Mary O'Hara - Canada Tour 1983 (concert brochure)

Page 1


MaryO'Hara A Song for Ireland

Available at Local Bookstores Published by: — IN CANADA:

Collins Publishers 100 Lesmill Rd. Don Mills, Ontario M3B 2T5 IN THE U.S.A.:

Merrimack Publishers Circle 99 Main Street Salem, N.H. 03079

"From Ireland's ambassadress of song conies this new and lovely book of the melodies which epitomize all that the singer finds to be inextricably bound up with the land of her birth . . . There is history here, mingled with folklore, personal recollection and story telling in a lovely pot-pourri, written by a lady who is as adept with the pen as she is with the lilting cadences of an Irish song."

Tim Cromer CORK EXAMINER

"Take the Emerald Isle, a charming singer, some haunting songs, some stunning photographs — and the result is A Song for Ireland... It is elegantly produced, with pictures to match each text. A book to sooth the fret of the world — full of peace and beauty." Martin Fagg CHURCH TIMES



noisy distracted and confused world to pause more often and listen to such songs as Mary O'Hara sings." (The Southland Times, New Zealand).

Mary OHara

There is a calm about Mary's singing that gives peace, but there is more to it. The late Joyce Grenfell, writing in the London Observer Reviewer, stated it more succinctly: "Mary O'Hara's voice has a first day freshness in her singing."

Mary O'Hara does not have much time to herself these days. In the short period since emerging from a 12 year seclusion in an English Benedictine Monastery, she has an impressive list of achievements to her credit. She has added six new LPs to the seven she had already recorded before her monastic sojourn; she has sung to capacity audiences in London's Royal Festival and Royal Albert Halls; she has had her own very successful week at the London Palladium and repeated her successes at New York's Carnegie Hall and in Toronto's Massey Hall. She has had specials on British TV and tours of England and Ireland. She has appeared on various chat shows on both sides of the Atlantic and in 1978 readers of the Irish Post voted Mary Irish Personality of the Year.

Mary O'Hara was born in Sligo, in the west of Ireland. After boarding school in Dublin she took up playing the harp and at 16 was singing on Irish Radio. Before she was 21 she had her own programme on BBC TV and was sing-

, making the news early in her career —

Baron's Profiles of 1956

No. 8 : M \ R Y O'HARA

Mary accompanies herself on the Celtic harp and loves to sing traditional Gaelic songs of Ireland and Scotland as well as English folk songs. "She displays a unique sense of what folksong is about, more I dare say than anyone else in the current folk movement. She possesses one of the most haunting voices I've yet heard," wrote a reviewer in the English Folk Review. But Mary's songs are not limited to folk as the success of her recent albums has proved. She is equally at home alone on the stage with her Celtic harp or with accompanying musicians, but she likes simplicity best and tries to avoid being swamped on stage in a mass of 'electronic ironmongery'. "There is magic and balm for the spirit in her serene art and the old and simple things. It would be good for the

Mary O'Hara is pure Burne-Jones. One hopes that her hair will never really settle down; that the fey Irishness of her personality will not be tamed by constant appearances on the television screen. When she plucks at her small Irish harp, and sings some Gaelic lullaby, one is transported into the blue hills and the soft mist of the Irish countryside. The lilting artistry of her folk songs is more than beguiling but it does not conceal a strong, maybe wayward personality. The profile is half peasant, half patrician. It is hoped that the young American undergraduate whom she has captivated will not bear this gentle charmer too soon from our shores. — from the pages of the London Evening Standard.


