[Dixielandjazz] Banjo Barney Obit

[Stephen G Barbone]

Not OKOM, but the banjoists among us surely knew of Banjo Barney.

If unfamiliar with him, see the following site. Then, if you surf for  
other you tubes with him, note the LARGE CROWDS that he drew:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiOWd7ArmWQ&feature=related

or see him with the Dubliners at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXELvufFxEU&feature=related

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband




Barney McKenna, Banjo Player in the Dubliners, Dies at 72

NY Times - By Dennis Hevesi - April 10 2012

Barney McKenna, whose racing, raucous and often lyrically haunting  
banjo playing helped propel the Irish folk band the Dubliners to fame,  
died on Thursday at his home in Dublin. The last of the original  
members of the band, he was 72.

Michael Howard, a classical guitarist who was with Mr. McKenna when he  
died, told Irish and British newspapers that they were at the kitchen  
table when Mr. McKenna seemed to have “nodded off.”

“He passed away very peacefully sitting at his own breakfast table  
having a quiet cup of tea and a chat,” Mr. Howard said.

Known as Banjo Barney, Mr. McKenna was a street performer in Dublin  
when he met the gravelly voiced folk singer Ronnie Drew in 1962. Mr.  
Drew was looking for someone to join him and two friends, Luke Kelly  
and Ciaran Bourke, in gigs at O’Donoghue’s Pub on Merrion Row, not far  
from the Irish Parliament. They were originally called the Ronnie Drew  
Group but soon changed their name to the Dubliners, after the  
collection of short stories by James Joyce.

Performing alongside other rising groups like the Fureys and the  
Chieftains, the Dubliners helped make O’Donoghue’s the hub of an  
Irish  folk music revival. Two of their earliest hits were “Black  
Velvet Band,” which describes the deportation of a tradesman to  
Australia, and “Seven Drunken Nights,” a bawdy tale whose last two  
verses were considered too indelicate for public broadcast, leading to  
a ban by Irish radio. Still, the hits earned the band a spot on “The  
Ed Sullivan Show” in 1968.

With his round face, bushy hair, scraggly beard and raspy voice, Mr.  
McKenna drew roaring ovations with his renditions of songs like “South  
Australia” and “I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me.” His banjo features  
included “The Maid Behind the Bar,” “The High Reel” and “The Mason’ s  
Apron.”

The Daily Telegraph of London called Mr. McKenna “a dazzling  
instrumentalist” whose playing “invariably lifted the roof at  
concerts,” and who “inspired a new generation of banjo players in  
Ireland.”

Bernard Noel McKenna was born in Dublin on Dec. 16, 1939. He had  
taught himself to play the banjo by age 12. After high school, he  
tried to join an Irish Army band but was rejected because of poor  
eyesight. So he played on the streets and in pubs, while working as a  
glass blower and kitchen porter during the day, until Mr. Drew  
discovered him.

Mr. McKenna is survived by his partner, Tina Hove; his, sister, Marie;  
and his brother, Sean. His wife, Joka Oldert, died in 1984.

New members joined the Dubliners over the years, with only Mr. McKenna  
remaining from the original four. Mr. Kelly died in 1984, Mr. Bourke  
in 1988 and Mr. Drew three years ago.

“You can take the hardest rock band on the earth, and they sound like  
a  bunch of girls next to the Dubliners,” Bono, the lead singer of U2,  
once said of the group.

The Dubliners recently completed a 50th-anniversary tour, and in  
February, at the BBC Folk Awards, they were presented with a lifetime  
achievement award. “The audience accorded them a rousing reception as  
they blasted out some of their most popular numbers,” The Daily  
Telegraph said, “but the biggest applause erupted when McKenna burst   
into a blistering banjo solo.”