The New York Irish Center has collaborated with celebrated Irish musician and composer Phil Coulter to poignantly say an "Irish-American farewell" to those who died in 2023.
The six-minute video features music composed by Coulter and opens with a speech from the famous musician paying tribute to Christy Dignam, Sinéad O'Connor, and Shane MacGowan, three legends of Irish music who died during the year.
Pogues frontman MacGowan died in November after a long battle with illness, while Aslan frontman Dignam died in June following a lengthy battle with cancer. O'Connor died suddenly in July, with all three deaths provoking a huge outpouring of public grief.
"An Irish-American Farewell" also pays tribute to other Irish and Irish-American figures who died in 2023, including Irish-American billionaire Chuck Feeney, who died in October, and actor Sir Michael Gambon, who died in September.
Set to Coulter's "Farewell to Inishowen", the poignant video is also dedicated to 9/11 survivor Ron Clifford, Irish-Israeli citizen Kim Damti, US Congressman Brian Donnelly, and Irish businessman Ben Dunne.
It additionally pays tribute to Seán Keane, the lead fiddler with the Chieftains, Irish playwright Thomas Kilroy, and David G. O'Connell, the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles who was murdered in February.
"We dedicate this tribute to all in the New York Irish Community we lost this year whose lives helped shape our own," the New York Irish Center said in the video. "May God rest their noble souls."
The New York Irish Center has posted "An Irish-American Farewell" dedicated to all those who died in a calendar year every year for the past four years, starting the tradition during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
"The Irish and Irish American communities at large lost a number of remarkable individuals this year. As 2020 comes to an end, the New York Irish Center hopes to keep their memories alive by marking their passing," the New York Irish Center said in its first tribute.
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