SOME OF the greatest names in Irish traditional music - Frankie Gavin, Cherish the Ladies, Seán and Matt Keane, Mary Bergin, John Faulkner - will perform at a concert in memory of Portumna publican Seán Henry.
The inaugural Cairde Seán Henry concert takes place this Sunday from 4pm in the Clayton Hotel. Also performing are Joanie Madden, Jimmy Crowley, Eileen O’Brien, Anne Conroy, Seán Gavin, and others. All proceeds go to Croí and Cancer Care West.
Seán Henry was born in Bekan, outside Ballyhaunis, Mayo, in 1952. Her developed a love of trad from his father who played the fiddle. Later he moved to Dublin where he became friends with many trad musicians, especially Joe Burke and Ann Conroy. In 1998 he bought a pub in Portumna which hosted live traditional music three nights a week.
Sadly that was the same year Seán was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. While he was undergoing treatment, Anne Conroy and Joe Burke came up with the idea of putting out a fundraising album. This led to the creation of Cairde Seán Henry. Sean asked that proceeds go to St Luke's in Dublin. The album raised €20,000 for the hospital. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2003, and again in 2013 with a different non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the lungs. He died in November 2017. He donated his body for medical research.
For more information about the charities benefitting from this concert, see www.croi.ie and www.cancercarewest.ie