ing at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival, which tempted the reviewer in The Scotsman to write: "The outstanding performance this year was by Mary O'Hara. Everyone who saw and heard her assures me that she undoubtedly stole the whole giddy Festival Show." Mary met and married a young American poet and Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, Richard Selig and went to live in the United States. Their marriage was not destined to last long, for within 15 months Richard died. By then Mary had recorded a number of albums and had appeared in the United States, where the folk boom of the sixties was just beginning. After a performance at the Phillips Gallery in New York, Paul Hume writing in the Washington Post, claimed that "she raised to a new high level the art of folksinging." But after her husband's death, the zest had gone out of life for Mary. For four years she travelled the globe giving concerts and appearing on radio and TV. In 1959 she made an extended and highly successful tour of Australia and New Zealand. Critics the world over were unanimous in their

praise, but the more success she had the more persistently she felt the call to the monastic life. Eventually she entered a closed Benedictine monastery in England. When her health began to give way under the rigours of monastic life Mary decided to come out into the world again and, more importantly, to play publicly. In November 1977 her major "comeback" concert at London's Royal Festival Hall demonstrated to the capacity crowd that she had successfully renewed her career. She sang for the first time with accompanying musicians and her repertoire included contemporary songs as well as some of her own compositions. An album of that concert earned her a silver disc for sales in the U.K. There followed TV specials on British TV, and a concert tour of England and Ireland. She filled London's Royal Albert Hall and later the Carnegie Hall in New York. The New York Times critic wrote: "Singing traditional Celtic material and ballads, accompanying herself with adept and delicate filigree on the Irish harp, Mary O'Hara is mesmerising."


Mary

"I am not, I think, a folk-singer as the purists understand it. What I try to do is interpret traditional songs with the skill and respect given to art songs simply by singing them with all the understanding I possess." "I still think that folk and traditional songs are among the most beautiful, but I also love Elizabethan lyrics and some modern poets' verses and prose-poems, which sing to me, so I set the.m to music."



The Celtic Harp The small Celtic harp, sometimes called the Folk Harp, has been associated with Ireland for centuries. As a rule, it was played only by men and was used for accompanying recitations and the telling of stories by the travelling story tellers. Poets and musicians - and story tellers - enjoyed an honoured place in the old Celtic cultural tradition of Ireland, and they had considerable influence among the ordinary people of the island. The tradition of story telling continued long after Ireland ceased to run its own affairs and, not surprisingly, many stories took on an aura of resistance and hostility towards foreign rule. Successive governments who wished to be rid of Celtic culture banned harpers; and state officials had orders to destroy the harps wherever they were found. The old harps were all wire-strung and the harper plucked at them with very long nails. A particular punishment for harpers was to order their nails cut. Nowadays, most harp strings are made of gut or nylon and are plucked with the finger tips instead of with the nails. Also, unlike in the old days, harp playing is no longer the exclusive preserve of the men of Ireland, nor is it any longer considered, thank Heaven, a treasonable offence to play the harp. Instead, the harp has finally achieved the proper recognition it has long deserved. Ironically, it was an English monarch who first established that respectable symbolic connection between Ireland and the harp. Henry VIII in the 16th century used the harp as a symbol of Ireland, and towards the end of that century his daughter, Elizabeth I, had the harp minted on the coins of Ireland. The custom of representing Ireland with the harp design gradually gained acceptance thereafter and in the 17th and 18th centuries many of the Irish armies abroad used the harp as their distinguishing badge. At the turn of the 18th century the poet Thomas Moore popularized the harp, perpetuating it as a symbol of resurgent Irish nationalism. Today, the harp is the most widely recognized symbol of modern Ireland. It appears on all official state documents, as well as on the presidential flag and on the coins of the country. For the small Celtic harp the road has been sometimes rocky, but it has survived all the trials and tribulations and mellowed quite well.



