'I embrace the word tinker' - Birr singer

An acclaimed sean-nós singer who was born into a Traveller family in Birr told RTE chat show host and comedian, Tommy Tiernan, that he embraces the word "tinker" and would “never be ashamed” of his heritage.

During a wide-ranging interview on the RTE 1 televised chat show on Saturday night last, Thomas McCarthy, who now lives in London, acknowledged that, while the word tinker is “often used as a derogatory term” he said the word actually means “metal worker.”

“Tinker was and is used, as a derogatory term, but I embrace it myself, all my ancestors were metal workers and I’m not ashamed of that, and I’ll never be ashamed of it," he said.

The 2019 recipient of the prestigious TG4 Gradam Cheoil award for traditional singing who has toured the world also told Tommy Tiernan that the travelling way of life he was born into “is an ancient one which was destroyed” when plastic was introduced to the world.”

“Look at the damage plastic has done, you can even find it in fish at the bottom of the sea,” he said, adding that he had “a great life” in his younger years when he travelled the length and breadth of the country with his family. “We met the nicest people and we were never refused at a door…we did a great service, we could turn our hand to anything and wherever there was a few bob to be made we were prepared to work.”

When asked how he earns his living, the proud Birr native said he earns his living from singing mainly, but added that he also loves telling stories of his travelling heritage to children.

Thomas also spoke lovingly about the traveller tradition of singing and storytelling and said he was “very lucky” to have built up a store of over 1,000 songs from his late mother, Mary. “We are the custodians of these songs, and getting a new song for a traveller was like a new prayer, it was our people that brought these songs all over the island and every traveller family has its own store of songs.”

The acclaimed singer then sang an ancient song called “Mo Cuishle” for Tommy Tiernan which he said he had never heard anyone else sing except his late mother.

“She told me that when she was around five years of age her father used to call her down to the pub and she had to sit on a concrete floor until he would ask her to get up and sing that song, so it’s a special song for me.”

He also spoke about his plan to spend six months in Paris where he is due to play a 100 date concert tour later this year.