“I have a vision of the Songlines stretching across the continents and ages; that wherever men have trodden they have left a trail of song; and that these trails reach back, in time and space, to where the first man shouted the opening stanza to the world song; I am!”
Bruce Chatwin, Songlines
Thomas McCarthy is one of Ireland’s best known traditional Traveller singers. In 2022 Harvest Films made an RTÉ documentary about Thomas called ‘Songs of the Open Road’. As we left Thomas, he was embarking on a new project with the Irish Traditional Music Archive travelling around Ireland meeting Traveller singers and those connected with the great Traveller songs. This new documentary, Songlines journeys with Thomas as we meet an eclectic collection of Traveller singers throughout Ireland – charismatic performers and carriers of tradition but rarely seen or heard outside the Travelling community.
In recent years it has been generally recognised that Irish Travellers have contributed enormously to music-making within Ireland, carrying tunes and songs from town to town, making and repairing instruments, and transmitting their unique musical style and have made a distinctly recognisable contribution to the Irish musical and cultural heritage. It’s also very true of songs. Many of the songs that are now standards of the folk singing tradition have been kept alive by the Travelling community.
‘Songlines’ begins in Paris where Thomas has been performing for the previous six months in the show ‘Cabaret de l’dxil, Irish Travellers’ an international theatre show telling the story of Irish Travellers. Thomas is a lynchpin in the production which went on to attract an audience of over 60,000 people in its six-month run.
From Paris we travel to meet Rosie McCarthy at home in Macroom, Co. Cork. Although only 16 years old, she’s already a powerful and expressive singer who loves singing the old songs. Thomas travels to meet Kitty Cassidy in Waterford, now 84, but still a powerful performer today. She sings and talks about her parents Johnny and Julia Cassidy who were themselves storytellers and singers. Later, we catch up with Kitty again the Irish Traditional Music Archive where she talks with Thomas about where she learned her songs and sings extracts of three songs: ‘Please Mr. Conductor’, ‘Lovely Willie’ and ‘Mother Malone’.
In the course of the film, we also meet young Stephen McDonagh and Ned McCarthy in Tullamore. Ned is a cousin of Thomas’ and is related to the famous pipers, Felix and Johnny Doran. We also travel to meet the Keenan sisters, Kathleen and Mary in Ennis and In Ballymun, we meet Ellie Stokes the daughter of Traveller singer Mary Kate McDonagh who was recorded by the great collector Tom Munnelly singing The Tri-Colour House. Thomas also meets sister and brother, Trish and Martin O’Reilly in Drogheda. Trish sings False Lankum and Martin sings Smuggling the Tin a song covered by the singer Liam Weldon. At 8 years of age, Trish and her four sisters were taken from their family into care, where she spent 10 years in institutional care. Trish sings her own composition Broken Lines about her experience of being in the care system.
Songlines is an absorbing documentary on tradition, song and the importance of singing and pays tribute to the immense contribution that Travellers have made to the art of traditional singing in Ireland. It explores issues around identity, our relationship with our past and with our music.
Produced by Harvest Films.
Director: Pat Collins Producer: Sharon Whooley
Editor: Keith Walsh Camera: Keith Walsh Sound: Robbie Elder
Executive Producer: Vanessa Gildea
Harvest Films
Over the past 20 years, the creative team behind ‘Songlines’ have produced some of the highest quality television programming based on Irish culture, including the feature films Silence (2012) and Song of Granite (2017) about Joe Heaney which brought sean nós singing to an international cinema audience and his biographical portrait of Thomas McCarthy Songs of the Open Road.
Other films include the forthcoming ‘That They May Face the Rising Sun’ based on John McGahern’s last novel; Henry Glassie: Field Work, What We Leave in Our Wake, Living in a Coded Land, John McGahern – A Private World, Gabriel Byrne: Stories From Home, Michael Hartnett: Necklace of Wrens and Tim Robinson: Connemara and his film The Dance (2021) was based on Michael Keegan Dolan’s show ‘Mám’.
THOMAS McCARTHY BIOG
Thomas McCarthy was born in the town of Birr, Co. Offaly, into an Irish Traveller family. His grandfather was a well-known seanachie and had a profound, orally derived knowledge of the history and families of Ireland. McCarthy learnt his crafts of singing and storytelling from his mother, aunts and uncles. His extended family has a long history of musicianship and includes the well-recognised and respected Doran Brothers and their grandfather ‘Big John Cash’, who all played the uillean pipes. At age ten, McCarthy moved to London, but continued to travel with his family back and forth and around Ireland and England. He was recognised by his own family as a gifted singer from a young age, but was ‘discovered’ in 2008 by the wider public after a ‘tip-off’ from a barman at a family wedding. This led him to Cecil Sharp House in Camden Town, London where he joined singers at a folk song club, who were amazed and enchanted by his powerful yet subtle and authentic style of singing and by the rare songs that he brought with him. McCarthy has since been employed singing in clubs and at festivals throughout the UK and Ireland, as well as in Europe and the US. McCarthy has now recorded three albums: ‘The Round Top Wagon’, ‘Herself and Myself’ and ‘Jauling the Green Tober’, this last in conjunction with the Cornish Romani Traveller Viv Legg . McCarthy is also a passionate activist on behalf of his people. He was named Traditional Singer of the Year in the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Awards 2019, the first time a Traveller received this award.
REVIEWS
“The quality of Thomas McCarthy’s voice stops you in your tracks rather and holds you spellbound thereafter.”
David Kidman, The Living Tradition
“Tremendous traditional singer from a long line of traditional singers and musicians. This, you could say, is the real deal..”
Mark Radcliffe, The Folk Show, BBC Radio 2
Citation from the TG4 Gradam Amhránaí 2019
Thomas McCarthy’s technique is a joy to listen to. His art is particularly illustrative of the power of storytelling through song, beyond simply singing the song. His style of presentation, of narrative and history before and around the song, is captivating. He has a unique ability to connect with his audience. On top of that, he carries with him that distinctive style of singing – a movement in the longer notes – known as ‘the warble’. This man is an ambassador for Traveller singing and Traveller song. In addition to his remarkable repertoire of songs, his recordings and his compelling performances in traditional music contexts, he travels throughout Ireland and worldwide, connecting his music and tradition with an ever-wider audience – from schools, to gatherings, to concert halls. He is one of the most exciting and moving voices singing today.