Peter Carberry

Peter Carberry hails from the Holla, in County Longford. He is a highly accomplished accordion and banjo player. Peter emigrated to Manchester in the late 1960’s where he played with the likes of Felix Doran, Michael Gorman, Des Donnelly Senior and later had a hand in teaching Mike McGoldrick and Dezi Donnelly and others. Peter lost the top of the second finger on his right hand in a freak accident. Undaunted, he compensated by playing second-finger parts with his third finger.

In recent years, Peter radically changed his accordion playing style. He swapped the established B/C style for the old-style 'press-and-draw' Csharp/D style on advice from friend and virtuoso player, Martin O'Connor. On the "Memories from the Holla" album, Peter plays a B/C box, but with Csharp/D fingering. One would expect a flatter general response, given that the tunes are presented a full tone flatter than normal. The opposite is true in fact, the music flows throughout. Peter in turn took to playing the tenor banjo as well, like his father Kevin, with remarkable results. Peter's family were immersed in Irish traditional music with Peter following in his father Kevin's footsteps and Peter's uncle, Peter Carberry Senior is also an experienced uilleann piper.

Peter has that extremely rare talent for 'making tunes his own'. He can turn the most prosaic tune inside out and present it rejuvenated, with his own inimitable stamp on it, regardless of the instrument he is playing. Like great singers, he can vary the tune to hold your interest.

Now living in Galway, Peter is an integral part of the thriving Galway traditional music scene.

"Accordion player Peter Carberry is simply one of the finest musicians I know; this is a view I have held for over twenty-five years."
Dónal Maguire

Contact Details:

Contact: Peter Carberry
Telephone: +353 91 529972
Email: petercar@eircom.net
URL: www.geocities.com/peter_carberry

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