A close friend writes that the great poet, teacher, writer, and piper Tomás Ó Canainn is in very poor health and is hospitalized in Cork. Word is that he may be moved into hospice care very soon; I won’t speculate on this but I don’t have a good feeling.
I’ll never forget meeting him when he came to my friend’s wedding here in Kentucky. He carried his pipes in a duffel bag because the case wouldn’t fit on the plane. He was the first uilleann piper I met in the flesh, and in some ways I have him to blame for everything.
Please send your thoughts and prayers for the universe to be as decent to Tomás as he has been to all the souls he’s met in his travels on this old earth. He is truly one-of-a-kind.
Sorry to hear this. A very nice fellow.
Tomas was one of the first pipers I ever met, when he was with Na Fili and playing in London in the early '70’s.
My condolences to his family and friends. I never met Tomás, but I liked his music. I met Tomás daughter one rainy night in Miltown Malbay, in a shop doorway back in 2001. She played the fiddle and talked about her dad.
I met him some years back, he took a class I was in, his humor had us all crying with laughter. A great scholar great musician, and a gentleman, I am very sad to hear this news. RIP Tomás and thank you for all you have done for the music and language.
I just bought and am enjoying his slow airs book. Prayers for him and his family.