Seán Ó Riada

"Irish traditional music moved onto the international stage in the second half of the twentieth century. There were many reasons but one of the major influences was Sean O Riada who gave it a position and status it never had. He is one of the most fascinating and significant characters in twentieth-century Irish artistic life - composer, musician (jazz, classical & traditional), raconteur, film-maker and academic. In this wide-ranging account of his life and work a friend and colleague looks behind the mask O Riada held up to the world and reveals the complex personality of a unique individual."--BOOK JACKET.