{"id":283528,"date":"2026-01-14T08:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T08:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/283528\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T08:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T08:04:08","slug":"a-remarkable-singer-best-known-for-an-poc-ar-buile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/283528\/","title":{"rendered":"A remarkable singer best known for An Poc Ar Buile\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9, the Cork singer who passed away on Tuesday<\/a>, January 13, aged 89, once recalled: \u201cI went to Col\u00e1iste \u00cdosag\u00e1in between 1949 and 1953 and every O\u00edche Shamhna, local people would come in to entertain us.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u00f3nall \u00d3 Mull\u00e1in of Screathan, near C\u00fail Aodha, who composed An Poc ar Buile, charting the exploits of a mad puck goat, was the performer, and \u00d3 S\u00e9 was hooked. \u201cI heard D\u00f3nall \u00d3 Mull\u00e1in sing it and the verse and chorus stayed with me forever,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was the first time I ever heard An Poc ar Buile. It\u2019s a very catchy song and it remained in my mind.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though his birthplace on January 16, 1936, was Cork\u2019s South Terrace, \u00d3 S\u00e9\u2019s home for many years was Laharn, near Ballylickey Bridge, close to where his parents taught at Coomhola Boys\u2019 School, near Bantry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cork city called him back in 1980 when he was appointed principal of the newly-opened St Mary\u2019s on the Hill NS in Knocknaheeny, where he remained until retiring in 1993. In recent decades, he lived in Ballinlough, with his wife Eileen (who passed away in August 2025), and their three children, \u00c1ine, Con and \u00cdde.<\/p>\n

After his first public singing appearance in 1959 yielded Feis na Mumhan success and a radio appearance, \u00d3 S\u00e9 began performing with Cabaret Gael Linn.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to travel around to all the Great Southern hotels and we\u2019d be entertaining all these up-market yanks,\u201d he told the Irish Examiner. \u201cThere was an office of Gael Linn in Cork at the time and the man who was at the head of it was called Paddy Tyers, famous because he played in goal for Cork in 1956.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0It was Tyers, later of UCC, who suggested he make a demo for Gael Linn and \u00d3 S\u00e9 recalled: \u201cI was wondering what song I would sing and then it suddenly occurred to me. Why not An Poc ar Buile?\n <\/p>\n

\u201cI went out to C\u00fail Aodha, to D\u00f3nal \u00d3 Liath\u00e1in, who was a pupil in Col\u00e1iste \u00cdosag\u00e1in two years ahead of me, and he got me the words of five verses of it and I went about learning it and recorded it.\u201d His demo found favour with Gael Linn, whose co-founder invited \u00d3 S\u00e9 to meet \u00d3 Riada, acclaimed as composer for George Morrison\u2019s 1959 film Mise \u00c9ire and musical director at Dublin\u2019s Abbey Theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe manager of Gael Linn at the time, the recording part of it, was a man called Roibard Mac G\u00f3r\u00e1in, and we went out to his house in Stillorgan for the audition,\u201d said \u00d3 S\u00e9.<\/p>\n

After hearing only a handful of songs, \u00d3 Riada made a spur-of-the-moment decision which sparked a seven-year musical collaboration with \u00d3 S\u00e9 and a close personal friendship.<\/p>\n

\u201cStraight away he liked the voice and he decided there and then that we would go into a small studio at the corner of Stephen\u2019s Green\u2026 and we recorded a voice and piano version of An Poc ar Buile,\u201d recalled \u00d3 S\u00e9. \u201cHe rang Mac G\u00f3r\u00e1in and on that very day Gael Linn decided they would release it as an EP.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SeanSean \u00d3 S\u00e9 passed away on Tuesday, January 13, 2025. Picture: Maurice Gunning<\/p>\n

