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JUNE-JULY 2022 HIS CAREER IS ONE OF CONSTANT RENA
ISSANCE, RE-INVENTION, RE-EVALUATION AND RENEWAL: HE JUST CONSTANTLY MOVED ON. CATHAL COUGHLAN, CORK, 1980. © CIARÁN O’TUAMA MICRO DISNEY AT THE ARCADIA CORK, 1980. © CIARÁN O’TUAMA Recorded as another group familiar to regulars at The Arcadia, U2, was issuing a second major label single, Kaught at the Kampus is far more important now as a social history document. It captures three of the most engaging and influential frontmen in Cork music history at play on the one disc, all of whom died far too early. Cathal Coughlan is pre-deceased by Donnelly, who drowned in The Serpentine in London in 1989 and Mick Lynch – who later went on to front Stump – who died after an illness in 2015. Cathal leaves behind him a formidable body of work. His wide breadth of reference - like Finbarr Donnelly he was alarmingly well-read – is reflected in the far-reaching scope of his output with Microdisney, The Fatima Mansions and his numerous solo and side projects. He was as influenced by Seán Ó Riada and Na Filí as he was by Scott Walker, Steely Dan and The Stooges: for someone whose material railed so consistently against the controlling hand of clerical power in Ireland, his canon is exceptionally catholic. Commenting on Cathal’s death, which was announced on May 23rd last, the film-maker Paul Duane, who was working with him on his most-recent project, Telefís, noted that ‘he was in the middle of a huge creative renaissance’, which of course he was. Apart from his work with Jacknife Lee in Telefís, he had also recently issued his first album of solo work, Song of Co-Aklan, in a decade. But then his career is one of constant renaissance, re-invention, re-evaluation and renewal: he just constantly moved on. Mysterious to the end, he is easily one of the finest and most distinctive Irish writers, singers and commentators of his generation. His considerable presence will be sorely missed and very fondly recalled. CONTSANT REMINDERS ON THE SOUTH MALL, CORK, 1980. SEAN O’HAGAN, JACKAI WALSH, DAVE GALVIN, CATHAL COUGHLAN - © CIARÁN O’TUAMA PAGE 13