Biography:Tom Billy Murphy
Tom Billy Murphy
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|---|---|
| Given name: | Tom Billy |
| Middle name: | |
| Family name: | Murphy |
| Place of birth: | Glencollins Upper, Ballydesmond |
| Place of death: | Glencollins Upper, Ballydesmond |
| Year of birth: | 1879 |
| Year of death: | 1944 |
| Profile: | Composer, Musician |
| Source of information: | |
Biographical notes
TOM BILLY MURPHY (c. 1875-1944) was a blind fiddler who was born and died at Glencollins Upper, Ballydesmond in the Sliabh Luachra region, of the County Cork/Kerry border. Murphy, like his younger contemporary and sometimes rival Pádraig O'Keeffe (1887-1963), was a fiddle teacher and mentor to many area musicians in the first half of the 20th century. He learned many of his tunes from a traveling fiddle player named Taidhgin an Asail (Tadhg O Buachalla or Tadeen the Fiddler), who was also sight-impaired. Murphy was a peripatetic (though not homeless) individual who traveled throughout the region on his donkey, which, as the story goes, knew without guidance exactly which houses to go to for a welcome.