MY LITTLE

[ couple of years ago when it became clear to me that I ^ ought to have a place of my L own in England, I already had a good idea what type of house I wanted. To start with, it had to be a thatched cottage, what I call a sophisticated thatched cottage, and well in the country rather than in a village. Small enough to be kept clean without the need of staff, yet large enough to accommodate my harps, some books, music, records and one or two friends at a time — and be within easy reach of London, and Heathrow airport. Time is always at a premium where I'm concerned, and shopping around was far from easy, having to be done every now and then between working engagements. However, I found it. My ideal cottage. A seventeenth-century dwelling, originally a worker's cottage which, photographed in mid-winter snows makes a charming Christmas card, and'in high summer qualifies for a chocolate box cover. Garden worship When my little cottage was built in 1662, neither Tolkien nor his hobbits were yet heard of, but the moment I saw a picture of it in the estate agent's office, I knew it was a hobbit house. No trouble naming it: Rivendell, from The Lord of the Rings. (I thought it a bit much to call it Bag End.) It stands among trees and shrubs on two acres of land on the edge of a quiet hamlet. Something of our personalities leaves its mark on our surroundings, or so I believe. We may think we are detached but our dwellings can become part of us. Perhaps that explains why, at the last moment, I found it terribly difficult to leave the little flint and brick terraced cottage with its tiled roof and no back door, that had been kindly lent me by a friend and had become my temporary home since I'd started singing again. Close friends compelled me finally to move out. They gradually spirited away my belongings, and one day they came and took with them my cooking pots, my bed and my telephone. I had no choice but to follow them to Rivendell in the county of Berkshire. My knowledge of gardening is very limited but I'm learning, and it's hard to describe the sheer pleasure that the garden here gives me. As soon as I get up in the morning I go to the bathroom window and spend a good minute just looking out and rejoicing in the view. Garden worship some people would call that. Maybe. It certainly evokes a prayer of gratitude. As I write, the

HOBBIT HOME Mary O'Hara's haven is a cottage, deep in the Berkshire countryside. Surrounded by her books and her music, she is slowly collecting the furnishings and delighting in her garden. Here she shares her life at Rivendell with us

ancient apple tree standing in the centre of the lawn is at its most magical, laden with golden fruit. When the weather is warm and sunny I have meals in the garden, under the apple tree. I spend quite an amount of time actually working in the garden: weeding, planting, and occasionally swopping things around in the herbaceous borders. Surroundings are very important to me, where I know I can do something about them. One of the first things I did was to treat myself to a completely new kitchen of old pine. It looks out on to the idyllic garden, and to be in this kitchen surrounded by the warm honey-coloured wood, whether eating a meal, washing up or just relaxing is a special delight. I particularly dislike overhead lighting and, bit by bit, table lamps are taking over. I like a large bathroom so I extended the existing one and laid attractive rush matting which is more in character. As it happened, when I arrived at Rivendell my worldly chattels were minimal and anything I've acquired since has been carefully chosen. I try to avoid clutter, keeping the furniture simple and functional. All the furniture is light in colour, most of it old pine. After the kitchen the next room to get finished was the dining room. For about eighteen months I agonised over curtains for that room and I think I've finally got the fabric right. I've chosen sage green and cream which blend beautifully with the old pine table and welsh dresser. It was a relief to be able to hang some of my pictures at last, most of them etchings and woodcuts, very often of animals and country life. It took almost two years to find a couch for the sitting room and several more months to have it covered with material of my choice. The curtains there have only just gone up. That room is pale blue. At least I feel satisfied that what is there so far is what I want and though I would love to have the whole house decorated, furnished and curtained as soon as possible, it must needs be festtna Unu, hurrying slowly. My life is so full of things professional clamouring for attention that getting the house in order

unavoidably takes second place, so the process is a very slow one. Most days I spend some time practising the harp indoors, but whenever the weather is warm, sunny and still I take it outside. During the cooler months I work before the large open fireplace in the "middle" room. A log fire may be cosy and good for inspiration but it's not the best for delicate harps. They go out of tune with every variation in the temperature, and being strung with gut this happens more often than with instruments strung with nylon. Harps thrive best in an even, dry, warmish temperature. I love books. There are some in most rooms in the house. So far in my "new" house they remain stacked against the walls or on a few brick and plank shelves awaiting my further attention. Beautiful handmade things appeal to me; I prefer pottery to china, and a blacksmith friend is making a bookshelf with a wrought-iron frame — when he can get around to it — and when that's done I'll sort out the books — when I can get around to it. The same blacksmith has made some handsome wrought iron fire-irons for me. Even to hold them in the hand is a pleasure. Perhaps something of the care and love that the craftsman bestows on his creation communicates itself to the user. Isn't that one reason why antique furniture is so attractive and appealing? Modest tastes Books are about the only things I have that I value. Come to think of it, there are very few things in my house that would be of much value to anyone else. I don't go in for expensive jewels, priceless ornaments, or silverware. In my kitchen, a wooden bowl and horn spoon get the most use. Yes, I have a modest collection of records but most of them are connected in some way with my work and I've never thought it necessary to invest in a costly hi-fi or in a video machine. Some years ago I was given an old pine desk as a present. I've always meant to do my writing sitting at this desk but so far I've never got around to it. Invariably I end up

