Ciarán Mac Mathúna
(November 26, 1925 – December 11, 2009)
Ciarán Mac Mathúna was a former Irish broadcaster and music collector. He was a recognised authority on Irish music and lectured extensively on the subject. He travelled around Ireland, England, Scotland and America collecting music.
A native of Co. Limerick, Ciarán Mac Mathúna first joined RTÉ as a radio producer in 1955. One of his first jobs was to travel around the country in the company of a mobile recording unit gathering material for Radio Éireann’s traditional music archive.
Mac Mathúna's long-running Sunday morning radio series Mo Cheol Thú (You are my music) began in 1970 and continued until November 2005, when he retired from broadcasting. Each 45 minute programme offered a miscellany of archive music, poetry and folklore, mainly of Irish origin. It was one of radio's longest running programmes. The last episode was broadcast on 27 November 2005.
For more than 50 years he made an enormous contribution to the preservation and development of Irish traditional music.
Mac Mathúna won two Jacob's Awards, in 1969 and 1990, for his RTÉ Radio programmes promoting Irish traditional music. He received the Freedom of Limerick City in June 2004. He was also awarded honorary doctorates by NUI Galway and the University of Limerick.
In 2007, he was awarded with the Musicians Award at the 10th annual TG4 Traditional Music Awards.
He was married to Dolly MacMahon, who was a singer of traditional songs. She came from Galway an met her husband in 1955. He lived with Dolly, who survives him, in Templeogue, Dublin. He and Dolly had three children and four(?) grandchildren.
RIP
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