Ireland says goodbye to Sinéad O’Connor

BRAY, Ireland – Sinéad O’Connor lived her life poised between tradition and rebellion. Ireland’s farewell to her embraced both.

In keeping with an old custom, her coffin was first carried past her last family home in Ireland, in Bray, County Wicklow.

But many of those who gathered there, or who left her tributes, brought a spirit more in keeping with her life as a rebel who took on the establishment – most notably the Roman Catholic Church – and who spoke up for the oppressed. Among the signs left in front of her family home was one that read “BLACK LIVES MATTER,” “GAY PRIDE” and “REFUGEES WELCOME.”

At noon, the cortege reached O’Connor’s former home on Bray’s seaside promenade, led by a vintage Volkswagen van playing the song “Natural Mystic” by Bob Marley & the Wailers and draped with the pride and Rastafarian flags. The crowd broke into prolonged applause, with some raising fists in salute. Many were in tears.

Then the hearse, filled with flowers, was driven to a private funeral, followed by vehicles carrying family members and close friends. At 12:30, Irish radio stations coordinated to broadcast O’Connor’s song “Nothing Compares 2 U” in unison.

O’Connor, who was found dead in her London apartment last month at 56, was raised Catholic but converted to Islam in 2018, and she received a Muslim burial Tuesday. Friends including U2’s Bono and The Edge, as well as Bob Geldof, the rock star and activist, were in attendance.

Some of those lining the streets were avid fans of her music. Others were activists, and there were also abuse survivors who had drawn strength from O’Connor’s openness about her own experience of childhood trauma.

The funeral was led by Sheikh Umar Al-Qadri, an Islamic scholar and the chief imam at the Islamic Center of Ireland. In his eulogy, he spoke of how O’Connor’s “otherworldly” voice could reduce listeners to tears and said that her music carried an undertone of hope that brought solace to many.

The president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, attended the funeral with his wife, Sabina. In a statement Tuesday morning, he described her “immense heroism” and the pain it caused her. “That is why all those who are seeking to make a fist of their life, combining its different dimensions in their own way, can feel so free to express their grief at her loss.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.