Elizabeth Cronin, who was nicknamed ‘Bess’, and later ‘The Muskerry Queen of Song’ was born on 30 May 1879 in West Cork.[2] Cronin was the eldest daughter of Maighréad Ní Thuama and Seán ‘Máistir’ Ó hIarlaithe, who was a village headmaster in a school of Barr d’Ínse (which is why he is ‘Máistir), in the Fuithirí area of West Cork, near the Cork-Kerry border.[1] Cronin had five other siblings, four sisters: Mary Anne (b. 1882), Johanna (b. 1885), Nora (b. 1890) and Ellie (b. 1891), one brother: Tom (b. 1888) and two half-brothers: Dan and Tim who her father had in his first marriage.
Cronin remained in the Baile Bhuirne area her whole life. She spent her teenage years on her uncle, Tomás Ó hIarfhlaithe (Tomás Bheirty) and his wife's (who was a sister of Cronin's mother) farm nearby. They were both childless.
It was during these early years where she learned many songs and stories from her mother as well as on her uncle and aunt's farm, as many servants came and went for periods of five to six months. Cousins and friends would have also passed on songs to Cronin over the years. Cronin recalls the story of how she learned Mo Mhúirín Bán. She was sleeping in bed and was woken by a noise that she thought was a ghost. She soon realised it was the sound of butter being churned. An elderly neighbour was churning butter to help her mother and the old woman sang songs through the night while they were at work. Cronin joined them and learned the song from the women, as well as many more, and knew them all by morning. Due to Cronin's father being a teacher and her grandfather and uncle having a big interest in books, she was exposed to literature and the written word more than most would have been at the time.
Cronin was a fluent native Irish speaker her whole life, as were her entire family and they promoted the Irish language as much as possible.
After she married her husband Seán Ó Croinin, she moved to Carraig an Adhmaid, Ballmakeery to ‘The Old Plantation’ which was known as the Cronin family farm.
Cronin made her first public appearance in 1899 which was in Feis in Macroom. When she made this public appearance she sang two songs that were in Irish, the songs showed how much she loved music. Cronin, who sang Irish traditional Music in Sean Nos, was described as a noted singer and also she was known as The Queen of Irish Song for her extraordinary talent. Her career started from when she was a youth, she would sing everywhere she went, she would sing at weddings, parties, or even when she was milking the cows. Cronin's life was very ordinary; she didn't get prizes or recording contracts from her career in Irish traditional music. Cronin's Irish language caught interest from many collectors. Elizabeth hand wrote many of her songs as well as singing them in two languages which were Irish and English.
A number of collectors recorded Cronin. Across the 1940s and 1950s, she was recorded by The Irish Folklore Commission, followed by Seamus Ennis twice and Marie Slocombe (both with the BBC), as well as the legendary ethnomusicologist and folklorist Alan Lomax. Lomax included her songs in the Irish volume of his 18-volume “Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music,” which he edited whilst in London during the 1950s.
From 1947 throughout to 1950 Cronin became well known and many other collectors contacted her, such as Peter Kennedy, Jean Ritchie and George Pickow, Brian George, Diane Hamilton, and Robin Roberts. Cronin produced over eighty songs on tape, however, many of her songs are not available to the public. Her grandson, Daithi O'Cronin has contributed a book to her which has over 200 songs that belong to her. Cronin also kept a lot of songs to herself.
Towards the latter-end of Cronin's life, her music was grouped together into a collection called “The Commercial Recordings”. Upon listening to several collections, including the collection “The Bonny Blue-Eyed Lassie” recorded by Diane Hamilton in 1955, just months before Cronin's death, it is evident that she has become exhausted and struggles to sing.
Cronin fell ill to blood related diseases toxaemia and anaemia, and she died on 22 May 1956 at the age of 76.
(Copied from Elizabeth Cronin's Wikipedia page)
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