Remembering Mary McPartlan

In 1984, I was an MA student in Nua-Ghaeilge programme in UCG and had been seriously bitten by the song bug. I had the idea from my mentor Breandán Ó Madagáin that song poetry had been poorly served by editors who represented the texts alone, giving no inkling of their existence as a blend of music and words that realised their full potential only in performance. This was pretty novel for me. Though an eager consumer of music and song, I had never considered performance very seriously before and now I was making a deliberate plan to become a performer.

The atmosphere in Galway was conducive. The traditional music scene was lively and the early Arts Festivals created a supportive atmosphere. That summer, I noticed a poster for a traditional singers’ club, An Riabhóg, held in Richardson’s Pub on the corner of Eyre Square and Prospect Hill. The advertised guest for the event was Róisín White. Along I went and had a good night listening to Róisín White’s lively delivery of some choice Ulster songs in English. Another memorable singer I listened to that night was Mary McPartlan. One song I remember was ‘The Month of January.’ She only recorded it on her 2016 album From Mountain to Mountain, some thirty years later.

I went to a few other gatherings of the Riabhóg club during that following year. I was present at a memorable performance by Dolores Keane and John Faulkner in a very intimate setting. I also met and heard Éamonn Ó Bróithe, the piper and great interpreter of Munster song, at the Riabhóg. Mary was always present, unobtrusively ensuring that everything went smoothly. At the time, I didn’t know that Mary was one of the organizers of the club, but the impressions I got from those gatherings made a positive and lasting impact on me.

I left Galway in 1985 never thinking I would come back, but I saw Mary sing robustly again in 1993, when Druid visited the Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick with their musical production of Merriman’s The Midnight Court. I liked the show so much I saw it twice, the exuberance and sheer fun of the performance was so infectious. I eventually did return to NUI Galway in late 2006 to take up a post as a lecturer in Irish Folkore in what was then called Scoil na Gaeilge. Mary and I didn’t immediately meet, but that changed in early January 2010 as I was checking in for a flight from Los Angeles to New York after the Christmas break.

I stood in a long, dreary, slow-moving line, too early in the morning. As I was looking around I spotted a familiar face. Although I wasn’t sure at first, after a while it became clear that it was indeed Mary McPartlan. I waved and smiled but it didn’t quite seem to register. Finally, she came alongside me in one of those moments where the queue brings people who are far apart briefly together, as they stand opposite each other in the parallel rows arranged to maximize space and to ensure an orderly line. Despite the alienating surroundings, we established that we were colleagues and that we would indeed be on the same flight. We even managed to get seated beside each other.

What had promised to be a tedious, forgettable journey suddenly transformed into a ‘Giorraíonn beirt bóthar’ (Two shorten the road) moment, with Mary and me exchanging stories as we winged our way northeastwards across mountains, plains and lakes. When we began our descent into Kennedy we were talking about her song ‘Síos faoi Bhraoch Loch Aileann’ recorded on Petticoat Loose (2008). I was telling her that this song is well known in Donegal as ‘An tOileán Úr,’ and I had recorded a version of it myself. Mary’s fear of flying emerged and she became very nervous because of the descent, so I began to sing my version of the song to calm her. It distracted her sufficiently that she forgot her fear and we had a good laugh about it as we exited the plane. I learned afterwards that Mary had researched this Leitrim version extensively, unearthing it from an article on Leitrim Irish by Séamas Ó Céileachair published in Bréifne in 1968. That day, Mary was on her way to a training workshop in the Michael Chekhov Technique, in advance of another that was to be held in Galway later that month. I continued my journey and we met again later where she told me all about her experience on the Workshop.

Thus began what seems now our all too brief friendship, which also became a warm collegial working relationship. Many highlights stand out in my mind from the last 10 years, of which the rise and extraordinary development of the Arts in Action series and its integration into the teaching programmes on our Campus is the jewel in a lustrous crown. In that series, the links established with Berea College in Kentucky have a central place. Mary was convinced our holdings of the Jean Ritchie and George Pickow Archives needed to be highlighted. Through the International Office, she had contacted a group of Berea College teachers bringing students to Galway and invited some of them to her house one night in June 2013. The assembly included her own family Paddy, Mairéad and Méabh Noonan, Betty McPartlan, Mary’s mother, Silas House, Kevin Gardner, Ethan Hamblin and Sam Gleaves from Berea, among others. Anna Cunningham and myself were the fortunate University representatives, and of course Vincent Woods, fellow Leitrim denizen, Mary’s lifelong friend and stalwart mentor.