ARTICLE REPRINTED BY KIND PERMISSION OF WOMAN AND HOME.

sitting on the floor with my pencil and sheets of paper propped up on my knees. One friend insists that functionally the desk is a disaster but it looks so lovely. Nowadays my work requires some sort of filing system but my music books and programme notes are still stacked away in the drawers of the old pine desk and when I want to get at something I have to empty the whole lot out. For some reason, whatever I want always seems to be at the bottom of a drawer. I'm not an untidy person — but nobody would ever classify me as orderly. Friends come to stay My little hobbit house is a haven, my escape from the less welcome aspects of my career. I do most of my preparatory work at home and apart from my music I have just written two books there and am in the process of writing another. I have held protracted meetings with publishers and television producers under the apple tree but, understandably, I'm very careful about who I invite. This is the place where my friends come and stay. I dislike giving panics as much as I loathe attending them. I get flustered if I have to cater for more than four people. My friends, and I'm blest with many, take pity and do not expect to be entertained with parties here. I do that sort of entertaining on stage and in television studios. When I have the time I ask my neighbours in for a meal, as they ask me in return, but these are far from formal occasions. Many friends come to stay with me throughout the year. Children entertain themselves with croquet and games of table tennis. I have a seldom-indulged passion for tennis, whether on a table or a lawn, and I might even get round to building a tennis court. One day. One thing I regret about my work is that it limits the time I'd like to spend with my friends and for that reason I appreciate it when some of them can come to me. I like (and need) periods of quiet and taking long walks, and my house is ideally situated for this. I'm blest with excellent neighbours who look after the house in my absence. In as much as I have roots anywhere at present, Rivendell Cottage is where I live and want to be, and it is to this spot that I hurry back when my travels in different parts of the world make me long for home. Mary O'Hara's beautifully illustrated and thoughtful book, A Song For Ireland, is published by Michael Joseph in hardback at £9.95.


The singenharpist and her haven. Pictured clockwise from top left: a warm pine-wood kitchen was Mary's first treat when she bought her Berkshire cottage; standing outside the charming Rivendell, Mary with her furry to y mascot {one of her well-loved songs is George Scott-Moncriefi's The Prayer of the Badger/; working happily at home, she sits comfortably, barefoot, on the floor of the middle room, surrounded by reference books and with writing papers propped up on her knees; Mary has taken time and put a lot of thought into collecting the furnishings for her home. She loves the colour blue, and chose it for her sitting room, where she is pictured with one of her harps; enjoying the tranquillity of home. "We may think we are detached," says Mary, "but our dwellings can become part of us."


Mary OHara Later she took part in the Golden Gala at the London Palladium and before starting her own season at that theatre she was invited to perform for the Queen Mother in the Royal Variety Show. Then there was "Stars on Sunday", the "Val Doonican Music Show" "James Galway's World of Music" and many others. Readers of the Irish Post voted her Irish Personality of the Year in 1978. Since 1977 Mary has recorded five more record albums, bringing the present total to twelve. In 1980 she was awarded a platinum disc for the album "Tranquility". Her most recent album "The Scent of the Roses" has the same title as her autobiography, which was published by Michael Joseph in September 1980, and which in only six months went into its sixth reprint. The paperback edition of the autobiography, published by Fontana, is now available, and Mary's next record album will also be released this Autumn. In recent months Mary has completed successful concert tours of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, as well as a tour in the United Kingdom. 1982 will see Mary embark on yet more overseas tours.

