Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an Irish
folk
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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
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
,
tin whistle,
low whistle, guitar,
bodhrán and
bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
, and sang in a distinctive
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...
. He was sometimes known as "
The Bard of Armagh" (taken from a traditional song of the same name) and "The Godfather of Irish Music".
Biography
Makem was born and raised in
Keady,
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 ...
(the "Hub of the Universe" as Makem always said), in
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 ...
. His mother,
Sarah Makem, was an important source of traditional Irish music, who was visited and recorded by, among others,
Diane Guggenheim Hamilton,
Jean Ritchie,
Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle. His father, Peter Makem, was a fiddler who also played the bass drum in a local pipe band named "
Oliver Plunkett", after a Roman Catholic martyr of the reign of
Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...
. His brother and sister were folk musicians also. Young Tommy Makem, from the age of 8, was a member of the St. Patrick's church choir for 15 years where he sang Gregorian chant and motets. He did not learn to read music but he made it in his "own way".
Makem started to work at 14 as a clerk in a garage and later he worked for a while as a barman at Mone's Bar, a local pub, and as a local correspondent for ''The Armagh Observer''.
He emigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1955, carrying his few possessions and a set of bagpipes (from his time in a pipe band). Arriving in
Dover, New Hampshire, Makem worked at Kidder Press, where in 1956 his hand was accidentally crushed by a press. With his arm in a sling, he left Dover for New York to pursue an acting career.
The Clancys and Makem were signed to
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
in 1961. The same year, at the
Newport Folk Festival, Makem and
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
were named the most promising newcomers on the American folk scene. During the 1960s,
the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performed sellout concerts at such venues as
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
, and made television appearances on shows like ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...
'' and ''
The Tonight Show''. The group performed for President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
. They also played in smaller venues such as the
Gate of Horn in Chicago. They appeared jointly in the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
in April 1966, when ''Isn't It Grand Boys'' reached number 22.
Makem left the group in 1969 to pursue a solo career. In 1975, he and
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 ...
were both booked to play a folk festival in
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, and were persuaded to do a set together. Thereafter they often performed as
Makem and Clancy
Makem and Clancy was an Irish folk duo popular in the 1970s and 1980s. The group consisted of Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy, who had originally achieved fame as a part of the trailblazing folk group The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem in the 1960s ...
, recording several albums together. He once again went solo in 1988. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Makem performed both solo and with Liam Clancy on
The Irish Rovers
The Irish Rovers is a group of Irish musicians that originated in Toronto, Canada. Formed in 1963'Irish Rovers are Digging out those old Folk songs', By Ballymena Weekly Editor, Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, N. Ireland – 20 August 1964 and na ...
' various television shows, which were filming in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. In 1974 he co-hosted the ''Tommy Makem and Ryan's Fancy'' show that was filmed in
St. John's, Newfoundland
St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland.
The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...
and broadcast on
CBC.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Makem was a principal in a well-known Irish music venue in New York, "Tommy Makem's Irish Pavilion". This East
57th Street club was a prominent and well-loved performance spot for a wide range of musicians. Among the performers and visitors were
Paddy Reilly,
Joe Burke, and
Ronnie Gilbert. Makem was a regular performer, often solo and often as part of Makem and Clancy, particularly in the late fall and holiday season. The club was also used for warm-up performances in the weeks before the 1984 reunion concert of
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem at
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...
. In addition, the after-party for
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
's legendary ''
30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
''The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration'' is a live double-album release in recognition of Bob Dylan's 30 years as a recording artist. Recorded on October 16, 1992, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, it captures most of the concert, ...
'' at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
in 1992 was held at the Irish Pavilion.
In 1997 he wrote a book, ''Tommy Makem's Secret Ireland'' and in 1999 premiered a one-man theatre show, ''Invasions and Legacies,'' in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. His career includes various other acting, video, composition, and writing credits. He also established the Tommy Makem International Festival of Song in
South Armagh South Armagh may refer to:
*The southern part of County Armagh
* South Armagh (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)
*South Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)
*Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade
The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional ...
in 2000.
Personal life and death
Makem was married to Mary Shanahan, a native of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, for 37 years, and had four children – daughter Katie Makem-Boucher, and sons Shane, Conor and Rory. They also had two grandchildren, Molly Dewar née Makem and Robert Boucher. Mary died in 2001.
The Makems initially moved from New York to Ireland early in their marriage, but returned to the United States to escape
the Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
, settling permanently in
Dover, New Hampshire in 1972. Makem became an American citizen in 1986.
Makem's three sons (who perform as "
The Makem Brothers
Makem and Spain was an Irish-American folk music band. The band was founded as "The Makem Brothers" in February 1989 by Rory, Shane, and Conor Makem, the three sons of "The Godfather of Irish Music" Tommy Makem, and grandsons of Irish source sing ...
