Documentary about Offaly traveller airing on RTE this Thursday
A traveller from Birr is the subject of a new documentary which will broadcast tomorrow night at 10.15pm on RTÉ One.
‘Songs of the Open Road’ profiles Traveller singer and storyteller Thomas McCarthy.
He was born in Birr, in 1965 where he developed his craft of singing from a young age with his his grandfather, mother, aunts and uncles.
Thomas moved to London when he was ten-years-old and lived in a halting site under the A40 in west London. McCarthy’s mother, Mary, was also a gifted singer and had a stall on the Portobello Road market for over 40 years.
Throughout the documentary the talented singer performs traditional songs such as McKenna's Dream, Lady, Margaret, Johnny Carey, Lough Erne’s Shore, What Put the Blood and Donal Kenny.
Last year, Thomas initiated a song collecting project with the Travelling community in conjunction with the Irish Traditional Music Archive so these songs could be compiled together instead of being lost.
The documentary moves between London, where McCarthy lives, and Ireland. The camera follows him as he sings at festivals, including the Drimoleague Singing Festival, and meets fellow performers on his travels.
Thomas also performs a rendition of his own song, Moving Us on Again, and his grandfather’s song, The Round Top Wagon.
Other people who feature in the programme include Connemara sean nós singer Sarah Grealish, Traveller singer Kathleen Ward as well as audio recordings of Kitty Cassidy and John ‘Jack’ O’Reilly.
Thomas also recently made an appearance on the Tommy Tiernan show and sang an ancient song called “Mo Cuisle.”
He spoke 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.”
He was named the Traditional Singer of the Year in the Gradam Ceoil Awards in 2019.