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Mary OHartfs Discography Songs of Erin: The Weaving Song - The Quiet Land of Erin I wish I had the Shepherd's Lamb-The Bonnie BoyAililiu naGamnhna-She Moved Through the FairThe Spanish Lady - Eileen Aroon - The Spinning Wheel- DileenoDeamhas- Londonderry Air-1 have a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue - Castle of Dromore Next Market Day- My Lagan Love- Ceol a PhiobaireFill, Fill a Run O - Ballynure Ballad.
Monday, Tuesday — Songs for Children: The Frog and the Mouse - An Peata Circe - Ailiu Eanai - 1 Wish I had the Shepherd's Lamb - Fead an lolair-OroMoBhaidin-MyAuntJane-Hi-Didil-Dum - Deirin De - An Maidrin Rua - An Caitin Ban A Dandling Song - Baidin Fhelimidh - Cogai-o-Gaog I Have a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue - Dia Luain, Dia Mairt - An Luipreachan - Sweet Child of Glory.
Love Songs of Ireland:
Deoindi - My Brown Haired Boy - The Stuttering Lovers - Ballinderry - Da Bfaighinn Mo Rogha Beleive Me if all Those Endearing Young Charms Anonn's Anall - I Know Where I'm Going - The Minstral Boy - Paddy's Wife - I Know My Love An Raibh Tu a'g Carraig ? - Loves Young Dream I Will Walk With My Love - Beidh Aonach Amaireach Gaelic Hymn in praise of the Mother of God.
Mary O'Hara's Ireland:
Songs of Ireland:
An Crann Ubhall - She Lived Beside the Anner Cucuin a Chuaichin - Kitty of Coleraine - Roisin Dubh - Down by the Sally Gardens - Luibin o Luth I will Walk with My Love - Seoithin Seo - The Parting Is ar Eirinn Ni n-Eosfainn Ce hi - The Last Rose of Summer- Sean Sa Bhriste Leathair-Young Bridget O'Malley - Deus Meus - I Know My Love - Sliabh Geal Gua na Feile - Trottin' to the Fair.
Haigh Didil Dum - Carraig Donn - The Frog Song Oro mo Bhaidin - Jackets Green - Seoladh na Ngamhna - Wexford Mummers Song - Sliabh nam Ban - The Gartan Mother's Lullaby - Down by the Glenside - Maidrin Ruadh - Silent O Moyle - Dia Luain Dia Mairt- Fain/veil but Whenever-The LepraughanNa Leanbhai I Mbeithil - The Famine Song - She didn't Dance
Mary O'Hara's Scotland:
Music Speaks Louder Than Words: Music Speaks Louder Than Words - Annie's Song Cucuin a Chuaichin - Oceans Away - Dust in the Wind - The Snail - I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song - Home in the Meadow - Scorn Not His Simplicity -Ceol a' Phiobaire - Never My Love - Roisin Dubh.
Willie's Gane Tae Melville Castle - Song of the Waterhorse - Annie Laurie - The Laird of Cockpen Cro Chinn tsaile - A Shetland Lullaby - An Fhideag Airgid - The Elfin Knight - A Shetland Spinning Song The Bonnie Earl of Moray- larla nam Bratach BanaWillie's Drowned in Yarrow - Afton Waters A Hebridean Waulking Song - The Twa Corbies Lord Randal - Na Hao Ri U - The Wee Cooper of Fife.
The Scent of the Roses:
A Song for Ireland:
You Are The New Day - The Prayer of the Badger The Rainbow Connection - Child of the Woodland Green Finch and Linnet Bird - The Scent of the Roses - Try to Remember - The Garden Song Ye Banks and Braes - As I Walked Forth One Summers Day - Chanson Pour Les Petits Enfants I Gave My Love a Cherry.
Mary O'Hara Live in New York: Carnegie Hall. Perhaps Love - Uist Cattle Croon - Oaken Ashes Judas and Mary - In an English Country Garden The Rose - Face to Face - The Snail - Say That I'll Be Sure to Find You - Tis a Gift t be Simple - Lord of The Dance - Greensleeves.
Colours: The Colours of My Life - Blow The Wind Southerly My Favourite Things - Greensleeves Mr. Tambourine Man - The Rose - You Needed Me Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring - Being Green - English Country Garden-The Last Rose of Summer- In My Life.
Recital:
The Lark in the Clear Air- A Fond Kiss- Oaken AshesPedlar's Song - Una Bhan - Eros - Face to Face Lord of the Dance - Among Silence - The Prayer of the Butterfly - A New Year Carol - Come Lord.