\n \u00a0An Poc ar Buile, with T\u00f3rramh an Bhairille, An Spealad\u00f3ir, and Amhr\u00e1in\u00edn S\u00edodraim\u00edn, became Gael Linn\u2019s second EP record.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minute it came out it became a hit,\u201d said \u00d3 S\u00e9. \u201cThere was no official top 10 on any of the radio stations but it was certainly the first hit in the Irish language.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Though Darach \u00d3 Cath\u00e1in and Se\u00e1n \u00d3 Sioch\u00e1in sang with Ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed Chualann in its early days, it was \u00d3 S\u00e9 who became most closely associated with the band throughout concerts, 1960s series Fleadh Cheoil an Raidi\u00f3, and recordings, culminating in 1969\u2019s \u00d3 Riada sa Gaiety.\n <\/p>\n

\u00d3 S\u00e9, who credited his vocal training by St Fin Barre\u2019s Cathedral organist John T Horne for extending his range to two octaves, recalled \u00d3 Riada\u2019s remarks upon his successful audition. \u201cHe said \u2018thanks be to God, now we have a Corkman who will be able to sing The Banks.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Indeed in 1965 \u00d3 S\u00e9 recorded The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee with \u00d3 Riada and the Radio \u00c9ireann Symphony Orchestra, for Louis Marcus\u2019s film Rhapsody of a River.\n <\/p>\n

Though An Poc ar Buile will be forever associated with \u00d3 S\u00e9, inspiring his nickname \u2018An Pocar\/The Pucker\u2019, he told this newspaper, \u201cstrangely enough, it wasn\u2019t my favourite recording\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n The Banks, he said, \u201cwas a fantastic recording because \u00d3 Riada\u2019s arrangement was spectacular and I\u2019d be proud of the fact that it\u2019s played at big Cork occasions even up to the present day\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"MeetingMeeting the President at the \u00d3 Riada sa Gaiety Concert, March 1969, (l\u2013r): Se\u00e1n \u00d3 Riada, Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9, Niall Toib\u00edn, President \u00c9amon de Valera, Ruth \u00d3 Riada and Breand\u00e1n \u00d3 Buachalla. Picture: courtesy Gael Linn<\/p>\n

Both songs remained staples of \u00d3 S\u00e9\u2019s repertoire long after \u00d3 Riada\u2019s premature death, aged 40, in 1971, \u00d3 S\u00e9 going on to perform worldwide over the next half-century, raising the roof at venues from Shanghai to Cuba, Canada to Moscow, touring with Comhaltas, and recording extensively.<\/p>\n

Most recently, his stirring rendition of The Banks brought the crowd to its feet in C\u00fail Aodha this August at an outdoor Aer\u00edocht commemorating \u00d3 Riada\u2019s birthday during F\u00e9ile na Laoch, founded by \u00d3 Riada\u2019s son Peadar.<\/p>\n

Despite the passage of 50 years, \u00d3 S\u00e9 said in 2021 of the friend who was best man at his 1967 wedding to Castlemartyr woman Eileen Tangney: \u201cThere isn\u2019t a day since Se\u00e1n \u00d3 Riada died that he doesn\u2019t enter my consciousness at least once.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00d3 S\u00e9 continued the family connection, singing with a reconfigured Ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed Chualann under the stewardship of Peadar, with whom he recorded albums Through Banks of Mist and \u2019Dir C\u00fam Th\u00f3la is C\u00fail Aodha, which linked their respective home-places.<\/p>\n

Not even the intensive chemotherapy that accompanied a colon cancer diagnosis in 2011 would induce \u00d3 S\u00e9 to retire from singing though, declaring following his recovery: \u201cAs long as I have a voice that will last, I will keep singing,\u201d a maxim that served him well, right until the final verse, age 89.<\/p>\n

Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9, January 1936 – January 2026. Ar dheis D\u00e9 go raibh a anam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9, the Cork singer who passed away on Tuesday, January 13, aged 89, once recalled: \u201cI…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[781,142552,110,18,117,19,17,337,5768],"class_list":{"0":"post-283528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-cork-news","9":"tag-cupla-focal","10":"tag-cancer","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-music","16":"tag-obituaries"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115892418528079005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283528","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=283528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}