Sarah Makem (18 October 1900 – 20 April 1983) a native of

Keady Keady () is a village and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is south of Armagh and near Irish border, the border with the Republic of Ireland. It is situated mainly in the historic Barony (Ireland), b ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, was a traditional Irish singer. She was the wife of fiddler Peter Makem, mother of musicians

Tommy Makem Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo ...

and Jack Makem, and grandmother of musicians Tom Sweeney, Jimmy Sweeney (of Northern Irish Canadian group

Barley Bree Barley Bree was a Northern Irish-Canadian band active from 1973 to 1995. It was formed in Northern Ireland in 1973, by Nicky Bryson, Buncrana fiddler P.V. O'Donnell, Seamus O'Hagan (Cookstown), and Jimmy Sweeney, a nephew of Tommy Makem and gran ...

), Shane Makem, Conor Makem and Rory Makem. Sarah Makem and her cousin, Annie Jane Kelly, were members of the Singing Greenes of

. In the 1950s, song collectors from the United States toured Ireland recording its musical heritage. Makem was visited and recorded by, among others, Diane Guggenheim Hamilton,

Jean Ritchie Jean Ruth Ritchie (December 8, 1922 – June 1, 2015) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player, called by some the "Mother of Folk". In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way (orally ...

, Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle. Her rendition of "As I Roved Out" opened the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

folk music programme of the same name in the 1950s.Hammond, D. (1977) ''Sarah Makem'' outube Ireland: TG4. Available at: https://youtu.be/u-2S4pAoaOs (Accessed 18 April 2017).

Background

Sarah Makem lived in Keady her whole life. Living in the border region of Ulster and in a market town, she was influenced by Irish, Scottish, and English traditions. Makem learned songs from her mother while she was doing household chores such as cooking. Makem would often pick up these songs while sitting with her mother after just one repetition. Makem also learned some of her repertoire from songs the children would sing in school. Sarah left school early to work as a factory weaver as many of the girls did in her town. She would work from 7 am to 6:30 pm then come home to have sessions with many of the other musicians living in the same area. Makem married Peter Makem in 1919.

Musical career

Sarah Makem would not consider herself a musician; however, she had an extensive musical career. She was a ballad singer who had over five hundred songs in memory. These songs she describes as life stories of murder and love and emigration songs. Makem recorded many of her songs, mostly for collection purposes. One of those songs, "As I Roved Out" was used to open a BBC radio program featuring Irish folk music named after Makem's ballad. Makem did not intend to use this recording as such, and was very embarrassed to know her voice would be heard everyday across Ireland.

Songs

Note: Footnotes take you to lyrics, but not necessarily to the recordings of Sarah Makem, as many of the songs are traditional. Makem collected, performed and/or composed, and handed down hundreds of songs including: *" As I Roved Out" *" Barbara Allen" *"Barney Mavourneen" *"Blow Ye Winds" *" The Butcher Boy" *"Caroline and her Young Sailor Bold" *"The Cobbler" *"The Cot in the Corner" *"

Derry Gaol Derry Gaol, also known as Londonderry Gaol, refers to one of several gaols (prisons) constructed consecutively in Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Derry Gaol is notable as a place of incarceration for Irish Republican Army (IRA) m ...

" *"Dobbin's Flowery Vale" *" The Factory Girl" *"Farewell My Love, Remember Me" *"I Courted a Wee Girl" *"John Mitchel" *"The Jolly Thresher" *"Little Beggarman" *"Magpie's Nest" *"A Man in Love He Feels No Cold" *"Mary of Kilmore" *"May Morning Dew" *"Month of January" ("The Forsaken Mother & Child") *"On the Banks of Red Roses" *"Our Ship She's Ready to Bear Away" *"Robert Burns and his Highland Mary" *"A Servant Maid in her Father's Garden" *"Willie Reilly" *" The Wind That Shakes the Barley"

Recordings

Sarah Makem has been recorded extensively, and is included on the following recordings: *''Ulster Ballad Singer'' (1967) - Sarah Makem *''Field Trip'' (1954) -

*'' The Lark in the Morning'' -

Liam Clancy Liam Clancy ( ga, Liam Mac Fhlannchadha; 2 September 1935 – 4 December 2009) was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's ...

and others (1956) *''Best of the Clancy Brothers'' (1994) -

The Clancy Brothers The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumper sweaters and are widely credited with popu ...

*''Sea Songs & Shanties'' (1994) - Various Artists *''Traditional Songs of Ireland'' (1995) - Various Artists *''Ancient Celtic Roots'' (1996) - Various Artists *''Celtic Mouth Music'' (1997) - Various Artists *''Irish Voices: The Best in Traditional Singing'' (1997) - Various Artists *''Celtic Reflections'' (1998) - Various Artists *''Celtic Voices'' (1999) - Various Artists *''Who's That at My Bedroom Window'' (1999) - Various Artists *''

The Voice of the People ''The Voice of the People'' is an anthology of folk songs produced by Topic Records containing recordings of traditional singers and musicians from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The series was first issued in 1998 as 20 CDs, compiled by Dr ...

, Vol. 6: Come Let Us Buy the License'' (1999) - Various Artists *''The Voice of the People Vol. 8: A Story I’m Just About to Tell'' (1999) - Various Artists *''The Voice of the People Vol. 17: It Fell on a Day a Bonny Summer Day'' (1999) - Various Artists *''The Voice of the People: A Selection'' (2000) - Various Artists *''The Voice of the People: Sarah Makem: The Heart Is True'' (2012) - Sarah Makem In 2009 ''The Banks of Red Roses'' from ''Sarah Makem : Ulster Ballad Singer'' was included in

Topic Records Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.M. Brocken, ...

70 year anniversary boxed set ''

Three Score and Ten ''Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People'' is a multi-CD box set album issued by Topic Records in 2009 to celebrate 70 years as an independent British record label. The album consists of a hardback book containing the seven CDs and a paper ...

'' as track three of the third CD.

References

External links

Sarah Makem at SmithsonianGlobalSound.org

The Makem and Spain Brothers Official Web Page
* Other Irish source singers may be found a
Folkopedia

Folktrax.org

Mudcat.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makem, Sarah 1900 births 1983 deaths 20th-century women singers from Northern Ireland Folk singers from Northern Ireland Musicians from County Armagh People from Keady