Of one of her concerts in Canada this year a reviewer wrote "Mary O'Hara is an extraordinary entertainer. She brings to the stage only a simple repertoire of songs, some of them her own, and others from such personal favourites as Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver, and Sidney Carter. But it is what she does with them that transports her performance to the heights of fine art she moves easily from English to Irish and Scots Gaelic, to Welsh, to French, and back again to English. Though Irish by birth, she happily included the tales and songs of her neighbours."


*# A"

Twenty years ago, after hearing Mary give an impromptu performance at the time of the Edinburgh festival, Sir Compton McKenzie said: "This voice has got to be recorded so everyone can hear how beautiful it is." And so it has been. Considering her twelve years' absence from the music world, twelve record albums is not a bad effort. And there will be more to come. On Eamon Andrews' ITV "This is Your Life", Joyce Grenfell remarked: "Mary's Godgiven gift was her voice, and what is surely meant for her, is to sing to as many people as possible." October 1981


Mary OHam's Discogmphy "MARY O'HARA RECITAL" (Boot, BOS 7237)

"MARY O'HARA MUSIC SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS" (Chrysalis, CHR 1194)

"MARY O'HARA COLOURS" (Warwick, IMG 0001)

"MARY O'HARA'S SCOTLAND" (Boot, ITB 4509)

"MARY O'HARA IN HARMONY" (Chrysalis CHR 1217)

a

"MARY O'HARA TRANQUILITY" (Warwick, WW 5072)

•,«W /' '#«>«

"MARY O'HARA'S IRELAND' (Boot, ITB 4013)

"MARY O'HARA SONGS OF IRELAND" (Everest, TLP 1024)

"MARY O'HARA'S MONDAY TUESDAY" AND OTHER SONGS (Boot, BOS 7203)

"MARY O'HARA LIVE IN NEW YORK" (Digital, VAL 8056)

THE ABOVE ALBUMS ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH: ARVA RECORDS No. 3 NEILOR CRESCENT ETOBICOKE, ONTARIO M9C 1K3 PHONE (416) 626-3793/626-3794



A SONG FOR IRELAND

What the Critics

"A good volume that could make an attractive present either for Christmas or great for oneself." Carol Acton IRISH TIMES "From Ireland's ambassadress of song comes this new and lovely book of the melodies which epitomize all that the singer finds to be inextricably bound up with the land of her birth . . . There is history here, mingled with folklore, personal recollection and story telling in a lovely pot-pourri, written by a lady who is as adept with the pen as she is with the lilting cadences of an Irish song." Tim Cromer CORK EXAMINER "Ireland in aspic . . . Mary O'Hara's extraordinary and deserved popularity ensures the success of almost anything she does and, if this is not a contradiction in terms, this book would succeed on its own merit . . . text and her choice of songs confirm the sensitivity one has come to expect from this artist." JDCA THOLIC HERALD "One of the most beautiful books designed for the Christmas trade . . . A beguiling mixture of autobiography and instruction about Irish music and legend." THE STAGE

— GOOD IMPRESSIONS — "Irish harpist and folk singer Mary O'Hara is enchanting audiences as simply as she did back in 1959." Kess. VARIETY April 1981 "... A night when everyone stops breathing to listen to the music ..." Mike Worner, SUNDA Y OBSER VER March 1981 "Her warmth and sense of fun, her radiant serenity and a kind of simplicity which stems from art so perfect it needs no props." Hope Hewitt, CANBERRA TIMES March 1981 "Mary O'Hara sparkled like polished crystal last night at the Festival Theatre . . . It was a recital of refreshment." Paul Lloyd, ADELAIDE AD VERTISER February 1981 "She is the kind of artist with perennial appeal and her appearances on the concert platform will always be welcome ..." Chris White, MUSIC WEEK "She possesses a fantastic sense of humour and maintains a delightful rapport with her audience." Janice Norris, BILLBOARD May 1978 "on sheer talent alone she merits serious attention ... her voice is stunningly lucid, focused, well projected and delicate." M.R., DAIL Y TELEGRAPH February 1978

