Johnny O'Leary, accordionist, storyteller, and one of the finest exponents of Sliabh Luachra's spirited dance music, died on February 9th last in Killarney at the age of 80.
Born in 1923 in Maulykeavane, between Gneeveguilla and Killarney, in the heart of the region called Sliabh Luachra (The Rushy Glen), renowned for its mythical borders, Johnny O'Leary captured the vigorous and dynamic spirit of the local music, and in particular its famed polkas and slides.
He was reared by his maternal grandparents, Paddy and Julia O'Leary (née Sheehan) in Maulykeavane. He married Elizabeth Kelly from Gullane, near Gneeveguilla, and had two daughters, Ellen and Maureen, and one son, Seán. Johnny picked up his first melodeon at the age of five. His first teacher was the blind fiddler Tom Billy Murphy, who was teaching his uncle, Dan O'Leary.
Johnny wasted little time in bringing the music to the dancers, playing from the age of 13 with the late fiddler, Denis Murphy, in Thady Willie Connor's hall in Gneeveguilla. Johnny forged a strong personal friendship with Dennis Murphy which spanned some 40 years until Murphy's death in 1974. Some of the finest recordings of Johnny and Denis playing together date back to 1949, when Séamus Ennis recorded them.
O'Leary's effervescence was legendary; it was not unusual for him to cycle nine miles to and from work in Cadbury's factory in Rathmore (where he worked for 30 years until his retirement in 1983), then head to the bog for a few hours' footing turf, later go hunting with the hounds, and round off the day with a few tunes in Jimmy Doyle's local pub.
Not a man over-familiar with the concept of sleep, his lengthy tenure as house musician in Dan Connell's pub in Knocknagree (famed for its dancing) which began in 1964 continued up to the time of his illness in January 2003.
Johnny had a subtle understanding of the relationship between fiddle and accordion, and knew instinctively how to play alongside Denis Murphy and other fiddlers so that the tunes shone at their brightest. He handled the rhythmic nuances of the accordion with a knowing understatement, accommodating the subtle nuances of the fiddle effortlessly.
Johnny O'Leary was particularly exercised by what he saw as the unacceptable rise in speed at which dance music was played in Sliabh Luachra. His insistence on maintaining a steady pace and rhythm was at odds with the increasing tendency for younger players to speed up their playing. O'Leary always maintained that taking such liberties with the music was beyond the ken of any musician who had a respect for the music's roots, and that fast music simply masked a lack of style on the part of either musician or dancer.
Musicians who played alongside O'Leary have spoken of his ability to play like a metronome, so that dancers could dance all night without fear of running out of steam. It was, they suggest, as if his music was wending its own way around the dance floor, with the dancers hanging off its every note like puppets.
Johnny's repertoire was one that left most of his peers in thrall. He carried a seemingly ever-expanding stock of tunes in his head, even revealing previously unheard tunes to his daughter, Ellen, just weeks before he died. He composed one tune, The Knocknagree Polka, but his own catalogue extended well beyond some 350 tunes.
In 1994, Terry Moylan published Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra (Lilliput Press), which featured some 348 of Johnny's tunes, including polkas, slides, reels, jigs and hornpipes. Moylan completed a task originated by Breandán Breathnach, music collector and founder of Na Píobairí Uilleann, who began collecting Johnny's music decades earlier. It has been suggested that the only guarantee of amassing a definitive Johnny O'Leary collection would have been to shoot him once the tome was published, as there was simply no end to his tunes.
Johnny O'Leary was an acknowledged national custodian of the music, and many tunes from his repertoire made their way into the set lists of Planxty, The Bothy Band, and more recently were celebrated in the playing of Matt Cranitch and Sliabh Notes, and Beginish (featuring Johnny's long-time admirer and friend, Brendan Begley), among others.
Any musician who spent time in Johnny O'Leary's company spoke of the uplifting effect he had on them. His trademark impish grin and innate roguery was never far away, whether he was playing in Miltown Malbay, in Dublin, New York or his native Gneeveguilla.
Johnny O'Leary was honoured by TG4 in November 2003 in Limerick, when he was presented with the Gradam Saoil/Lifetime Achievement Award. Although weakened by his illness, he not only accepted the award but played in the concert hall in UL, buoyed by the extraordinary surge of goodwill from the capacity audience who gave him a standing ovation. The Gradam Saoil award, his family acknowledges, meant a huge amount to Johnny.
The Pádraig O'Keeffe Festival in Castleisland also acknowledged him with an award last year, as did the Willie Clancy Festival in Miltown Malbay in 2001. It has been said that with Johnny's passing, Sliabh Luachra has lost its Fionn MacCumhaill, and few would argue with that.
He is survived by his two daughters, Ellen and Maureen, and by his son, Seán, who live in Killarney, Toureencahill, and Tralee respectively.
Johnny O'Leary: born June 6th, 1923; died 9th February, 2004