Sonny Brogan

Patrick Joseph "Sonny" Brogan (4 July 1906 – 1 January 1965) was an Irish accordion player from the 1930s to the 1960s, and was one of Ireland's most popular traditional musicians.

In the 1930s and 1940s, alongside his close friend Bill Harte, he played with the Lough Gill Quartette.

Sonny gathered a lot of tunes from Bill Harte, some of which he would write down in tonic solfa for the record, and others which he simply committed to memory.

It has been said that both Bill Harte and Sonny Brogan "are reputed to have been among the pioneers who saw the potential for Irish music making in the button accordion pitched B/C and subsequently devised and disseminated the fingering method".

One of the tunes Sonny recorded with the Lough Gill Quartette, "Toss the Feathers" (78rpm HMV IM948), was his own composition, and he took great pride in playing it on selected occasions.

Sonny went to England briefly in the 1940s, and on his return, George Rowley (fiddler originally from County Leitrim) and Ned Stapleton (flute player from Dublin) wrote "Sonny's Return" in honour of him.

Ned called it "The Wanderer's Return", but it is more commonly known as "Sonny's Return".

A regular in The Piper's Club in Thomas Street, Dublin, Sonny played alongside John Kelly Sr, Tom Mulligan, Tommy Potts, piper Tommy Reck (who often played at Sonny's home), Leo Rowsome, Sean Seery and many other traditional musicians of the day.

Sonny had his own Céilí Dance Band during the 1940s who played in Barry's Hotel and in the Teachers' Club, Parnell Square, Dublin.

"Sonny Brogan's Mazurka" is a very well known Irish Mazurka and has been made popular in more recent years by The Chieftains.

Sonny was admired by Barney McKenna of The Dubliners (to whom he gave lessons), and got the tune "The Swallow Tail Reel" from Sonny.

Sonny's Paolo Soprani was one of the rarest, the grey model, made in 1948, when the company still made them by hand.

Offaly-born button box player Paddy O'Brien currently has Sonny's accordion.

Sonny Brogan was born in Dublin, the eldest of three children born to Alicia Brown and Andrew Brogan.

On a holiday trip to Kildare as a young boy, he first heard Irish music played on the accordion by his great uncle, Thomas Cleary.

His mother, when opening luggage on returning home, found a melodeon hidden there 'stolen' by Sonny who had taken a fancy to it.

He was allowed to keep the instrument and taught himself to play it.

Growing up he attended music classes for piano, and learned how to read basic music notation.

He soon found, however that his ear served him better as a teacher, and abandoned "paper music" as he called it.

The teacher in question offered to teach Sonny free of charge if he returned, but he declined.

Sonny had a great love of music in general and possessed many 78rpm records of artists like Amelita Galli-Curci, apart from a huge collection of Michael Coleman, the Sligo fiddle player, who he admired more than any other musician.

He was one of the earliest advocates of the two-row B/C button accordion in traditional music, and popularised it the 1950s and 60s.

He originally played on a single-keyed Hohner melodeon, and later the two-row Paolo Soprani (pictured) which he used until he died.

Sonny Brogan spent much time with Irish accordion player James Keane during Keane's youth in the 1950s and 1960s, and regularly played together with Keane in 'The Fiddlers' club aka 'St Mary's' with many other well-known musicians, including John Egan, "Hυgе″ Tom Mulligan, Finbar Furey and Ted Furey (his father), Des O'Connor, John Joe Gannon and John Joe (father and son box players frοm Horseleap, County Westmeath), Patrick Keane (James Keane's father), Seán Keane (James Keane's brother), and Mick O'Connor.

Sonny also frequented John Kelly's shop at the end of Capel Street, Dublin, usually to discuss the intricacies of tunes, as customers came and went.

When the young County Clare accordion player, Tony MacMahon came to Dublin first in 1957, he made it a priority to seek out Sonny Brogan about whom he heard, meet him and ask for lessons.

Tony and Barney regularly visited him for lessons and Tony MacMahon often gave special mention to Sonny at his own concerts.

He had other pupils and he always urged them to develop their own individual style and not to copy other players.

Tony MacMahon and Sonny Brogan have both been cited as influences more recently by Mick Mulcahy.

Sonny was one of the original musicians selected by Seán Ó Riada in 1960 to perform music for the play The Song of the Anvil by Bryan MacMahon, and subsequently became one of the original members of Ceoltóirí Chualann.

He was also critical of "this triplet which [younger players of the 1960s] throw in everywhere they can, especially in hornpipes...it has become very monotonous to listen to."

Sonny also strongly disagreed with his friend Brendan Breathnach who saw the modern players as having no respect for tradition.

In 1963, Sonny wrote an article for the folk music journal Ceol, in which he outlined his reaction to older melodeon style players and those of the current modern style.

He showed his unease at the new modern style championed by players such as Joe Burke and Paddy O'Brien, while distancing himself from the intolerance of puristic commentators like Seán Ó Riada, who accused the modern style accordion of being an unworthy instrument for the rich melodic traditions of Ireland, and saw its characteristic melodic techniques as fundamentally alien to his conception of Irish dance music.

Even though he had some reservations about the style, Sonny pointed out the attractiveness of the "bright musical tone", which was drawing a new generation of highly skilled players to the instrument.

In 1963, Brendan Breathnach was commissioned by the Educational Company of Ireland to produce an illustrated book on Irish Dance Music.

Sonny provided much of the music, from his knowledge of tunes during the course of several visits to his house, and the Ceol article indicates that Sonny's was the largest individual contribution to this book, and described Sonny as "a man who knows everybody's music", and said that "a keen ear and a very retentive memory...enabled him to store up over the years hundreds and hundreds of tunes.".

No 82 of the Reels, "Éilís Ní Bhrógáin", was dedicated to his daughter Éilís.

Seán Ó Riada wrote "One of the very few players who can make their music sound like Irish Music is Sonny Brogan of Dublin. He understands the limitations of his instrument but strives to counteract these, not by wrongly placed ornamentation but by emphasising the traditional elements. His ornamentation is usually confined to a single cut, or grace note, and the roll, as in these reels, where restrained ornamentation and subtle variation are far more telling and eloquent than the fashionable plethora of chromatics. We should always be able to hear the tune distinctly".

On 19 February 1963, Sonny made recordings at RTÉ Studios in Dublin, where he played "Gorman's Reel", "The Hut in the Bog", "Morrisson's Jig", "The Fourpenny Loaf", "Jenny Picking Cockles" and "Repeal of the Union".