"A body blow to the Celtic prejudices of any Briton . . . The lovely book is another reminder that in art and song the British Isles are a rich mind of treasure ..." SOUTHERN EVENING ECHO (UK) "Take the Emerald Isle, a charming singer, some haunting songs, some stunning photographs — and the result is A Song for Ireland... It is elegantly produced, with pictures to match each text. A book to sooth the fret of the world — full of peace and beauty." Martin Fagg CHURCH TIMES

— THE SCENT OF THE ROSES — "She tells her moving and surprisingly uplifting story honestly and eVen amusingly . . . Her account of life in a nunnery is fascinating, her courage and faith are amazing.'' Graham Lord THE SUNDA Y EXPRESS "Written with great simplicity and directness." David Hollaway THE DAIL Y TELEGRAPH "an enchanting book" Rowanne Pasco THE UNIVERSE "A touching, readable and sometimes amusing book." Lindy Mcllvenna BELFAST NEWSLETTER "Telling her story with dignity and an inner serenity, Mary O'Hara provides an insight into her unusual life and a deeply touching profile of her husband's vibrant personality.'' KENSINGTON POST "This is a lovely book, so sad in places, yet shot through with bright Christian faith and hope, and written in a style that in places partakes of the rare lyrical quality of Mary O'Hara's songs." O.S. Papp THE HARVESTER

Mary OHara

"This is a strong but, delicate story, full of absorbing interest and a very 'good read' indeed, one not to be missed. Many will love to read and reread it — an enriching experience.'' THE METHODIST RECORDER "A moving autobiography . . . she writes with a clean simplicity which is as accomplished as her singing . . . Ms. O'Hara has applied her new found gift to the most intensely moving autobiography for many a year." John Paddy Browne THE IRISH POET



A LIFE INTHE DAYOF MARY (KHARA Psalm 139 sets me up for the day. I lie in bed when I awake and reflect on its words every morning: 'O Lord, You search me and You know me . . .' I used to be a very irregular riser, getting up anytime between nine and noon. Mainly, I think, as a reaction to the years I spent in a monastery where I had to get up at five every morning. But now I've schooled myself to wake up at eight. Almost my first act is to go downstairs and see what the postman has popped through the letterbox. I sit on the doormat and go through the post. The guest room is round the corner and friends who come to stay complain that the assorted chuckles and chortles I emit in response to my mail wake them up. Ablutions are followed religiously by 20 minutes, callisthenics in the study - with Terry Wogan's patter on Radio-2 for company. I often get ideas for songs from listening to Terry's programme. However, when I'm having breakfast or washing up I switch to Radio-3. Breakfast is unvarying. It's always fresh fruit followed by oatmeal porridge with pure bran, wheatgerm and honey. Until recently, I used to have cream and milk but the herbalist who's been treating me for sinus trouble discovered that I was allergic to milk products. I rarely drink tea or coffee, when I do it's usually herbal tea. I do all my own housework and, having rushed through the chores, I settle down to some practice. This involves doing vocal and harp exercises, learning new accompaniments, revising old songs and composing new materials. I am also sent lots of sheet music to browse over. Personally, I prefer music to be sent on cassettes as I don't have a piano at home. Around this time my manager, John Coast, calls me on the phone.

