O’Neill Irish Music Festival, Tiburon

History & Music in Tiburon • Feb 23-25

Francis O’Neill, 1848 – 1936, is considered by Irish scholars, Irish musicians and by the Irish government as “The Man Who Saved Irish Music”. He is widely recognized by all who play Irish traditional music as the authentic source for Irish music  through his collecting, preserving and publishing books of the largest selection of Irish music still in use today.

Growing up during the Potato Famine in a small hamlet called Tralibane, near Bantry in Southwest Ireland, Francis excelled in school and by age 16 passed the Irish national standards test to become a school teacher. Disenchanted that, while qualified and certified to teach, he was too young to actually get a teaching job in Ireland he decided on a different course of action. Due to some unpleasant circumstances at home, he left Ireland at age 16 in 1864  and embarked on a remarkable life of adventure, accomplishment and international fame.

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