Musician and former Clonakilty school principal Barth Harrington is relishing his first gig in the iconic local venue De Barra’s, and will even debut a recently completed song he started writing 45 years ago, writes Kieran O’Mahony.
WHEN Barth Harrington retired as principal of Scoil na mBuachaillí in Clonakilty last summer, headlining his own gig in De Barra’s was probably the last thing on his mind as he got stuck into odd jobs at home coupled with other chores.
However, a chance encounter with Ray Blackwell at a Glen Hansard gig in the well-known venue last Christmas set the ball rolling for what will be his debut gig at the venue on Sunday June 8th, which will also raise funds for Cairde Clonakilty Community Hospital.
‘It was only while at that gig Ray asked me would I ever consider doing a gig in De Barra’s. I said I would love to and it kept me going all year and also literally made my year,’ said Barth.
Having always wanted to play the main stage in De Barra’s, he admits he probably thought he wouldn’t have been good enough.
Barth and his band made of Pat O’Grady (lead guitar), Margaret Deegan (flute), Martin Kingston (bass), Valerie Deady (vocals) and their youngest member, Jack Archbold (drums) have been practising diligently every Saturday morning at the nearby Shanley’s Bar in anticipation of the gig, which will feature his own original songs.
‘We practice for about two or three hours and I want to thank Brian and Kym for allowing us to do it there. It was actually Ray’s suggestion that we do the gig for charity which was a fabulous idea as we always used to go up to Clonakilty Community Hospital to play music so it’s very fitting.’
His musical beginnings go back to his college days in Limerick while training to be a teacher at May Immaculate College around 1980 where he picked up a guitar and would have been in awe of guitarists like Rory Gallagher.
Guitarist Barth Harrington from Clonakilty with Fergus Touhy (left) and Pat O'Grady.
‘I probably started writing songs then but they probably weren’t great to be honest. I actually started one song called ‘I Will Follow You’ back then and I only finished it last week! I remember starting it but couldn’t go any further with it. All I had was a melody but 45 years later I now have a completed song.’
He draws inspiration for his songs from a variety of sources ranging from something he read in a book or something that he saw on television and he admits it can vary.
During his career as a school principal, he was involved in the release of two Christmas charity singles as well as writing four musicals in the school.
‘We released a song called Home for Christmas around 2014 but it gave us great exposure and we even played Cork Opera House with the West Cork Ukelele Orchestra which was amazing.’
Their appearance on stage that night also led to a collaboration with a nomadic tribe from Kenya for their next single.
‘A couple, who support the nomadic Samburu tribe in Kenya, had seen us and asked if we would be interested in recording a song the following Christmas with this tribe.’
Barth ended up writing Butterfly Child along with his wife Áilín and recorded their parts in a studio in Timoleague.
‘The track was sent over to Kenya and the school had to hire a generator to record their parts as they had no electricity. They recorded their section of it and sent it back to us. We were even on The Today Show on RTÉ with this song.’
Barth Harrington (second from right) with musicians (left to right): John O'Neill, Ann McKiernan, Linda Coyle and James Calnan.
That friendship with that school in Kenya meant that they fundraised for it every Christmas afterwards, while Barth himself became an honorary member of the tribe two years ago!
Admitting to being a mixture of nervous and excited about making his debut at De Barra’s, Barth said he honestly never thought it would happen and it is indeed a lifelong dream for
him.
‘It turns out that we are after getting another few gigs since this was announced including Shanley’s Bar in July as well as another one in August. Ray has also asked us to play the Clon Guitar Festival in September which will be another memorable gig.’
Since he retired last June as principal of the school after 28 years, Barth has never been busier with songwriting duties as well as odd jobs around the house.
‘I guess I never had time before to do anything when I was school principal so it has been great over the past year getting stuck into jobs and rehearsing with the band.’
It was more than appropriate that he ended his tenure at the school last June with a spectacular two-day Reeling In The Years celebration which featured numerous bands, some of which were made up of both past and current pupils of the school.
Barth and his band – along with special guests – will played De Barra’s in Clonakilty on Sunday June 8th.
All proceeds will go directly to Cairde Clonakilty Community Hospital.
