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Category: Archive

Joe Burke dead at 57

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Burke, who leaves a wife and three children, had battled cancer and Parkinson’s Disease.
A funeral Mass was held on Sunday, Dec. 21, in Albany. Family and friends are also planning a memorial service in the spring.
Burke, whose instrumental and vocal collaborations with Kerry fiddler Johnny Cronin inspired a large and loyal following, was a familiar figure for years at musical sessions in New York City, the Catskills and other tri-state venues.
Burke and Cronin formed a longtime partnership that for years attracted appreciative audiences to the Bunratty pub on Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx. Other venues played by Burke included Reilly’s and Rocky Sullivan’s, both on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.
Burke is featured on a Christmas compilation CD recorded at Sullivan’s.
“Joe was respected and loved by all,” said Yvonne Furlong of Furlong’s in East Durham, where Burke played many sessions over the years.
Burke, a father of two sons, Finbar and Rory, and a daughter, Siobhan, lived in Delmar, near Albany, with his wife, Brigid.
An Under-21 hurler for his native Kilkenny, Burke continued to play the game when he came to New York. He was a familiar figure in the colors of more than one county at Gaelic Park, including Kilkenny, Offaly and Tipperary.
At one point he packed his banjo and headed north to work on the Alaska oil pipeline.
Radio presenter John McDonagh said that Burke had been “very well liked” and widely respected for his consistent advocacy of the republican viewpoint on Ireland.
McDonagh said that Burke had self-produced a cassette of his music a number of years ago and that an effort would now be made to release this recording on a new CD.

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