Garret Barry (piper)

Garret(t) Barry (Irish: Gearóid de Barra (1847 - 1899) was a blind Irish uilleann piper from Inagh, County Clare, among the most famous players of the 19th century.

Barry was born in 1847, during the Great Famine, and disease caused him to lose his sight as a young child. A common form of charity for the disabled, Barry was taught the uilleann pipes, giving him a livelihood and a place within the community. As a bearer of the piping tradition Barry was a popular and respected musician travelling his region to play at house dances.

He inspired many later pipers such as Willie Clancy (whose father knew Barry). He is credited with many tunes that are still in the repertoire of players of Irish traditional music such as ‘Garrett Barry's jig', ‘The Humours of Gl(e)in', and ‘I buried my wife and danced on top of her'.

Born in rural Ireland at the height of the Great Famine, virtually all the information we have of the life of Garrett Barry comes through oral tradition. No official records of him exist other than certification of his death at fifty-two, on 6 April 1899. However, the impression he made on his community of west County Clare was great enough to have created abiding memories of his life as a mendicant musician. According to his descendant relatives, he was raised on a farm in the townland of Kylea, Inagh parish, on the shores of Cloonmackan Lough, in an area known as Garraí na Saileog or the Garden of Willows. One tune, closely associated with Barry, carries this same name.

Barry lost his sight in infancy, contracting one of the diseases that were prevalent at that time, probably either chickenpox or smallpox. However, local wisdom claims that he developed exceptional hearing and was also possessed of a remarkable memory along with his other talents. A strong local culture had survived the Famine in the Inagh district, much still based on the Irish language. The region had largely retained its poetry, song, music and dance. Like most blind children at that time, Garrett Barry was obliged to learn poetic or musical skills in order to earn a living. His reputation as a singer and as a precocious performer on the Irish bagpipes soon began to grow.

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