Tranquility: The Floral Dance - Streets of London - And I Love YouSo-When I'm 64- Barbara Allen-1 Know Where I'm Going - Shepherd's Song (Bailero) -Believe Me if allThose Endearing Young Charms-Scarborough Fair - What is Life to me Without Thee - Bright Eyes Where E'er You Walk - Leaving on a Jet Plane Eriskay Love Lilt - It's Me O Lord - Autumn Leaves All Through the Night - Where Have All the Flowers Gone ? - Drink to me Only With Thine Eyes Killing Me Softly with His Song.
Focus on Mary O'Hara (double)
The Weaving Song - The Quiet Land of Erin - The Bonnie Boy - She Moved Through the Fair - The Spanish Lady - My Lagan Love - A Ballynure Ballad The Next Market Day - Ceol a'Phiobaire - I Wish I Had the Shepherd's Lamb - Eileen Aroon - My Brown haired Boy - The Stuttering Lovers - The Minstral Boy - 1 Have a Bonnet Trimmed With Blue Ballienderry - Beleive Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms - Anonn's Anoall - 1 Know Where I'm Going The Spinning Wheel - Paddy's Wife - I Know My Love - I Will Walk With My Love - Love's Young Dream-Gaelic Hymn in praise of the Motherof God.
My Lagan Love - Kitty of Coleraine - A Soft Day Oro Mo Bhaidin - Young Bridget O'Malley - Danny Boy - The Spanish Lady - She Moved Through the Fair - The Gartan Mother's Lullaby - The Fairy Tree Ailiu Eanai - Bring Me a Shawl from Galway - Down By the Sally Garde-The Song of Glendun-An Peata Circe - The Quiet Land of Erin.
Mary O'Hara at the Royal Festival Hall:
Morning Has Broken - Tapestry - A Hebridean Milking Song - Among Silence - Bring me a Shawl from Galway-Bridge Over Troubled Water-Forty-five Years - Una Bhan - Scarlet Ribbons - Song for a Winter's Night-When I Need You-Lord of the Dance.
The Last Rose of Summer: Annie Laurie-The Last Rose of Summer-Cucuin a Chuaichin - Trottin to the Fair - Lord Randall A Shetland Lullaby - Child of the Woodland Roisin Dubh - My Aunt Jane - The Wee Cooper of Fife - Sean's Bhriste Leathair - The Parting - Deirin De - Gogai-o-Gaog.
In Harmony: Plaisir D'Amour - Rainy Day People - The Clown The Sun is Burning - Too Much Magic - Pussy Willows Cat Tails - Sliabh Nah mBan - A Friend of Mine -The Wee Cooper of Fife - Mon Pays - The Spinning Wheel.
Mary OHani IN CONCERT Musical Director Mathew Freeman.
MaryOHm Mary O'Hara has been described as "mesmerising" . . . and as "a singer without peer". Yet, perhaps, the late Joyce Grenfell summed it all up when appearing on Marys own This Is Your Life': "Mary's God-given gift was her voice, and what is surely meant for her, is to sing to as many people as possible." In a career that has taken her round the world and back on many occasions, entertaining in her own inimitably charming style, Mary O'Hara has done just that... bringing great pleasure and delight to many millions of people. And winning outstanding acclaim and accolades from Press and Public alike. She was born in Sligo on the west coast of Ireland, the youngest of four children - three girls and a boy. Her father was a civil engineer who travelled the world; her mother was a teacher. The young Mary loved singing, particularly traditional Irish songs. And at the age of eight, while attending the local Ursuline convent, she won two first prizes for singing and recitation at the Sligo Feis Ceoil, the annual festivals of music and drama held in Ireland. They were the first of many awards that were to come her way throughout a distinguished musical career. When she was twelve, Mary left Sligo for boarding school in Dublin, attending Sion Hill. It was here she studied music and singing... and played the piano. She was later games captain at the school and developed into a useful tennis player. It was here, too, that it was discovered - almost by accident - that she possessed a talent for playing the Harp. Mary was actually asked to learn the instrument for a school pageant on the works of Thomas More in which she was appearing. "/ was singing in a school play about Thomas More and the harp was added for atmosphere. So that's when it all started," she says. Mary has a natural ability- and her playing complemented perfectly the pureness of her voice. At the age of sixteen, in her final year at school, Mary made her first broadcast on Radio Eireann. When she was seventeen, her teacher took her to England to publicise an Irish tourist festival. The same year, she was chosen to represent Ireland in the Celtic Congress in Scotland. Back home in I reland, she worked regularly on radio, broadcasting live' programmes of Gaelic songs, and she often worked as soloist with the Radio Eireann Light Orchestra. Her reputation as an artiste grew with every appearance. I n the summer of 1955, Mary O'Hara sang at the Edinburgh Festival with the Dublin University Players and she was so well received by the critics that she was acclaimed as a bright new star with a brilliant talent. One newspaper commented: "The outstanding performance this year was by Mary O'Hara". Her performances in Edinburgh resulted in an