John Breen, inveterate raconteur, who has died aged 59, was also a traditional music evangelist, a singer, an accomplished dancer, a lover of literature, a fine golfer, a man with many friends.
The sheer colour of his life was evidenced in the requiem Masses in both Dublin and Ballyferriter, Co Kerry, when the traditional music clan gathered from all over Ireland to sing and pipe him away for the last time.
John was lucky to have been born in 1945. It meant he was ready, as a particularly handsome young man, to step into the Dublin of the 1960s. Today in O'Donoghue's pub in Merrion Row, where he jammed as a young musician, one can still see a photograph of him on the wall, linked on one side by a tweed-jacketed Séamus Ennis and on the other by John Kennedy, the sound manager of a very young U2.
The eldest of seven sons, John was born in Sixmilebridge, Co Clare. His father, Patrick Breen, was an air traffic controller for Shannon airport. Music was to be a constant backdrop in his childhood. His father had a fine voice, and his mother, Mary, played the piano. He began Irish dancing early - and seriously - and won Munster and all-Ireland titles for reels, jigs and hornpipes.
But opera was not to be John's preoccupation. Instead, he and his brother, Noel, opted to start a band, The Rapparees, with whom he played mandolin and guitar. The boys moved to Dublin and began to play "the scene".
The traditional music circuit was on fire. John joined an ever-expanding circle of hugely talented performers: Luke Kelly, Ronnie Drew, Tommy Peoples, Paddy Glackin, Donal Lunney, Jimmy Crowley, Liam O'Flynn, Philip King, Matt Molloy, Mary Bergin, Len Graham; he jammed with Andy Irvine and Johnny Moynihan.
Weekends were spent in west Clare, the hub of traditional sound,
often playing in Gus O'Connor famous music pub in Doolin or in Lisdoonvarna.
Music consumed all his time, or nearly all. He still found time to read and devoured Joyce (Finnegans Wake being a constant companion). He would later study English literature and history at Trinity College. He organised poetry and musical events in Dublin.
As the intensity of the traditional music scene began to fade through the 1970s, John was driven by a determination to promote young traditional bands; he had a wonderful ear for music and instantly recognised the genius of bands like Clannad. He also threw himself into using music to promote funding for community projects.
In 1973 he went to work with Ardmore Studios and played the part of a Prussian sergeant in
Barry Lyndon. He later became an assistant director at the studios. John married Pat Quinn and they had two daughters, Siobhán and Una. With the demise of Ardmore Studios, he returned to Shannon as golf club manager.
He later moved back to Dublin, a city he missed. He and Pat subsequently separated.
Known as a meticulous organiser, he was asked by Paddy Slattery to breathe life once more into the famous Sunday night Folk Club. The project became a huge success. Shortly afterwards, he started the Dublin Irish Music Festival and premiered Shaun Davey's The Brendan Voyage in the presence of Tim Severin.
By now he had met Áine Nic an tSíthigh, a remarkable native speaker from Ballyferriter, who later founded a highly successful Gaelscoil in Ranelagh, Dublin. They married in 1990, and her native Kerry became his second home.
When leaving a place, John would frequently quote his friend, Willie Clancy: "You have to go away to come back." Áine took him on his final journey back to Ballyferriter to the sound of the music he loved and worked so hard to promote during a colourful and alas-too-brief life.
He is survived by Áine and daughters, Siobhán and Una.
John Breen, musician: born November 3rd, 1945; died May 12th, 2005