STARTING a band with your dad is hardly the well-trodden route to musical success, but for one father and daughter pair it has been just that.
Peter and Angelina Carberry are set to perform at this year’s Master of Tradition Festival, which takes place in Ireland this week.
That performance marks the Manchester-linked duo’s debut appearance at the prestigious traditional music festival in Cork.
Angelina, who started out on tin whistle before taking up the banjo, has followed in the footsteps of a tradition stretching over three generations.
She said she was “delighted” to be personally asked to the festival by fiddle prodigy Martin Hayes, artistic director of the four-day event.
“We’ve been down to the Festival before and it’s great. I can’t wait. We’re both really looking forward to it,” said Manchester-born Angelina.
What's it like touring with dad? And do the pair ever have arguments while on the road?
“Oh God yes,” she joked. “Plenty of them. But I think we’re both chilling out as we’re getting older. There’s not as many now as back then.
“We’ve had our moments, but it’s more of a father-daughter thing really [than a musical one],” added Angelina.
The 34-year-old, who moved back to Co. Longford five years ago, comes from a stellar musical family. Her grandfather was an accomplished banjo player while her grand uncle (also called Peter) played the pipes on the pair’s critically-acclaimed record Memories from the Holla.
Accordion and banjo player Peter, who moved to Manchester from Longford in the late 1960s, was an important fixture in the city’s traditional music scene. He teamed up with Angelina to record the aforementioned Memories from the Holla and the 2010 album Traditional Music from County Longford.
The Master of Tradition Festival, now in its 11th year, this year has a line-up which includes Dennis Cahill, Hayes’ bandmate in The Gloaming, as well as a string of other top trad talent such as Pipers Union and guitar player Steve Cooney.
The Carberrys will play at Bantry House alongside a trio of traditional musicians, including singer Maire Ní Chéileachair, harpist Tríona Marshall and bouzouki player Brian Mooney. The show starts on Friday at 7.30pm.
Masters of Tradition runs from August 14-18 in Bantry, Co Cork. Tickets are available online from www.westcorkmusic.ie/mastersoftradition
Peter Carberry is set to release Forgotten Gems, a new duet album with piper Padraig McGovern, in October. See: http://www.carberrymcgovern.com/
