Bangkok's local Irish music scene has been in in mourning since news reached the City of Angels that resident Irish music expert Dr Mick Moloney passed away in his Greenwich Village apartment in New York on July 27. He was 77. Mick had been a part-time resident in the city for more than 20 years. Irish President Michael D. Higgins released a statement noting that "his passing is a loss to the musical heritage of Ireland, to Irish America, and to Irish music worldwide".
Many will remember sessions Moloney hosted at Scruffy Murphy's pub and more recently The Blarney Stone when he was in town; that he was also a Global Distinguished Professor at New York University (NYU), where he taught Irish traditional music and ethnomusicology and a renowned researcher of Irish-American, African-American and Celtic music; that he was an award-winning author and musician was not well known here in Bangkok because he wore his erudition lightly.
