Margaret Barry

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For the English children's writer, see Margaret Stuart Barry.

Margaret Barry
Birth nameMargaret Cleary
Born1 January 1917
Cork, Ireland
OriginCounty Cork, Ireland
Died1989 (aged 71–72)
Lawrencetown, County Down, Northern Ireland
GenresIrish traditional music, Sean-nós
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Banjo

Margaret Barry (1917–1989) was an

traditional singer and banjo
player.

Biography

Born Margaret Cleary in

Travellers and street singers,[1] she taught herself how to play the zither
banjo and the fiddle at a young age. At the age of sixteen, after a family disagreement, Margaret left home and started performing as a street musician.

In the early 1950s, she moved to

idiosyncratic banjo accompaniment,[3] she was frequently accompanied by the fiddler Michael Gorman. Her singing and banjo playing became a major influence on the younger generation of ballad singers in Ireland and the UK, including Luke Kelly.[citation needed] She performed in the Carnegie Hall and the Rockefeller Centre in New York.[1]

One song for which Barry is particularly noted is "She Moved Through the Fair".[4] Asked by an interviewer, Karl Dallas, whether she had learned it from her family or from other Travellers, she replied cheerfully, "Oh, no. I got it off a gramophone record by Count John McCormack".[citation needed] The accompanying book to the Topic Records 70 year anniversary boxed set, Three Score and Ten, lists Her Mantle So Green as one of the classic albums[5]: 16  and "The Factory Girl" from Street Songs and Fiddle Tunes of Ireland with Michael Gorman is track 9 on the third CD in the set.

Cork City

A play, She Moved Through the Fair: The legend of Margaret Barry, co-written by Mary McPartlan and Colin Irwin had its debut in 2017 at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, as part of the Celtic Connections Festival.[6] Poet/songwriter, Frank Callery wrote a song for the centenary of Barry's birth.[7] Singer/songwriter, Tim O'Riordan, wrote a song in celebration of Barry, "The Heart of the Song (for Margaret Barry)" and recorded it on the album Taibhse in 2018.[8]

At the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards in 2019, Barry was inducted into the Hall of Fame by American singer Peggy Seeger.[9]

Discography

  • Songs of an Irish Tinker Lady (Riverside RLP 12–602, 1956)
  • Street Songs and Fiddle Tunes (Topic 10T6, 1957) – with Michael Gorman
  • Ireland’s Queen Of The Tinkers Sings (Top Rank 25/020, 1960)
  • The Blarney Stone (Prestige Irish, 1961) – with Michael Gorman
  • Songs From the Hills of Donegal (Washington WV 731, 1962)
  • Irish Music In London Pubs (Folkways FG 3575, 1965) – with Michael Gorman
  • Her Mantle So Green (Topic 12T123, 1965) – with Michael Gorman
  • Come Back Paddy Reilly (Emerald GEM 1003, 1968)
  • Sing and Play (Folkways FW8729, 1975)
  • Ireland's Own (Outlet SOLP 1029, 1976)
  • I Sang Through The Fairs (Rounder 11661-1774-2, 1998)
  • Travellin' People from Ireland (Emerald EMCD8004, 2001) – with Pecker Dunne
  • Queen of the Gypsies (Emerald EMCD8004, 2007)
  • The Definitive Collection (Songs of The Travelling People) (PMI, 2013)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Crowley, Jimmy (2014). Songs from the Beautiful City- The Cork Urban Ballads. The Freestate Press. p. 269.
  2. ^ "Margaret Barry: wild Irish woman of the British folk scene". the Guardian. 18 January 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  3. ^ Byrne, Angela. "The 'Irish Tinker Lady' whose songs captivated London". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  4. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  5. ^ Three Score and Ten Accompanying Book
  6. ^ "Folksinger and broadcaster Mary McPartlan dies at 65". www.rte.ie. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Margaret Barry". www.audioboom.com. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Taibhse Tim O'Riordan". www.timoriordan.hearnow.com. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  9. ^ Ye Vagabonds make it a treble at RTE Radio 1 Folk Awards.

References

  • Pohle, Horst (1987) The Folk Record Source Book; 2nd ed. p. 22 (for discography)

External links

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