Margaret Barry - 'Her mantle so green'

Great article here on the legendary Irish singer Margaret Barry in the Irish Times. Margaret Barry started her singing career as a street singer in Ireland in the 1930s and ended up performing at the Newport festival with Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.

There was great passion in her singing as with the 'Cycling Championship of Ulster' often song at sessions in the Isle of Man by the Manx linguist, musician and singer Brian Stowell. Here’s a link to the real thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuKZdM_NvBY

The Times article records here Traveller ancestry and the family members also steeped in the Irish music tradition. As an expatriate in the Irish community in the UK she was also a contemporary of the likes of Brendan Behan the great writer.

I think I’ve got the LP, ‘Her mantle so green’, somewhere on which she performs with another legend the Sligo fiddler Michael Gorman who accompanied much of her music and song. Time to get the turnable out I think!

Here’s the Irish Times link:

https://www.irishtimes.com/…/the-irish-tinker-lady-whose-so…

Image: Margaret Barry with Michael Gorman

Bernard Moffatt

Celtic League