") and nephews Tom and Jimmy Sweeney continue the family folk music tradition.
Makem died in Dover on 1 August 2007, following a lengthy battle with lung cancer, and was buried next to his wife at Saint Mary's New Cemetery. He continued to record and perform until close to the end. Paying tribute to him after his death, Liam Clancy said, "He was my brother in every way."
Compositions
Makem was a prolific composer/songwriter. His performances were always full of his compositions, many of which became standards in the repertoire. Some, notably "
Four Green Fields", became so well known that they were sometimes described as anonymous folk songs. During
the fall of the Iron Curtain
The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...
, Makem often proudly told the story that his song "The Winds Are Singing Freedom" had become a sort of folk anthem among Eastern Europeans seeing a new future opening before them.
Makem's best-known songs include "
Four Green Fields", "
Gentle Annie", "The Rambles of Spring", "The Winds Are Singing Freedom", "The Town of Ballybay", "Winds of the Morning", "
Mary Mack
"Mary Mack" ("Miss Mary Mack") is a clapping game of unknown origin. It is first attested in the book The ''Counting Out Rhymes of Children'' by Henry Carrington Bolton (1888), whose version was collected in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It is wel ...
", and "
Farewell to Carlingford
Farewell or fare well is a parting phrase. The terms may also refer to:
Places
* Farewell, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Farewell and Chorley, a location in the United Kingdom near Lichfield, site of the former Farewell Priory
F ...
". Even though many people mistakenly believe that Makem wrote "
Red is the Rose
"The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", or "Loch Lomond" for short, is a Scottish song (Roud No. 9598). The song prominently features Loch Lomond, the largest Scottish loch, located between the council areas of West Dunbartonshire, Stirling and Ar ...
", it is a traditional
Irish folk song
Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland.
In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...
.
Performance notes
Makem had a forceful and charismatic stage presence – the result of years of public performance, a strong personality and a bard's voice. Performances frequently included the following elements:
* Original Makem compositions; the first set often began with "The Rambles of Spring"
* The standard repertoire of folk and Irish music, both well-known and little-known (but never "Danny Boy", "When Irish Eyes are Smiling", "Toorah Loorah Looral", or other standards forbidden from requesting)
* Oddball songs, such as "Bridie Murphy and the Kamikaze Pilot" (
Colm Gallagher
Colm Gallagher (died 26 June 1957) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who was elected twice as Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin North-Central, in 1951 and in 1957.
His first candidacy was at the 1948 general election, where he was unsuccessful ...
) or "William Bloat" (
Raymond Calvert)
* Poetic recitations, often as introductions to songs; a frequent source was
William Butler Yeats. (Thus "Gentle Annie" usually began with "When You Are Old and Grey", and
Four Green Fields usually began with
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. 's "Requiem for the Croppies".)
* Jokes, often silly, made funnier through repetition:
::"If your nose is running and your feet smell, you're upside down."
* Rarely: monologues, such as
Marriott Edgar
Marriott Edgar (5 October 1880 – 5 May 1951), born George Marriott Edgar in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, was a British poet, scriptwriter and comedian, best known for writing many of the monologues performed by Stanley Holloway, particularly the ...
's "The Lion and Albert"
* Exhortations, nearly always successful, for the audience to join in the singing
Awards and honours
He received many awards and honours, including three honorary doctorates: one from the
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...
in 1998, one from the
University of Limerick in 2001, and one from the
University of Ulster
sco, Ulstèr Universitie
, image = Ulster University coat of arms.png
, caption =
, motto_lang =
, mottoeng =
, latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae
, established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...
in 2007; as well as the
World Folk Music Association The World Folk Music Association is a non-profit organization formed in 1983 by folk singer/songwriter Tom Paxton and Dick Cerri, a radio host from Washington D. C. The first chairman of the board was Paxton and Cerri served as president.
Paxton a ...
's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. With the Clancy Brothers he was listed among the top 100 Irish-Americans of the 20th century in 1999.
A bridge over the
Cochecho River
The Cochecho River (incorrectly Cocheco River) is a tributary of the Piscataqua River, long, in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It rises in northern Strafford County and runs southeastward, through the town of Farmington, New Hampshire, Farmingto ...
on Washington Street in Makem's long-time home of
Dover, New Hampshire, was named the Tommy and Mary Makem Memorial Bridge in 2010.
In 2015 a new Tommy Makem Arts Centre was opened in his home town of
Keady.
Discography
Makem made dozens of recordings.
Specific examples follow (solo recordings only).
