Northern Ireland

Tommy Makem Festival celebrates discovery of hundreds of Co Armagh songs

'Bard of Armagh' Tommy Makem died in 2007. Picture by Colm Lenaghan
'Bard of Armagh' Tommy Makem died in 2007. Picture by Colm Lenaghan 'Bard of Armagh' Tommy Makem died in 2007. Picture by Colm Lenaghan

VISITORS from around the world converged on Keady at the weekend for the annual Tommy Makem Festival of Song.

The existence of a treasure trove of 'forgotten' musical and literary material from the area was revealed at the celebration of the late bard and the rich song tradition of that part of Co Armagh.

Up to 400 songs and poems discovered by local historian Trevor Geary are to be published in the coming year.

Copies will also be placed in the recently-opened Tommy Makem Arts and Community Centre, which hosted the festival for the first time this year.

Composed between 50 and 100 years ago, the material includes more than 80 songs and poems by Samuel James Stevenson of Altnamackin, a compendium by Isaac McIlwaine of Cavanakill written in two shop ledgers of over 300 pages and containing over 100 songs, as well as a series of hymns written by Martha Kennedy of Aughnagurgan in the 1920s, and up to 100 songs and poems created by Rachael Cornett from Darkley.

Keady-born music legend Tommy Makem emigrated to the US from the town he dubbed "the hub of the universe" in 1955.

His songs helped inspire American folk revival legends like Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, finding fame with The Clancy Brothers in the 1960s and performing for President Kennedy before going solo.

Seeger and Dylan are patrons of the festival.

Awarded the World Folk Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, his best-known compositions include Four Green Fields, Gentle Annie and Farewell to Carlingford.

Makem established the festival of song in 2000, and received an honorary degree from the University of Ulster for his services to music shortly before his death from cancer in 2007 at aged 74.

This year's three-day festival saw Tommy's daughter Katie, from New Hampshire in the US, unveil the new Centre's 'Charter of Welcome', along with the presentation of the Tommy Makem Scrolls of Honour.

Recipients included Edel Murphy, formerly of the Arts Council; Jeanette Clarke from Armagh on behalf of her grandmother Rachael Cornett, a poet, singer and song collector; Patricia Hagan of Keady, granddaughter of James Greene, founder of the Greene/Boyle/Makem songwriting dynasty; and Gertie O'Reilly, daughter of Keady poet Peter Connolly.

More than 100 Americans from eight states were among visitors to the festival, which saw Tommy Sands perform at a commemorative concert.