical stature but his deep connection to the story of Cork and its people.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the country’s best known Irish traditional singers Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9 has died. Mr \u00d3 S\u00e9 would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-282606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115889718306247099","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}