B. Campbell
Traditional and Popular Music Assignment 2012
Question: Identify the reasons why the oral song tradition remained stronger for longer within the Travelling Community, and discuss the reasons for the eventual decline of the oral tradition in the Travelling community. In your answer, refer to the song collecting initiatives made by Tom Munnelly in Ireland since the seventies.
In a society where we are bombarded by various forms of mass media, it is inevitable that traditions of every ilk will be effected in some way. The speed at which the technological world is changing, is so fast that it’s easy to forget our history, our roots, our traditions.
Historically, Travellers played a role as bearers of culture[1] and are distinguished by a rich storytelling and musical heritage. In a time when Irish music was outlawed by the English and ‘all musical instruments savouring of “popery” were ruthlessly destroyed’[2], the Travelling Community played an important part in keeping the music alive when traveling from place to place. With craftsmen capable of repairing instruments broken by soldiers, the music played on.
Up until the seventies, the oral song tradition remained stronger for longer within the Travelling Community. There are many reasons why this is so. As an ethnic minority and close-knit community the Travellers would have remained true to their traditions and still do today.
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Through the time spent talking with Travellers, we gained insight into the practice of traditional singing and to the significance that the songs had within the traveling community, a significance that appeared to go beyond the usually supposed one of just entertainment.[3]
The strong sense of family loyalty and duty within the Community perhaps would have placed importance on the passing down of the songs of relations who were deceased, and the performance/telling of the stories was a way to remember them. For a race that were/are discriminated against and shunned by society, to remain true to their oral song tradition was to unite together as a minority.
Many Travellers grew up outside the educational system and consequently, were illiterate. Thus their history, songs and stories are passed down through the generations by word of mouth. Perhaps a positive aspect of illiteracy may be the ability to memorise songs very quickly. ‘Having sung from the age of four, Mary picked up songs very quickly, usually after two or three hearings.’[4] Also, the Travellers ancient language ‘Cant’ or ‘Shelta’ was an oral language and therefore they did not have a need for reading or writing skills.[5] Some words in their ancient language are used in their songs.[6] But there are no known collected songs in Cant or Shelta.[7]
The insularity and nomadic lifestyle of the Travelling Community also aided in their traditions being unaffected by outside influences. Traveling in caravans around the country, they would not remain long enough in any village or town to be influenced by the local ‘going ons’. Due to electricity being unavailable in caravans in the seventies, there were no radio’s or televisions in their homes.
The arrival of battery powered radio’s and televisions in the late seventies marked a massive decline of singing in the Traveller tradition.[8] No longer were they sitting around fires singing tales of love, life and murder. The oral singing tradition was diminishing, as the outside world was getting in. ‘Without an audience, there is no theatre.’ Unfortunately, the new forms of entertainment were succeeding in attracting an audience, taking from the traditions of oral singing. According to Jim Carroll’s and Pat Mackenzie’s ‘Songs and stories from recordings of Irish Travellers in England’, the traveling community now took an interest in Country and Western music and sung in that style. Even though their singing style had been influenced by the invasion of Country and Western, they still held the songs they learned from their parents close to their hearts and could distinguish between the ‘new’ and the ‘old’ songs.
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Economic factors such as the mass production of materials such as tin also contributed to the decline in the oral singing tradition. Travellers would have sang Tin Smithing Songs while at work. They used songs to combine with the rhythm of the hammer whilst shaping the tin.[9]
In the race to preserve what was now a dying tradition, a man named Tom Munnelly recorded and collected songs from Traveller halting sites. It is here where he found the oral singing tradition the strongest.[10] Munnelly’s interest in folk music was sparked by membership of the Boy Scouts and An Óige, the Irish Youth hostelling organisation. Initially he decided to collect songs for his own repertoire and embarked on what was to become his life’s work.[11]
In 1970 he founded the Cumann Cheoil Tíre Éireann together with Breandán Breathnach.[12] In 1971 The Irish Department of Education funded a scheme for the collection of traditional songs. Munnelly worked as a full time collector for the scheme and collected a total of 1500 tapes of folklore and song.[13]
Upon meeting with Traveller John Reilly in Boyle, Roscommon, Munnelly realized the importance of this Traveller’s songs. Reilly had a store of medieval ballads that Munnelly recorded and preserved, including The Well Below the Valley, which was later made famous by Christy Moore and Planxty.[14] In 1972, Munnelly played the recording of the song to Christy Moore who subsequently performed it on Planxty’s album named after the song. Other songs (sung by Reilly, recorded by Munnelly) such as The Raggle Taggle Gypsy and Lord Baker were later reproduced by the likes of Sinéad O’Connor and other artists.[15]
Such was the importance of the contribution of the traveling community to Ireland’s musical heritage and it’s preservation, a TG4 documentary named Raggle Taggle Gypsy was made. With interviews and performances from artists such as The Fureys, Paddy Keenan, Liam Clancy and Christy Moore.[16]
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It is well documented that The Travelling Community have contributed immensely to Irish Traditional music and many Irish musicians, like Christy Moore, openly acknowledge their debt to Traveller musicians who retained the musical heritage of the land.[17]
References
CAROLL, Jim and MACENZIE, Pat ‘From Puck to Appleby,’ (online) Available at: http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/puck.htm
DALY,Maria, Irish Traveller Community,(online) Available at:
FEAR AN TÍ, (2010) Tom Munnelly. ,(online) Available at:
http://www.ramblinghouse.org/2010/08/tom-munnelly/
JOHNSTON, Thomas,(2012) Lecture notes, St.Patricks College, Drumcondra.
O’BOYLE, Séan (1976) , The Irish Song Tradition. Ossian Publications, Cork.
O’REILLY, Jerry, (2008) Tom Munnelly: The Last of the Irish Folk Song Collectors? Folk Lead Publications. Ireland. (online) Available at: http://www.jerryoreilly.net/folk_icons/tom_munnelly.html
PAVEE POINT Travellers Centre, Promoting Travellers’ Human Rights.(online) Available at:
SULLIVAN, Bernie (2006) A Living Theory of a Practice of Social Justice: Realising the Right of Traveller Children to Educational Equality. University of Limerick. (online) Available at:
TRINITY College Dublin, (2006) Irish Film and TV Research online. (online) Available at: http://www.tcd.ie/irishfilm/showfilm.php?fid=53070
WIKIPEDIA (2011) Tom Munnelly (online) Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Munnelly
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[1] PAVEE POINT.
[2] O’BOYLE, Séan (1976) p.10
[3] Carroll, Jim and Pat Macenzie ‘From Puck to Appleby’
[4] Carroll, Jim and Pat Macenzie ‘From Puck to Appleby’
[5] SULLIVAN, Bernie (2006)
[6] New Ross town sung by Mary Delaney, collected by Jim Carroll and Pat MacKenzie.
[7] Johnston, Lecture Notes 24/2/12
[8] Johnston, Lecture Notes 24/2/12
[9] Johnston, Lecture Notes 24/2/12
[10] Johnston, Lecture Notes 24/2/12
[11] O’Reilly, Jerry (2008)
[12] WIKIPEDIA (2011)
[13] Johnston, Lecture Notes 24/2/12
[14] FEAR AN TÍ (2010)
[15] WIKIPEDIA (2011)
[16] TCD (2006)
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[17]Daly, Maria