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Subject: Obit: Ron Kavana From: Felipa Date: 04 May 24 - 04:25 PM I just heard that singer songwriter Ron Kavana has died. He had diabetes and had not been well for a few years, I understand. I don't see any obituary published yet, but there are a number of Mudcat discussion threads about Ron's songs. Here is a Wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Kavana website https://www.aliasronkavana.com/ |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana From: The Sandman Date: 04 May 24 - 04:52 PM I had the pleasure of meeting him. RIP AND CONDOLENCES TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana From: Jerry A. O'Neill Date: 04 May 24 - 06:41 PM "Our fight has run its course Now is the time for healing So let us all embrace Sweet reconciliation" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40ZxQCSS5qQ RIP Ron. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Date: 04 May 24 - 07:20 PM Oh my word. Right from the early 90s Ron was my hero and the hero of my missus and children. He could do traditional Irish music like the best of 'em, or he could infuse it with uncompromising rock 'n' roll. Ron could do it all, fearlessly and superbly. He fell out big time with the exploitative music industry and shied away from it many years ago. He was impossible to categorise which meant that he never really got the recognition that his blazing talent deserved. I met him too, Dick, and that night was so memorable that I can even tell you the date (Oct 1 1993, since you ask, at The Tree Inn in Bude!). His politics were in line with Christy's and Dick Gaughan's and his sentiments were in line with his mate Shane. I have a cherished copy, probably one of very few in existence, of his album Galway to Graceland, which I bagged very early and which never really got out of the traps. I'll be playing it non-stop for a day or six! Sad to say, he must be on his way... |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana From: GUEST,Malcolm Storey Date: 04 May 24 - 09:07 PM I very rarely join the obit threads but feel I must on this occasion. I met Ron too infrequently but always enjoyed his company. A rather different long weekend in Northern Ireland always brings joyful memories and the London meetings were never dull. Thankfully we had him at Whitby too - showing them all the way in his own quiet way. A great bloke and gifted songwriter. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: GUEST,JoeG Date: 05 May 24 - 05:32 AM Very sad news. I saw him and his band several times most memorably at Bradford Festival where he turned round an initially unimpressed audience and had the whole park dancing by the end. I also remember the 2 and a half hour set in Leeds which made me a fan! |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Date: 05 May 24 - 05:55 AM I googled "Ron Kavana" and scrolled down a bit, and found a Facebook page with lots of stuff about Ron and some clips of his music. I didn't have to join Facebook to see it ((I'd rather rip me shirt off and staple me t*t to a beehive than do that). Worth a look definitely. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: Felipa Date: 05 May 24 - 02:59 PM I'm still not seeing any confirmation of Ron Kavana's death. I heard it announced by a singer from Cork, Ireland who sang a tribute on a zoom singaround last night, and an Irish record producer published on Facebook yesterday , Bernard O' Neill, that he'd heard that Ron had died. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: Felipa Date: 05 May 24 - 03:24 PM https://rip.ie/death-notice/ronnie-ron-kavanagh-cork-fermoy-555418 "Ron will repose at Ronayne’s Funeral Home Fermoy, visitation Monday from 4.00pm. until 6.00pm. Funeral Service Tuesday at 10.00.am in The Island Crematorium Ringaskiddy. No flowers please, donations if desired to Irish Kidney Association https://ika.ie/in-memory/ or Cork University Hospital Charity https://www.cuhcharity.ie/donate/ We, Ron’s family, are deeply indebted to the Staff at Cork University Hospital Renal Unit, Dr. Charlie Mc Carthy and Corpus Christi Nursing Home for their dedicated care of Ron and the support shown to us his family." You can add condolences on the rip.ie page until 4 July 2024 Obituary/potted biography on the Facebook "Ron Kavana - musician" page |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: GUEST,peteglasgow Date: 06 May 24 - 01:42 PM i first saw ron kavana and friends playing at trowbridge festival in 1991- and remember it as one of the best festival gigs ive ever seen. i was lucky to see him play in the long gone Stags Head in Camden several times on rare visits to london. i love his version of 'to welcome paddy home' but sadly don't have the skill to post a link on here |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: Tattie Bogle Date: 06 May 24 - 03:24 PM Never saw him performing live. The song that stands out for me is "Reconciliation" - sung by a number of other people including Paddie Bell at our local sessions, Dick Gaughan, and the late John Wright, who often finished a gig with it. It was the first song I ever sang in a session at Linlithgow in 2000, and led to a long and happy relationship with their Folk Festival Association. RIP Ron. