Thomas McCarthy is one of Ireland's best known traditional Traveller singers.
In 2022, director Pat Collins made an acclaimed RTÉ documentary about Thomas called Songs of the Open Road - watch it here on RTÉ Player.
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.
Now a new RTÉ One documentary, Songlines, sees Pat Collins once again journey 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 - watch Songlines here.
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.
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Watch: Thomas McCarthy and Rosie McCarthy in Songlines
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 at 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, paying 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.
Songlines, RTÉ One, Thursday May 2nd at 10.15 pm - catch up via RTÉ Player.
