Mary releases new songs to mark Fulbright award

Traditional singer Mary McPartlan who is a member of staff at NUI Galway, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to City University of New York. To coincide with the prestigious award two new recordings are now available for download on Mary’s website.

The first is a tribute to the late poet Pearse Hutchinson in a song and video, while the second recalls the Chilean singer Victor Jara in a song and poem recorded with President Michael D Higgins.

When I Was A Young Girl is a version of the ballad St James’s Hospital, a blues lament recorded at Pearse Hutchinson’s family home in Dublin. The song was a favourite of the late poet, and a version of it – The Locke Hospital – was recorded by Christy Moore on his album, Prosperous. It will feature on Mary’s new album which she plans to begin recording in New York early this year. Mary had previously shared a stage with Pearse Hutchinson and the late poet Michael Hartnett and she sang at Hutchinson’s funeral last January.

Mary first recorded Victor Jara, a ballad written by English poet Adrian Mitchell on her last album Petticoat Loose. Last summer she recorded a new version of it on tour, when she was joined by Michael D Higgins before he was elected President of Ireland. On that occasion, Michael D read his poem The Wall, a tribute to the late Chilean singer and political campaigner Victor Jara.

More recently, President Higgins read the poem on his State visit to Santiago in Chile where he met Victor’s widow Joan Jara. Mary’s performance with Michael D Higgins, recorded at the Mermaid Theatre in Bray, Co Wicklow, can also be heard on her website.

Both the video and songs are timed to announce the prestigious Fulbright Award which was awarded to Mary last year and begins at the end of this month. It will see Mary take up residence for four months at Lehman College CUNY.

The Fulbright awards are presented on an annual basis to Irish students, scholars, and professionals to undertake postgraduate study and research at higher education, cultural, and related institutions in the United States.

As part of her Fulbright Scholarship Mary will teach a module on Irish Traditional Women Singers and Songs since the 1950s and also give a series of lectures on Irish Contemporary Playwrights and plays. She also plans to give performances at University of Notre Dame, Boston College, the Irish Arts Centre in New York and she will give a concert at Glucksman Ireland House on March 1.

Apart from her existing repertoire, Mary will include and perform some of the songs of Irish legendary singer Margaret Barry while in the US. She is currently working with writer and broadcaster Vincent Woods to create a theatre and music piece based on the life of Margaret Barry.