A renowned traditional flute maker from Belfast who died last week has been remembered as a man of “profound creativity and searching intellect.”
Sam Murray (74) was born in the Sailortown area of Belfast on February 13, 1950.
A respected master flute maker revered by Irish traditional musicians, he was featured in documentaries by the BBC and RTÉ.
A family notice said he passed away at his Belfast home last Wednesday and is survived by his wife Isabella and five children as well as being a great-grandfather.
At his funeral Mass at St Patrick’s Church on Donegall Street on Monday the service featured several live performances of the flute music he had devoted his career to.
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Parish priest Fr Eugene O’Neill told mourners his “creative achievements have brought so much beauty to our world.”
Born into the Sailortown community in 1950, he said it was “a world of tight-brick streets and strong families, where everyone knew everyone else.”
He said a treasured memory for children at that time was the annual arrival of a travelling circus on the ferry from England, where a parade of performers was led by elephants towards the city centre.
“Can you imagine the excitement for a child to witness that. And that is exactly what Sam saw as a nipper,” he said.
“It was a world, Sailortown, of strong men and of strong women. Of Stevedores and dockers and buttonmen, of italian chip shops and proper ice cream.
“Where children vied with each other to guess the content of a ship’s cargo sailing through Belfast Lough by the types of birds flying over them.”
A teenager in 1960s Belfast, Mr Murray first met his wife of 50 years at a dance.
With five children, Fr O’Neill said home for the Murrays was remembered as a place “of chaotic joy.”
“Where children grew up in freedom and the security of knowing they were loved, a place where laughter vied with the sound of flutes being laid in the background and the doors of the imagination were constantly kept open.”
He continued: “Sam will be remembered in this community and this country and far afield, as a man of profound creativity and searching intellect.
“He was a maker, a creator. Fascinated by every aspect of the human experience.”
As a young man, Mr Murray had worked in Belfast Central Library before moving to the Folk and Transport museum and finally finding his “real vocation” in the world of music, by making instrument that marked the “gold standard for quality and purity of tone”.
In recent days, several musicians have spoken of how a Sam Murray flute became a treasured possession.
Commenting online, Brendan Mulholland said: “We have lost a fluting giant from Belfast today, Sam Murray.
“I got my first flute of Sam in 1984 which I still have. There where so many laughs and craic in his workshop throughout the years.
“Sam Murray mapped out the course of my life to date after making me my first flute.”
Musician Brídín called him “one of the greatest flute makers” and shared a video performance using the last instrument he had made for her.
The McNeela Irish Musical Instruments shop in Dublin previously described Mr Murray as being “celebrated the world over for the quality and craftmanship of his superior wooden flutes.”
