Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of

the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo,

tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...

low whistle The low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of British and Irish artists such as Tommy Make ...

, guitar,

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or oth ...

and bagpipes, 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 "The Bard of Armagh" is an Irish ballad. It is often attributed to Patrick Donnelly. He was made Bishop of Dromore in 1697, the same year as the enactment of the Bishops Banishment Act. Donnelly is believed to have taken the name of the travellin ...

" (taken from a traditional song of the same name) and "The Godfather of Irish Music".

Biography

Makem was born and raised in

Keady Keady () is a village and civil parish in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is south of Armagh and near the border with the Republic of Ireland. It is situated mainly in the historic barony of Armagh with six townlands in the barony of Tirann ...

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 an ...

(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 Sarah Makem (18 October 1900 – 20 April 1983) a native of Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, was a traditional Irish singer. She was the wife of fiddler Peter Makem, mother of musicians Tommy Makem and Jack Makem, and grandmother of ...

, was an important source of traditional Irish music, who 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. His father, Peter Makem, was a fiddler who also played the bass drum in a local pipe band named "

Oliver Plunkett Oliver Plunkett (or Oliver Plunket) ( ga, Oilibhéar Pluincéid), (1 November 1625 – 1 July 1681) was the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland who was the last victim of the Popish Plot. He was beatified in 1920 an ...

", 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 Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,741 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in the New Hampshire Seacoast region and the fifth largest municipality in the state. It is the county se ...

, 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 Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a foca ...

, 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,

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 variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...

'' and ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

''. 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 ...

. They also played in smaller venues such as the

Gate of Horn The Gate of Horn was a 100-seat folk music club, located in the basement of the Rice Hotel at 755 N. Dearborn St. at the corner of Chicago Avenue, on the near north side of Chicago, Illinois, in the 1950s and 1960s. It was opened by journalist Le ...

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 Patrick "Paddy" Reilly (born 18 October 1939) is an Irish folk singer and guitarist. Born in Rathcoole, County Dublin, he is one of Ireland's most famous balladeers and is best known for his renditions of "The Fields of Athenry", "Rose of Alle ...

, Joe Burke, and

Ronnie Gilbert Ruth Alice "Ronnie" Gilbert (September 7, 1926 – June 6, 2015), was an American folk singer, songwriter, actress and political activist. She was one of the original members of the music quartet the Weavers, as a contralto with Pete Seeger, Le ...

. 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 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

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 milli ...

. 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'' 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. 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.

Family

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. 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.

Death

Makem died in

on 1 August 2007, following a lengthy battle with lung cancer. 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." He is buried next to his wife at New Saint Mary Cemetery in

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

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 ''Four Green Fields'' is a 1967 folk song by Irish musician Tommy Makem, described in ''The New York Times'' as a "hallowed Irish leave-us-alone-with-our-beauty ballad." Of Makem's many compositions, it has become the most familiar, and is part of ...

", became so well known that they were sometimes described as anonymous folk songs. During the fall of the Iron Curtain, 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 "

", " 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". 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.

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 William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

. (Thus "Gentle Annie" usually began with "When You Are Old and Grey", and

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, m ...

in 1998, one from the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a public research university institution in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in 1989 in accordance w ...

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 ...

'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

Cocheco 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 and the cities of Ro ...

on Washington Street in Makem's long-time home of

, 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

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) – GWPAlso 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'' 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'' (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

External links

*
Biography
at

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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 Folk singers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland emigrants 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 flautists The Clancy Brothers members