Ranting is the very last feature you’d associate with Sharon Shannon’s personality. However, when a girl has to stand up and defend her 87 year-old daddy’s honour, name and reputation, Sharon let rip.
The target of her rant and ripping cupla focal is an accordion playing imposter who travels the country’s music festivals claiming he’s Sharon Shannon’s father.
He carries his accordion – or did when I encountered him at Kearney’s Bar a couple of years ago – in an old fashioned, jute message bag. I’m sure he called himself ‘Jimmy Shannon’ when I met him.
He has been a regular at the Patrick O’Keeffe Traditional Music Festival over recent years and has stayed on for the horse fair day on a couple of occasions.
He has no bother in admitting he’s closely related to the world famous musician before launching into a few bars of The Blackbird – as if it’s a kind of musical DNA connection.
Sharon recently resorted to her facebook page in an effort to disarm and unmask the imposter and I’d hate to be him if she comes face-to-face with him.
The following is Sharon’s defence of her Daddy on her page:
“I’m going to have a small RANT. This is my gorgeous Daddy. IJ Shannon. He is 87 years old. He DOES NOT play accordion. There is a man going around Ireland pretending to be ‘Sharon Shannon’s father’. This imposter apparently plays the accordion and is a horrid pushy man. He is in his late 60’s or early 70’s.He demands free drink in every pub he goes into playing his accordion. He has been seen many times in Spiddal and at various festivals all over the country. If anybody knows who this bollix is or if you have a photo of him, please post it up here. If you ever see him again, please take a photo and I will post it up here. I swear if I ever meet the bollix I will chop off his mickey. Ha ha!
My father is a very shy and humble man of very few words.”
