R.I.P.s

[philipchevron]

Bad days for banjo players.

Barney McKenna RIP

[Deisecelt]

An absolute legend of the tenor Banjo, May he Rest In Peace

[Eoin O Ciosog]

Rip Banjo Barney

[firehazard]

Barney McKenna RIP

Truly sad news. RIP Barney.

[RICHB]

Bad days for banjo players.

Barney McKenna RIP

Very sad. You must have happy memories of working with he Dubliners. I went to a pub in Dublin in 1991which was meant to be where the Dubliners had started out (to be fair I doubt it was just one pub). I think it was by trinity college. I thought here we go, it will be a right tourist gaff. However it was just a normal little boozer with a lovely atmosphere. I stayed all afternoon looking at pictures of the Dubliners and imagining the likes of Luke Kelly or Barney stood in the same bar. I can't remember what the bar was called now. RIP Barney

[philipchevron]

Bad days for banjo players.

Barney McKenna RIP

Very sad. You must have happy memories of working with he Dubliners. I went to a pub in Dublin in 1991which was meant to be where the Dubliners had started out (to be fair I doubt it was just one pub). I think it was by trinity college. I thought here we go, it will be a right tourist gaff. However it was just a normal little boozer with a lovely atmosphere. I stayed all afternoon looking at pictures of the Dubliners and imagining the likes of Luke Kelly or Barney stood in the same bar. I can't remember what the bar was called now. RIP Barney

The bar most readily associated with The Dubs is O'Donoghues, Merrion Row.

[Welshie]

Sad loss to Irish music, and the last of the Dubliners as they were first formed. Over the years i saw the Dubs play at many Welsh locations and Barney always played with a smile on his face. Condolences to all.
Sad Day
Welshie

PS:Also visited O'Donoghues after a Wales v Ireland rugby match The muscians there did me the great honour of allowing me to join in singing the Foggy Dew, and Rising of the moon amongst other many other Irish classics.

[O'Blivion]

DUBLIN -- "Banjo" Barney McKenna, the last original member of the Irish folk band The Dubliners, died Thursday while having a morning cup of tea with a friend. He was 72 and had just marked his 50th year with the troupe.

Irish classical guitarist Michael Howard, who was with McKenna when he died, said he was talking with his longtime friend at his kitchen table, when "all of a sudden Barney's head dropped down to his chest. It looked as if he'd nodded off." Howard said paramedics over the phone talked him through emergency revival procedures, but McKenna "was pretty much gone."

"The comfort that I take from it is, he passed away very peacefully sitting at his own breakfast table having a quiet cup of tea and a chat," Howard said.

"What a lovely way to go," said McKenna's Dubliners bandmate for a quarter-century, guitarist and singer Eamonn Campbell.

McKenna was considered the most influential banjo player in Irish folk music. He spent a half-century performing, recording and touring with the band ever since its 1962 creation in the Dublin pub O'Donoghue's. The other three founders – Ronnie Drew, Ciaran Bourke and Luke Kelly – died in 2008, 1988 and 1984, respectively.

McKenna completed a United Kingdom tour with The Dubliners last month and performed Wednesday night at a Dublin funeral. Howard, who also performed there and drove McKenna home afterward, said his friend performed "absolutely beautifully. When he finished there was a spontaneous, thunderous round of applause in the church."

Born in Dublin in 1939, McKenna tried to join the Irish army band but was rejected because of bad eyesight. He busked in the streets and pubs of the capital and developed a reputation as an innovative performer on a specially tuned, four-stringed tenor banjo, then a virtually unknown instrument in Ireland that he made an Irish folk favorite.

The gravel-voiced Drew recruited him to Friday night "sessions" – impromptu barside concerts – at O'Donoghue's, a diminutive pub near the Irish parliament so famously packed that its barmen had to stand on stepstools to take orders. It soon gained a reputation as the country's top venue for live folk music, with The Dubliners performing alongside such other rising folk stars as The Chieftains and the Fureys.

Many noted how McKenna always made time to help younger musicians learn the art of the tenor banjo, particularly the intricacies of his own strumming and tuning techniques.

"His influence on and generosity to other instrumentalists was immense," said Irish President Michael D. Higgins, who saw McKenna perform last month in a Dublin cathedral at one of The Dubliners' many 50th anniversary performances.

Friends and bandmates told anecdote upon anecdote Thursday of the many off-the-wall, comically illogical comments made by McKenna over the years.

"He was like a brother to me," recalled fiddler John Sheahan, who joined The Dubliners in 1964 and remains in the band today. His favorite Barneyism: calling an optical illusion an "obstacle confusion."

"He was very droll man and great company. You'd never know what he'd come out with next," Campbell said. "My favorite song that he sang was `I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day.' And that was true about Barney."

His Dutch wife, Joka, died 28 years ago and the couple had no children. He lived alone in the upscale fishing port of Howth and spent spare time tinkering with his boat and fishing on the Irish Sea. He continued to perform, despite suffering from diabetes and a mild stroke.

McKenna is survived by his partner Tina, sister Marie and brother Sean, who is also a top Irish banjo player. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK 04/ 5/12 02:11 PM ET

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/0 ... ertainment

[philipchevron]

Barney. The old seadog sings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9whbpYwk ... ure=relmfu

[philipchevron]

..............and sings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo0p6Bbe ... ure=relmfu

[Fr. McGreer]

..............and sings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo0p6Bbe ... ure=relmfu

I Wish I Had Someone To Love Me.....................We all love you Barney.

Rest In Peace.

[Tal]

http://vimeo.com/13440253
Barney sings, talks,goes to sea & much more.
To calm seas , free beer & beautiful women.

Barney McKenna R.I.P.

[John McGovern]

Last week we lost Earl Scruggs and now another banjo legend and a great character to boot,has gone,RIP Barney.

[Jambo Cumming]

RIP Barney,i played back his appearance with The Dubliners at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards,last night and again first thing this morning AND i cried unashamedly.Somewhere, out there Luke,Ronnie and Ciaron are making some space for their mate Barney McKenna.What a reunion that would be......

[Hennybhoy]

Was hoping to see Barney in December with the Dubliners as they will come to Kiel....

Big loss!!! R.I.P.