We are all very sad and lonely after the news of the passing of the great Joe Burke at the weekend. He is pictured here playing a few tunes together with his wife Ann, in the bookshop in 2005. Tom Kenny remembers him here.

Joe Burke was a national treasure, a box player like no other with a style of his own, a virtuoso who influenced countless musicians, a true seanachie capable of throwing in an odd shaggy dog story, a lover of Galway hurling, an erudite and very funny and gentle man who loved life, always with a glint in his eye. His passing at the weekend had left an enormous vacuum especially in traditional music circles.

Ní bheidh a leithéad ann arís. Go dtreoraí ceol na n-aingil isteach sa bFhlaithis thú Joe.