Sorcha Ní Ghuairim (11 October 1911 – 1976) was a teacher, writer, and sean-nós singer.
Life
editSorcha Ní Ghuairim was born in Roisín na Manach, Carna in the Connemara Gaeltacht in County Galway on 11 October 1911. Her parents were Máirtín Gorham and Catherine Burke. She was the youngest of their 11 children. Ní Ghuairim was particularly well known as a singer. She joined her sister Máire Ní Ghuairim, in Dublin in 1928 and obtained a teaching post with Conradh na Gaeilge. She studied at University College Galway with Tomás Ó Máille. An active promoter of the Irish language revival, she wrote a column for The Irish Press under the name "Coisín Siúlach". She also wrote a column regularly for the children's page under the name "Niamh Chinn Óir", and later became an editor of the paper.[1] She taught the Irish language at Trinity College Dublin.[2]
She recorded her first album, Sorcha Ní Ghuairim Sings Traditional Irish Songs, issued as Folkways Records FW06861, while visiting her brother in the United States in 1945.[citation needed]
She moved to England in 1955, apparently disillusioned with the future of the Irish language. She was found dead in her apartment in London, and appeared to have been dead for a period of time. Some sources do not state an exact date of death,[1] where others give it as 15 December 1976. She was buried in Carna on 24 December 1976.[3]
The National University of Ireland, Galway's outreach centre in Carna is named in her honour, Áras Shorcha Ní Ghuairim.[4] In 2007, a documentary on Ní Ghuairim was aired on TG4, An Lorg Shorcha.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b Ní Mhunghaile, Lesa (2009). "Sorcha Ní Ghuairim In Ní Ghuairim, Máire". Dictionary of Irish Biography - Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- ^ "Sorcha Ní Ghuairim, 1911-1976". 21 July 2011. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
- ^ Breathnach, Diarmuid; Ní Mhurchú, Máire. "NÍ GHUAIRIM, Sorcha (1911–1976)". ainm.ie (in Irish). Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- ^ "10 year Celebration of third-level education at Carna". www.universityofgalway.ie. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
- ^ "LORG SHORCHA, AN". Irish Film & TV Research Online. Trinity College Dublin. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- Dictionary of Irish Biography ... to the Year 2002, p. 937, Cambridge, 2010.