Packie Manus
Byrne Damn All!!
‘... one needs to remember his capacity for interfering with what normal humanity regards as the truth.’
T
o describe someone as a “living legend” is not uncommon in these hyperbolic days, but the phrase can undoubtedly be used as an accurate description of Packie Manus Byrne. At the age of 94 he remains as sharp as ever, is remarkably fit physically (he gets out of an armchair without using his arms to help him, which is more than I do), and his creative flair is undiminished.
My own earliest memories of Packie are of his visits to North Dorset over forty years ago as guest of the Yetties, usually as a break on his annual pilgrimage to Sidmouth Festival, and even then he was describing himself as “what’s left of Packie Manus Byrne”. It’s 24 years now since Packie’s good friends Packie McGinley and Peter Oliver (McNelis) brought him from London to retire to his native South West Donegal, and it’s salutary to consider that you need to be in your thirties to remember a time when this stalwart of the folk music scene was performing regularly on UK stages. So, on a recent visit to his neck of the woods, I asked him what he’d been doing with himself in his “retirement”.
by John Waltham
“Damn all”, was the typically pithy reply, and there I suppose the innocent bystander might have started looking for another topic of conversation. However, I’ve seen Packie fairly often since he’s been back in Ardara, and one needs to remember his capacity for interfering with what normal humanity regards as the truth! So we started looking at all the different varieties of “damn all” that he’s got up to over the last quarter of a century, and the conversation kept me well entertained for hours.
Of course, what Packie’s been doing has been influenced very much by his health, which has offered him plenty of challenges over the years. I well remember a year or so after his return to Ireland, travelling up to Buncrana with him and Packie McGinley to meet Jimmy McBride and some of the Inishowen singing community. Packie got out of the car on two sticks, the voice very quavery and uncertain. Since I knew Jimmy, I did the intros; Jimmy said he looked forward to a song or two from Packie, who replied that he was too old to sing, which disappointed Jimmy. Of course, once we got to that evening’s session,
it was obvious that Packie was nearly the youngest singer in the room, and he loved the whole thing. Evidently, a miracle took place overnight, because the next day one of the sticks had disappeared, and on the following evening a stickless Packie was lilting and stepping the Glenties Harvest Fair in front of the fireplace in the Brass Rail bar!
Sitting in the living room of Packie’s cosy house in Drumaghy Park, Ardara, one can’t help noticing the mass of photos on the wall – most of them featuring female friends – but many of them demonstrating his long and eclectic career as a musician and singer. “There’s females there from all over the world”, comments Packie. But there are also some of the finest performers from several generations who he’s worked with over the years – Felix Doran, Fred Jordan, Margaret Barry, Michael Gorman, Ronan Browne, Micho Russell and Johnny Collins to name but a few. His long time musical partner Bonnie Shaljean also features, and they are still in regular contact – more of that anon.
The Living Tradition - Page 16
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