invitation to appear on television, a string of engagements, and her first recording contract with Decca Records. Mary O'Hara was on her way to stardom: Compton McKenzie wrote the female character for her in 'Rockets Galore' while Punch featured a Ronald Searle cartoon of her. And, at the age of 20, following several television appearances, the BBC gave Mary her own Saturday evening TV series. Not long afterwards, she was given her own children's television show. In 1956, she returned to the Edinburgh Festival - now an established artiste in her own right and was featured in the production, 'Pleasure Of Scotland'. The same year, she met and married a young American poet, Richard Selig, then a Rhodes scholar at Oxford... and went to live in the USA. Already a major star in Britain and Ireland, Mary O'Hara soon established her reputation as a singer and musician across the Atlantic. Her first concert recital in America was at the Phillips Gallery in New York, after which Paul Hume writing in the Washington Post claimed that f'sheraised to a new level the art of folksinging". However, as her professional career moved from one success to another, and as she became known throughout the world... tragedy struck! After just fifteen months of marriage, Richard Selig died of Hodgkins Disease. It was a bitter blow. Yet, quietly coping with her grief, Mary O'Hara continued her work
For the next four years, she gave concerts and recitals and appeared on television. A highly successful tour of Australia and New Zealand was followed by appearances in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and Holland. And she also completed a successful series for Australian Television. With each performance, came even more critical acclaim. "But it was all empty for me since Richard was not there to share it," she says. The more success she achieved, the more persistently she felt the call to the contemplative life. "At the time of Richard's death, I decided to enter a monastery. I felt a deep-seated desire," adds Mary. In 1962, Mary O'Hara abandoned her musical career and joined a Benedictine Monastery at Stambrook in Worcestershire. She became Sister Miriam and was soon absorbed in a life of study, prayer and work "/ was in the monastery about a year before most of my closest friends even knew," she says. "And I was ten years in the monastery before I allowed any of my records to be played there." Indeed, it was also ten years before she played the harp again. It remained in the monastery attic, untouched, until persuaded by the Abbess, Mary would on occasions play and sing to the other nuns. Mary O'Hara spent 121/2 years in the strict confines of the monastery, before a serious decline in the physical state of her health made her aware that she should leave the Order... which she did with the blessing of her superiors. Mary reluctantly picked up the threads of her former career. She was pleasantly surprised that she had lost neither her voice, nor her appeal. Her audiences had remained faithful to herwhile she was away. She made her first public appearance after years of seclusion, at the Salisbury Arts Festival, and before long, Mary was undertaking engagements all over Britain and Ireland once more. "It was still a bit of an ordeal singing for a live audience," she admits. In November 1977, after numerous recitals, Mary's major comeback concert took place at London's Royal Festival Hall, where she demonstrated to the capacity audience 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 and traditional material. The resulting live' album of that concert earned her a Silver Disc. Mary O'Hara was back Yet, it was as if she had never really been away. Next followed extensive appearances on British television, including her own TV specials; further best selling albums; tours of Ireland and Britain; sell-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall and New York's Carnegie Hall; and a season at the London Palladium. I n 1978, she was invited to appear in the Royal Variety Show, and in the same year, Mary was featured as the subject on television's This Is Your Life'. Two year, later her autobiography - The Scent Of The Roses' - was commissioned and published by Michael Joseph, followed by her second book, 'A Song For Ireland'. Both books became best-sellers in Britain, Ireland, Australia and Canada Mary has recently completed a third book which will be published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1985. Since renewing her career in 1975, Mary O'Hara has re-established herself in no uncertain terms as one of the most delightful performers . . . and acclaimed the world over. She has undertaken major tours of Britain and Ireland; Australia and New Zealand; and Canada and America - where in 1983, she recorded her 17th album, 'Live at Carnegie Hall' - and with each appearance has come outstanding success at the box-office and critical acclaim from the Press. And there's much more to come! SUMMER 1984.