*''Songs of Tommy Makem'' (1961) – Tradition (also on CD)
*''Tommy Makem Sings Tommy Makem'' (1968) – Columbia
*''In the Dark Green Wood'' (1969) – Columbia
*''The Bard of Armagh'' (1970) – GWP
[Also available on "From the Archives" – Shanachie CD]
*''Love Is Lord of All'' (1971) – GWP
*''Listen...for the rafters are ringing'' (1972) – Bard (US) / Columbia (overseas)
*''Recorded Live – A Room Full of Song'' (1973) – Bard/Columbia (as above)
*''In the Dark Green Woods'' (1974) – Polydor (Ireland Only)
*''Ever the Winds'' (1975) – Polydor (Ireland Only)
*''4 Green Fields'' (1975) – HAWK
*''Lord of the Dance (exclusive live version) / Winds are Singing Freedom'' – HAWK
;Following releases all available on Shanachie CD unless noted otherwise
*''Lonesome Waters'' (1985)
*''Rolling Home'' (1989)
*''Songbag'' (1990) – reissued on 'Red Biddy'
*''Live at the Irish Pavilion'' (1993)
*''Tommy Makem's Christmas'' (1995)
*''Ancient Pulsing Poetry With Music'' (1996) – Red Biddy
*''The Song Tradition'' (1998)
;Guest recordings
*''
The Lark in the Morning
The Lark in the Morning ( Roud 151) is an English folk song. It was moderately popular with traditional singers in England, less so in Scotland, Ireland and the United States. It starts as a hymn to the ploughboy's life, and often goes on to recou ...
'' by Liam Clancy, Tommy Makem, Family and Friends (1955) – Tradition (also on CD)
*''Folk Festival at Newport, Volume 1'' (1959) – Vanguard
*''The Newport Folk Festival, Volume 1'' (1960) – Vanguard
*''Songs for a Better Tomorrow'' (1963) – UAW
*''Songs of the Working People'' (1988) – Flying Fish
*''The Makem Brothers – On the Rocks'' (1995) – Red Biddy
*''Where Have All The Flowers Gone?: The Songs of Pete Seeger'' (1998) – Appleseed
*''Schooner Fare – A 20th Anniversary Party'' (1999) – Outer Green
*''Barra MacNeils – The Christmas Album'' (1999) – label unknown
*''Cherish the Ladies –
The Girls Won't Leave the Boys Alone
''The Girls Won't Leave the Boys Alone'' is an album by Cherish the Ladies released in 2001 on the Windham Hill label. The title reverses the lyrics "the boys won't leave the girls alone" from the Irish song " Belle of Belfast City/I'll Tell Me ...
'' (2000) – Windham Hill
*''Roger McGuinn – Treasures from the
Folk Den
Folk Den is a folk music website founded in 1995 by Roger McGuinn, former front man of The Byrds. Hosted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's ibiblio, the site is intended to preserve and promote folk music and offers a new folk son ...
'' (2001) – Appleseed
*''25th Annual Sea Music Festival'' (2004) – Independent release
*''Barra MacNeils – The Christmas Album II'' (2006) – unknown label
;Posthumous releases
*''Legendary Tommy Makem Collection'' (2007) – Emerald
Videos
*''The Story of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem'' (1984) – Shanachie
*''Reunion Concert: Belfast'' (1984) – Shanachie
*''Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest (1965)'' (circa 1985) – Central Sun / reissued on Shanachie
*''Tommy Makem and Friends in Concert'' (1992) – WMHT/PBS
*''Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration'' (1993) – Sony
*''Tommy Makem in Concert With Pete Seeger and the Egan-Ivers Band'' (1994) – WMHT/PBS
*''Tommy Makem in Concert With Odetta and The Barra MacNeils'' (1994) – WMHT/PBS
*''Tommy Makem's Ireland'' (1994) – WMHT/PBS
*''A Christmas Tradition'' (1995) – WMHT/PBS
*''The Road Taken With Tommy Makem'' (2001) – WMHT/PBS
*''The Makem and Spain Brothers In Concert'' (2006) – WMHT/PBS
*''The Best of 'Hootenanny (2007) – Shout! (Clancy Brothers featured in 3 performances)
*''Come West Along the Road'' (2007) – RTÉ (completion video, featured in one performance)
Film
* ''A Time to Remember'' (1988) - Christmas Film Debut as Father Halloran, with Donald O'Connor, Morgana King, and child singer Ruben Gomez.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Biographyat
Yahoo.com
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...
Biography at RamblinghouseObituary and Tribute*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makem, Tommy
1932 births
2007 deaths
20th-century male singers from Northern Ireland
Banjoists from Northern Ireland
Bodhrán players
Columbia Records artists
Deaths from cancer in New Hampshire
Deaths from lung cancer
Male folk singers from Northern Ireland
Emigrants from Northern Ireland to the United States
Musicians from County Armagh
People from Keady
Singers from New Hampshire
Tin whistle players from Northern Ireland
Tradition Records artists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers
20th-century Irish flautists
The Clancy Brothers members
Male flautists from Northern Ireland
20th-century folk musicians from Northern Ireland