Some visual clips on You Tube give an inkling of the entertainment we had that night – the singing and dancing taking turn and turn about from both sides of the Atlantic. The singing, the easy conversation and fellowship of that night remain a steadfast memory. Everyone did something, and Mary’s mother sang twice. Mary was radiantly happy to preside over such a convivial group, and her joy infused all of us who were present.

From that unforgettable night came the Jean Ritchie Lecture and Scholarship for a student from Berea to study on a taught Master’s programme at NUI Galway. Ethan Hamblin became the first recipient of that Scholarship, completing his Masters in Geography in 2017.

Mary had a broad ranging interest in all forms of art and in the artists who make it, as is clear from her programming for Arts in Action. She was deeply interested in Darach Ó Catháin, from Leitir Móir, Rath Cairn and Leeds, who had sung with Ó Riada, whose family were friends of her sister’s household in Leeds. Her awareness of my research interest in Joe Heaney likewise led her to establish the Joe Heaney lecture and make it a permanent fixture in the Arts in Action calendar with two of Joe Heaney’s former students, Sean Williams and Steve Coleman giving the lecture in consecutive years.

Another highlight for me was an event celebrating Siobhán McKenna in the Taibhdhearc in 2018. Lelia Doolan gave a splendid lecture in Siobhán’s memory and there was a performance by Sean Davey and Rita Connolly afterwards. Micheál Ó Súilleabháin had originally been meant to do the concert but was unable to come, due to failing health. It was November and I introduced the proceedings, reminding everyone that it was the Mí na Marbh – the Month of the Dead. Micheál died just around the time when the concert was finishing, a coincidence that seemed uncanny to me.

My indebtedness to Mary’s great work came to the fore again when I received the TG4 2020 Gradam Ceoil for traditional singing. Mary established the Gradam Ceoil Awards in the early days of TG4, a completely characteristic move, once more showing her commitment not only to art but to artists. She texted on the day of the award show in Belfast wishing me luck, and after the performance too she sent congratulations.

Like others on campus, my working life grew immeasurably richer because of Mary’s presence. Her sheer energy, and her refusal to let any obstacle frustrate her in her resolve were incredible as she swept all of us along on her moving cloud. It is hard to believe that she was sick. She returned after her surgery and recuperation in March 2018 more determined than ever to ensure the profile of the Arts in the University remained high. As I drove back from Donegal in early March this year, Áine Hensey played ‘Síos Faoi Bhraoch Loch Aileann’ on her afternoon show on Raidió na Gaeltachta. I texted Mary to say how good it had been to hear her. I later sent her a video clip of myself singing. The day the University locked down, she texted to say she was in isolation in hospital because of the COVID-19 scare.

Though I knew she was gravely ill, somehow I believed her indomitable ability to overcome her adversities would see her through again. We worked together on many, many interesting projects. Listening to recordings of her singing over the last few days, her versatile voice and distinctive timbre remain fresh and impressive. Her ability to sing songs across all genres with pathos, joy and conviction, her interest in her Leitrim heritage, her recognition and homage to other strong women singers are its hallmarks. A favourite memory from the Druid concert organized by Ollie Jennings to raise funds to help pay her medical expenses is ‘Barbara Allen,’ the close harmonies digging into the audience, prompting a deep engagement. But there are so many other songs. Vincent Woods’ ‘Sanctuary’ seems particularly poignant:

Here this is home blue green mountain
Ancestors’ bones
here the heart can heal
The wounded mind restored
and made whole again…

And the ghosts of our history
Go striding out again

Who minds of it now?
Who will tell our story?
Here breaking our strength
In the coal pits of misery

Boys old at sixteen
Men worn out from hutch and drill
The toiled the black seams
Their ghosts on the mountain still…
Close your eyes
And the pit men are there to see
Striding out again.

Mary worked as a union organizer in her younger days and retained a lifelong commitment to justice, especially as she moved through life, to justice for artists, because she was a highly sensitive talented artist herself. This devotion shines through clearly in her three albums. She profited financially not a whit from all her work, often manoeuvring in precarious situations, but always contributing 100%. Her capital remained squarely and characteristically in the cultural and symbolic domains. Her selfless endeavour greatly  benefitted us, her colleagues and students in the University community. She lives in our memory.