MY LITTLE
1C couple of years ago when it / \e clear to me that I /-i_\t to have a place of mv JL Y.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 fnends 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 even- 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 Rmgs. (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 ot a quiet hamlet. Something of our personalities leaves us 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 LSI moment, I found it terribly difficult to leave the little flint and brick terraced cottage with us tiled roof and no back door, that had been kindlv 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 ot 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 idvliic 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 mv 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 lor the sitting room and several more months to have it covered with material of my choice. The curtains there have onlv 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 lenu, hurrying slowly. My life is so full of things professional clamouring lor attention that getting the house in order
Article reprinted by kind permission of Woman and Home
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 bnck 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 son 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 verv 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 pme desk as a present. I've always meant to do my wnting sitting at this desk but so tar I've never got around to it. Invariably I end up
sitting on the floor with my pencil and sheets of paper propped up on rny 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 fnends, and I'm blest with many, take pity and do not expect to be entertained with parties here. I do that son 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 rne I like ^and need1 penods of quiet and taking long walks, and mv house is ideally situated for this. I'm blest with excellent neighbours who look aftci 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
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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.
Wliatthe Critics Say Mary O'Hara has long been established as City music lovers get feast of concerts one of Ireland's finest musicians. She is a Every opera singer, every lieder singer, every singer and harpist of distinction and has pop star could have learned something vital elevated the best of the greatest Irish tradition from Mary O'Hara last night. to a level of consummate artistry in her The Seattle Times. (USA) performances. The Irish Times (Dublin) Mary O' Hara superb in intimate concert. O'Hara was grace incarnate when she called into play her masterful artistry with the harp... The audience sat back, looking both satisfied and in wonderment at this remarkable performer. It has been said that simplicity is easily the hardest thing to achieve. O'Hara seemingly without effort, made it appear that it was really the only way to go. The Gazette. (Montreal) Then there's the sweet serenity of her presence on stage that draws you into the music. Peace is there, and the rest of the world is cacaphony. In an odd kind of way, you forget she is singing. O'Hara must take deep breaths and make efforts to project, but there's no physical evidence of it, no outside sign. The music just flows, like conversation. The Guardian (Charlottetown) Magical quality of Mary O' Hara Mary O' Hara brought a haunting hush to Yarmouth's Cinema One on Saturday night and produced a performance of magical quality. There were no histrionics . . . she merely faced her audience and sang with warmth rarely witnessed.
Mary O' Hara cast a spell over a sold-out audience. She demonstrated she was a striking woman of regal stature, a singer with sensitivity amidst wide-ranging dialects and a harpist who ranks as a national treasure .. . The crystal-clear voice and the splendid phrasing made it a night memorable for meaningful lyrics. The Star-Phoenix. (Saskatoon Canada) Sweetness and light reigned at the Carnegie Hall concert Thursday by Irish singer and harpist Mary O' Hara. The New York Times (USA)
Mary O' Hara gives concert of rare beauty. The Leader-Post. (Regina, Canada)
Mary O' Hara's radiance was golden; grace incarnate. An angel came to Edmonton last night. This lovely folk-singer has incarnate grace. The spirit ,manifested itself through inspired talent. Her repertoire has panoramic breadth and depth . . . The Edmonton Sun. (Canada)
Harpist was exhilerating. Mary O' Hara held a full house spellbound for two hours, with her pure sweet voice and skilful manipulation of the Celtic harp. She gave a performance which many who attended regarded as the most enjoyable concert they had ever attended. Courier Mail. (Brisbane, Australia)
The Scent of the Roses Mary O'Hara's own remarkable, true story is the inspiring account of an unshakeable religious conviction and a great love story. "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 re-read 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 Song for Ireland "The Ireland I try and portray in this book is the Ireland of my songs; and like one of my earliest record albums, Mary O'Hara's Ireland, the songs form a cross-section of what appeals to me in the Irish tradition." from Mary O'Hara's Introduction "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 potpourri, written bya lady who is as adept with the pen as she is with the lilting cadences of an Irish song." (Tim Cromer CORK EXAMINER) "A body blow to the Celtic predjudices of any Briton . . . The lovely book is another reminder that in art and song the British Isles are a rich mine of treasure . . . " (Southern Evening Echo U.K.) Both Books Published by Michael Joseph Mary's third book, to be published in September 1985, is entitled CELEBRATION OF LOVE. This is a unique collection comprising Mary O'Hara's favourite poems, songs, prayers and prose excerts. Mary provides a personal introduction to the book, and to each section of the collection, which is illustrated with photographs and line drawings. To be Published by Hodder and Stoughton