Public interview explores Mary’s musical legacy

Singer and harpist Mary O’Hara will discuss her life and work when she takes part in a public interview at NUIG on Tuesday, April 7, hosted by the University’s Centre for Irish Studies.

Sligo-born Mary, who now lives on Inis Mór, played a leading role in popularising Irish music worldwide during the late 20th century.

During the 1950s, she played a seminal role in putting Irish music performance into the public domain through recordings, radio and TV appearances, and her worldwide concert tours. The Irish Times critic, Charles Action, reviewing two of her albums in 1960, advised that ‘at least one of these records should be in every home’.  Mary O’Hara retreated from the world for several years, following the death of her husband. Her return to the concert stage in 1977 was declared as the ‘folk music event of the year’ by The Observer in 1978.

The public interview, which will be conducted by Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin, Acting Director at the Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway and chaired by Dr Helen Lawlor of Dundalk Institute of Technology, will provide an opportunity to explore Mary’s role in music and music-making. Though most well-known for her Irish repertoire, Mary O’Hara’s music draws from other wells of folk and non-folk genres.  Her performances of traditional and newly composed material in her distinctive voice and accompaniment style leaves a legacy still heard in the contemporary sounds of Irish music.

The interview is part of the Martin Reilly Lecture Series, dedicated to Martin Reilly, the celebrated nineteenth century Galway uilleann piper, who left his own rich musical legacy to generations of pipers.

 The public interview with Mary O’Hara will take place in the SAC Room (CA110) in St Anthony’s on campus (Upper Newcastle Road entrance).

 It’s at 8pm on Tuesday, April 8. Admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend.