Background
Keane grew up with six siblings in a home where music was always present.
Keane grew up with six siblings in a home where music was always present.
She was a paternal aunt of singers Dolores, Seán and Matt Keane. The whole Keane family sang and played instruments, and frequently played host to other singers and musicians from East Galway and beyond. In 1958 the sisters entertained guests at the wedding of local farmer John Corbett to Mary Murphy, who had recently returned to Ireland after spending five years living in New New York
In the 1950s and 1960s Rita and Sarah played as part of Keane"s Céilí Band, who performed for audiences of up to 1,000 people at dances in the local town of Tuam.
In the late 1960s the broadcaster Ciarán Mac Mathúna made recordings of the Keane sisters, which he broadcast on a series of radio programmes for Raidió Teilifís Éireann. These proved popular with listeners, and resulted in the recording of an album entitled Once I Loved in 1969. Their only other album, At the Setting of the Sun, would not follow until 1985.
Both albums feature a mixture of sean-nós (traditional unaccompanied Irish language singing) and ballads sung in English, and have subsequently been re-released on Civil Defense, indicating a continued interest in, and demand for, the Keane sisters" recorded work. Keane"s passion for music remained with her up until her death.
Seán Keane recalls the Keane sisters saying, of music, "Oh God, it keeps us alive!".
Keane reportedly played her accordion until a few days before her death on 28 June 2009, aged 86.
At one stage, Brendan Burke, father of John "Turps" Burke who later became a member of the Saw Doctors, played with the band.