Elizabeth Cronin

Irish singer (1879–1956)

Elizabeth "Bess" Cronin (Eibhlís Uí Chróinín; 29 May 18792 June 1956) was an influential singer of Irish traditional music in the sean nós style. She sang hundreds of songs which she learnt as a youth, half of which were in the Irish language, which was her first language. She was visited and recorded by prominent collectors of traditional music including Alan Lomax, Jean Ritchie, Peter Kennedy and Seamus Ennis. Some of her songs inspired popular recordings, such as her version of Siúil a Rún, which was covered by Clannad and Celtic Women.

Elizabeth Cronin was born on 29 May 1879 in Rath West (An Ráth Thiar), in the civil parish of Ballyvourney, County Cork. 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 (hence ‘Máistir'), in the Fuithirí area of West Cork, near the Cork Kerry border. and her mother was a professor of the language. She was visited and recorded by The Irish Folklore Commission, Seamus Ennis and Marie Slocombe (both with the BBC), Peter Kennedy, Jean Ritchie / George Pickow, Diane Hamilton, Brian George, Robin Roberts, and the 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. Over 80 of Cronin's songs are on tape, however many are not available to the public but confined to her private collection. There is a version of "Lord Gregory" (The Lass of Roch Royall) by Cronin on the Cultural Equity website.

Suggested through the listening of several recorded collections, including "The Bonny Blue Eyed Lassie" recorded by Diane Hamilton in 1955, it is evident that she has become exhausted and struggles to sing. Cronin fell ill to the blood related diseases toxaemia and anaemia,. She died in hospital in Macroom on 2 June 1956, at the age of 77.

Séamus Ennis referred to Cronin as the "Muskerry Queen of Song". She created some records during her life which are still to this day widely available in the Irish traditional music archive. Most of her songs covered the topics of home and family, including "The Little Pack of Tailors", "Pussy Cats Party", "The Good Ship Kangaroo" and "Uncle Rat". The tune and the lyrics of her version of Siúil a Rún were the foundation of many subsequent recordings, including those of Clannad and Celtic Women. Cronin also influenced Irish singers such as Christy Moore and Martin Carthy and Seamus Ennis. Her songs are still played on RTÉ Radio and are available on YouTube and Spotify. Her continued use of the local Irish dialect "galvanised her local community".