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All Music Guide:
The tin whistle traditions of Ireland have been preserved through the playing and teaching of Dublin-born Mary Bergin. A former member of the Green Linnet Ceili Band, Ceoltoiri Laigheann, and DeDanaan, Bergin continues to explore her musical roots with Dordan, a Baroque/traditional Celtic ensemble she founded in the early '90s. Bergin's love of traditional music was inherited from her parents. Her mother played classical and traditional fiddle while her father played melodeon. Although she initially studied violin and piano, she found her natural musical voice after switching to the tin whistle and, later, the flute. As a youngster, she was inspired by the music that she heard during vacations in County Clare and County Waterford. Accompanied by her sister, Antoinette McKenna, on harp, Bergin began playing at pub sessions. After touring England and the United States with Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, she joined with flautist Mick Hand, fiddlers Tommy Peoples and Liam Rowsome, and accordionist Johnny McMahon to form the Green Linnet Ceili Band, with whom she toured for five years. After continuing her musical education as a member of Ceoltoiri Laigheann, Bergin was invited to join internationally renowned Irish trad folk group DeDanaan. She performed with the group for a very short period. Bergin maintained a low profile until the early '90s when she helped form Dordan and began writing her own tunes.
Wikipedia:
Mary Bergin (born 1949) is an Irish folk musician who is widely acknowledged as one of the great masters of the tin whistle. She plays in both the Irish Traditional and Baroque styles.
Biography
Born in Shankill, County Dublin, to parents Joe and Máire (melodeon and fiddle players, respectively), Mary started learning to play the tin whistle at the age of nine. She won the All Ireland tin whistle championship in 1968. Her two virtuosic recordings of solo tin whistle, Feadóga Stáin (1979) and Feadóga Stáin 2 (1993), have been critically cited as "outstanding and unequalled.".
Bergin moved to Spiddal, County Galway in the early 1970s and played with many of the up and coming stars of the Irish music scene, notably De Danann and Ceoltóri Laighin. She is currently a member of the group Dordán, who perform Irish traditional music and Baroque music.
In addition to releasing two solo albums, which aided the popularisation of modern traditional Irish tin whistle playing, and three albums with Dordán, she has taught hundreds of students, in Ireland, across Europe, and in the United States, to play the whistle.
Playing Style
Bergin was exposed to the music of many renowned musicians from an early age, but her style is particularly influenced by flute player Packie Duignan and the whistle playing of Willie Clancy. She plays the whistle "left-handed", with the right hand covering the upper tone holes, unlike most whistle players who play with the left hand on top.
Bergin's playing is characterized by great feeling, technical virtuosity, and a respect for the music. Music scholar Fintan Vallely has described her playing as "brightly ornamented but uncluttered", with "crisp articulation." Writer and flute player Grey Larsen uses similar terms, describing her playing as "precise", "elegant", and "streamlined."
