Margaret Barry (1917–1989) was an Irish Traveller, traditional singer and banjo player.

Biography

Born Margaret Cleary in Cork into a family of 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 London, originally to appear on a TV series called The Songhunter, produced by a young David Attenborough. Attenborough described in recent years how Barry’s striking wild, toothless appearance and her out-of-tune banjo playing prompted a volley of angry complaints about Irish tinkers being allowed on the TV. ^[2] Barry became a well-known name on the London folk scene in the 1950s where, with her distinctive singing style and 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.

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

• Nance the Piper

Notes

References

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

External links

• Listen to Margaret Barry on Last FM
• Biography of Margaret Barry
• http://margaretbarry.blogspot.co.uk/