BARNEY McKENNA:BARNEY McKENNA, the last member of the original Dubliners, died as a result of a heart attack at the age of 72. As the band celebrated its 50th year on the road, he still held audiences in thrall with his trademark tenor banjo, his indefatigable, droll wit and his penchant for "Barneyisms". Alongside his widely-revered delicate banjo style, such linguistic sleights of tongue were his calling card. A variation on one of his favourites was "This is a solo, so we'll play it on the banjo and guitar".
Barney, Noel “Banjo Barney” McKenna was born in the Coombe in 1939 and grew up in Donnycarney on the north side of Dublin. His father, Jack McKenna, who played the melodeon, was an Army cook from Trim, Co Meath; his mother, Kathleen Corcoran, was from Dublin. He was the eldest of four children and from a young age was fond of visiting Trim, where he learned the mandolin by ear from his uncle Jim McKenna.
His mother bought him his first Glee Club banjo, in Goodwin’s of Capel Street. He was the first musician to tune it from ADGC to a lower octave, EADG, which allowed him to accompany the fiddle of The Dubliners’ John Sheahan with finesse. While much has been made of McKenna’s and The Dubliners’ rambunctious years on the road, he was widely admired for his musicianship and his disarming charisma. With his trademark Breton-style fisherman’s cap, he had very natural phrasing and a relaxed sense of rhythm.
The twinning of McKenna’s tenor banjo with Sheahan’s fiddle were the backbone of The Dubliners’ sound (alongside Ronnie Drew’s and Luke Kelly’s barnstorming vocals of course). But McKenna was also known for his playing of the mandolin and melodeon.
He had a unique plectrum style on the banjo, which Sheahan tried to analyse on occasion, and which has since become known and widely imitated as “the McKenna grip”.
Musically, the banjo was a natural extension of McKenna himself. Any musician who knew him spoke of how he embodied the banjo in the same way that Django Reinhardt or Andrés Segovia personified the guitar.
He first encountered Sheahan when they both frequented The Pipers’ Club on Thomas Street and The Fiddlers’ Club on Church Street. In his graveside eulogy, Sheahan likened these sessions to “serving an apprenticeship for a career that would unite us for 50 years”.
He picked up a lot of tunes from Dublin accordion player Sonny Brogan, with whom he played in O’Donoghues, that 1960s Mecca for traditional and folk musicians, and the adoptive home of The Dubliners. He had played for a time with the Chieftains, before joining the Dubliners in 1962, with Ronnie Drew, Luke Kelly and Ciarán Burke.
McKenna’s playing style was all embracing. On a set of reels, (which he preferred to play a little on the slow side), such as the Dubliners’ trademark opening pair, Fermoy Lassies and Sporting Paddy, he could be wild and exhilarating, yet when he sang a song, he inhabited it completely, as he did on the aptly-titled I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day and I Wish I Had Someone To Love Me. The reels most closely associated with him were The Mason’s Apron, The High Reel and The Maid Behind The Bar.
He had a capacity to immerse himself completely in slow airs too, and one of the last airs he played was a poignant reading of Ar Éireann Ní Neosfainn Cé Hí, which he played with Sheahan at the funeral of Dara Ó Broin, just a few days before his own death.
He played from the heart, and with emotion, so unsurprisingly with that approach came a certain unpredictability. Alongside his elastic sense of time, his banjo solos could expand from a planned 10 minutes to 20 minutes, embellished by an impromptu lesson in history, conservation or whatever subject was preoccupying him at a given moment.
He made his home in Howth, where the two main strands woven into the tapestry of his life: music and fishing, found real purchase. One acted as a counterbalance to the other. He owned two fishing trawlers, the Dara Liam and the Berni. His diverse interests touched upon the more esoteric aspects of fishing, nature, and the ethos of the American Indian, whom he believed to live in greatest harmony with nature.
As a result of diabetes, he lost the sight in one of his eyes in 2006, which was a source of great frustration to him, and he also suffered a mild stroke some years ago.
This being The Dubliners’ 50th year, he had the pleasure of playing sold-out concerts in Christ Church Cathedral, the Royal Albert Hall and Croke Park.
He died peacefully at home in the company of classical guitarist and long-time friend, Michael Howard.
His legacy is his introduction of Irish music to a worldwide audience, and his embedding of the banjo at the heart of Irish traditional music. He died within days of another widely admired banjo master, bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs, with whom he shared a headline bill at the Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in 2004.
His Dutch wife, Joka (née Oldert) and his sister Nuala pre-deceased him. His is survived by his partner, Tina Hove, his sister, Marie, brother Seán Óg, his godson, Phelim Drew, and his many nieces and nephews.
Barney McKenna: born, December 16th, 1939; died, April 5th, 2012