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: gillymor Date: 06 May 24 - 05:34 PM His version of that great song Sloop John B was my favorite. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Date: 06 May 24 - 07:39 PM His version of Midnight On The Water is iconic for us. Not the version on the album Think Like A Hero, great though that is, but the one he played "for the Shaw family" when we asked him for it at that October 1993 gig in Bude that I mentioned. They did it slow, languid and beautiful - then they launched into a blistering set of reels! Another fearsomely brilliant track is on that rare album Galway To Graceland, called Watch Out Willie. The end of the song launches into a pair of madcap reels, Trip To Durrow and Gravel Walks, with the wonderful fiddle of Miriam Kavana. Life-affirming! |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: Tattie Bogle Date: 13 May 24 - 04:53 PM Niamh Parsons posted some lovely pics on Facebook. And yes, his “Midnight on the Water” is sublime. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: GUEST,Steve Shaw Date: 13 May 24 - 06:32 PM I posted this in 2010 on Geoff Lawes' wonderful thread. It is on one of Ron's albums, but, again, as wonderful as that version is, it can't hold a candle to the version we heard at that amazing gig on October 1 1993 in our folk club in Bude. What a beautiful song. MARIA DE LA ROSA Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War From: Steve Shaw - PM Date: 21 Mar 10 - 01:20 PM Ron Kavana used to sing an absolutely beautiful song about the Spanish Civil War called Maria De La Rosa. As far as I know he wrote it himself. I heard him sing it in 1993 at the Tree Inn Folk Club in Bude. He subsequently recorded it for his album Alien Alert. I posted above about Ron Kavana's song "Maria De La Rosa" which appeared on his live "Alien Alert" album in the late 1990s. I wrote down the words to the best of my ability this afternoon and I have Geoff and Joe Offer to thank for easing my mind about copyright issues! So here are my jottings. I must point out that the album insert doesn't print the lyrics and I'm assuming that the place-name "Lérida," a town in Catalonia, is what Ron sings. Also, "Finn O'Mara" is my interpretation of the name. Ron does sing exceptionally clearly. In the intro to the song on the album Ron states that the song is based on a true story thst he gleaned whilst on holiday in the Basque country. I heard him singing it several years before this album was released, in fact I can state that it was on October 1 1993 at the Tree Inn folk club in Cornwall on a night that no-one who was there will forget. I have a somewhat ropey cassette recording of him singing it that night which, in its way, is even more beautiful than the album version. I think it's a truly lovely song. So there! .......................................... I set out for Spain with a romantic notion To trace the paths of Irish volunteers Who had left their homeland to fight and die on foreign soil In the late '30s, Franco's bloody years In a sleazy bodega in the back streets of Bilbao I met a girl with bright green eyes and long red hair Maria De La Rosa O'Mara sang in Spanish A version of She Moved Through The Fair Maria De La Rosa O'Mara Sing your song one more time Por favor Tell us the tale of your dead grandfather And his part in the Spanish Civil War Tell us the tale of crazy, noble glory Finn O'Mara in the Spanish Civil War Finn O'Mara joined the Basques up near San Sebastian In the northern campaign of '38 Kept the supply lines open on the border 'Til Barcelona fell and it was all too late Captured by the Blueshirts somewhere near Lérida He faced the fascist firing squad that very day His one last request "Bury me in Basque country But know I die for freedom, not for Spain." Maria De La Rosa O'Mara Sing your song one more time Por favor Tell us the tale of your dead grandfather And his part in the Spanish Civil War Tell us the tale of crazy, noble glory Finn O'Mara in the Spanish Civil War |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Ron Kavana (1950-2024) From: GUEST,Acorn4 Date: 14 May 24 - 04:03 AM Originally got into his songs through listening to Norma Waterson sing "Midnight on the Water" - great writer and a sad loss. |
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