Concertina player Chris Droney has been announced as the 2018 recipient of the MÓRglór Award.

The MÓRglór Award, established in 2013, recognises artists who have made a significant contribution to music in County Clare. Presented by the Glór arts venue in Ennis, it is named after Muiris Ó Rócháin, the former director of the Willie Clancy Summer School who died in 2011.

Born in Bellharbour in 1924, Chris Droney has been playing music for almost eighty-six years. His father and grandfather also played concertina and he learned music by ear from the age of eight.

He recalls that his first two tunes were ‘The Wearing of the Green’ and ‘Clare’s Dragoons’. His first public appearance was at the age of 14 in Johnson’s dance hall in Kinvara where he was paid half a crown.

Droney became Senior All-Ireland Concertina Champion nine times in the 1950s and 1960s and has played with several céilí bands, including the Bell Harbour Ceili Band and the Ballinakill. He has also toured internationally and has made three solo recordings: The Flowing Tide (1962), The Fertile Rock (1995) and Down From Bell Harbour (2005). Droney was also the recipient of the 2014 TG4 Gradam Saoil award for lifetime achievement. He is the grandfather of well-known electronic musician Daithí Ó Drónaí.

Orla Flanagan, director of Glór, commented:

We are honoured that Chris Droney has accepted the MÓRglór award for 2018, and, with his family and friends, we will celebrate his extraordinary and lasting contribution to the Clare cultural landscape. Chris’s lifelong commitment to music, his fine musicianship and his generosity of spirit in sharing his expertise throughout his musical career has impacted generations of musicians. 

Previous MÓRglór recipients include Corofin Traditional Music Festival (2014), Eoin O’Neill (2015), Frank Custy (2016) and Geraldine Cotter (2017). A celebratory concert for Chris Droney will take place on 17 November. For tickets, visit www.glor.ie.