I've only been with him a short while but already he knows not to disturb me before lla.m. We discuss various projects he's got lined up for me - I usually find my practice sessions take on greater urgency after he's called. Since coming under the care of a herbalist I've had to regulate my eating habits. So at one o'clock everything stops for lunch - two slices of wholemeal bread, a lightly boiled egg, fruit juice and nuts. I make myself have three meals a day because I don't want to lose weight. I eat sensibly, mainly health foods. After lunch I put on jeans and wellies and set out on a walk lasting anything up to two hours. It's probably the most important activity of my day. I live in a cottage on a 1200-acre estate on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border surrounded by beautiful country, so I can walk for miles through meadows, fields and woods - seeing sheep, horses, cows and the odd deer without coming across another human. If I've had to to go away recording during the day I take my walk at night, with a lantern. At first people on the estate thought I was a poacher, but now they've got used to my nocturnal habits. On my walk my mind is completely relaxed. Although I relate well to people it's in my nature to be a loner. I'm enriched by friendships but I'm very content to be by myself. When I left the monastery, after a second bout of what can best be des-

cribed as nervous and physical exhaustion, I had no desire to take up my previous occupation as a professional singer. It was very reluctantly that I agreed to go back to singing. The trappings of show business don't interest me. I'm content to go to a concert hall or television studio, perform as best I can and then jump into 'Marco the Dragon' [her red Volkswagen Polo] and return to my cottage, walks and, in the summer, tennis. I love the grace and movement of tennis. I only wish I could play it all the year round. I return home from my walk about four o'clock ready to tackle my correspondence. I get lots of letters from people who've been affected one way or the other by my music and I answer them all. I write the letters sitting on the floor with the writing pad on my knees. I'm frightfully scatty, forever losing things like my precious address book or my diary. But I get on to St Anthony [the patron saint of lost property] and ask him to get cracking. He's never failed me so far. Only a few weeks ago I left my handbag in a taxi in London and, within three days, it arrived by first-class post with everything intact. Inside was a note, signed 'an admirer', taking me to task for being careless and informing me that as a reward my admirer had bought goods worth ÂŁ50 off one of my credit cards. Early in the evening I look through

Radio Times and TV Times and mark the programmes I want to see. I would never miss The Muppets> Fawlty Towers or the Attenborough programmes. But the television is never switched on before I sit down to dinner about 7p.m. Until I was taken off dairy products I used to be a vegetarian. But now that I've been put back on meat I have lamb, chicken or beef with plenty of raw vegetables and fruit to follow. If there's a recording session or a concert coming up I will spend a large part of the evening practising, sometimes even late into the night. The estate stables are next door to my cottage and one of the stable lads tells me that a couple of the horses are susceptible to my music - especially at night. I'm rarely in bed before midnight, even though I keep promising myself an early night. I often write letters in bed, but nearly always I read. At the moment it's Van der Post's biography of Jung. I tend to re-read; I've recently gone back to Tolkien and Tagore. Then before I shut my eyes I reach for my seven vitamin pills and down them with a drink of mey. I picked up lemon and honey. the formula in a I health food shop I in Canada. It's' perfect for a good night's sleep. |

il

WORLDWIDE PROMOTIONS AND CONCERT TOURS: BUNGOWLA LTD., c/o THE VALENTINE MUSIC GROUP #7, GARRICK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON, W.C. 2E BAR

Brochure produced by CHRIS O'TOOLE ENTERPRISES with Special Thanks to RAYMOND BYRNES. Printed by: DP CAMBRIA PRESS LIMITED, 4 BRAM COURT, BRAMPTON, ONTARIO, CANADA


O'Mam

tke Scent of the Koses The moving autobiography of this gentle and talented singer: her sad love story, her retirement to a convent and her return to a successful stage "She tells her moving and surprisingly uplifting story honestly and even amusingly . . . Her account of life in a nunnery is fascinating, her courage and faith are amazing.'' Graham Lord THE SUNDA YEXPRESS "This is a lovely book, so sad in places, yet shot through with bright Christian faith and hope, and written in a style that in places partakes of the rare lyrical quality of Mary O'Hara's songs." O.S. Papp THE HARVESTER Available at Local Bookstores Published by: — IN CANADA:

Collins Publishers 100 Lesmill Rd. Don Mills, Ontario

M3B 2T5 IN THE U.S.A.:

Merrimack Publishers Circle 99 Main Street Salem, N.H. 03079



Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.