The Gannon Argentine Migration Story

Published: Jan. 10, 2021, 1 p.m.

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Bernard Gannon, an accordion player who had been born among the Irish-Argentine diaspora in Argentina in 1881. As a young man, he had inherited a farm in Carrigeen, and moved to Ireland, where he settled down and raised a family. Anne was the seventh of 17 children. (She later became Anne Byrne when she married, and settled in Ardagh, Co. Longford.)

All his life, Bernard Gannon continued to play on his accordion the Argentine music that he\\u2019d picked up in his youth and brought with him to Ireland. Later he added Irish tunes to his repertoire; these he picked up from local musicians, particularly from his brother-in-law, the fiddle player Christopher \\u2018Kit\\u2019 Kelly. Of the many recordings that Anne made, perhaps the most fascinating are those of the infectiously happy Argentine polkas and waltzes of her father, who performed with impressive elegance and skill, despite his advancing years. These are the only recordings made in Ireland of the folk music played among the sizeable Irish diaspora in Argentina in the 19th century.

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