Tommy Makem | |
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 Makem at theDublin Irish Festival, 2005 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1932-11-04)4 November 1932 Keady,County Armagh, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 1 August 2007(2007-08-01) (aged 74) Dover,New Hampshire, United States |
| Genres | |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1956–2007 |
| Formerly of | |
| Website | makem |
Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an Irishfolk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member ofthe Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-stringbanjo,tin whistle,low whistle, guitar,bodhrán andbagpipes, and sang in a distinctivebaritone. He was sometimes known as "The Bard of Armagh" (taken from a traditional song of the same name) and "The Godfather of Irish Music".[1]
Makem was born and raised inKeady,County Armagh (the "Hub of the Universe" as Makem always said), inNorthern Ireland.[2] His motherSarah 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 ofCharles II of England. 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".[3]
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 forThe Armagh Observer.
He emigrated to theUnited States in 1955, carrying his few possessions and a set of bagpipes (from his time in a pipe band). Arriving inDover, New Hampshire, Makem worked at Kidder Press, where in 1956 his hand was accidentally crushed by a press.[4] With his arm in a sling, he left Dover for New York to pursue an acting career.[5]
The Clancys and Makem were signed toColumbia Records in 1961. The same year, at theNewport Folk Festival, Makem andJoan Baez were named the most promising newcomers on the American folk scene. During the 1960s,the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem[6] performed sellout concerts at such venues asCarnegie Hall, and made television appearances on shows likeThe Ed Sullivan Show andThe Tonight Show. The group performed for PresidentJohn F. Kennedy. They also played in smaller venues such as theGate of Horn in Chicago. They appeared jointly in theUK Albums Chart in April 1966, whenIsn't It Grand Boys reached number 22.[7]
Makem left the group in 1969 to pursue a solo career. In 1975, he andLiam Clancy were both booked to play a folk festival inCleveland, Ohio, and were persuaded to do a set together. Thereafter they often performed asMakem and Clancy, recording several albums together. He once again went solo in 1988. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Makem performed both solo and with Liam Clancy onThe Irish Rovers' various television shows, which were filming inCanada andIreland. In 1974 he co-hosted theTommy Makem and Ryan's Fancy show that was filmed inSt. John's, Newfoundland and broadcast onCBC.[8]
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 East57th Street club was a prominent and well-loved performance spot for a wide range of musicians. Among the performers and visitors werePaddy Reilly,Joe Burke, andRonnie 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 ofThe Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem atLincoln Center. In addition, the after-party forBob Dylan's legendary30th Anniversary Concert Celebration atMadison Square Garden 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, inNew York. His career includes various other acting, video,[9] composition, and writing credits.[10] He also established the Tommy Makem International Festival of Song inSouth Armagh in 2000.[11]
Makem was married to Mary Shanahan, a native ofChicago, 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.[11] The Makems initially moved from New York to Ireland early in their marriage, but returned to the United States to escapethe Troubles, settling permanently inDover, New Hampshire in 1972. Makem became an American citizen in 1986.[12]
Makem's three sons (who performed as "The Makem Brothers") and nephews Tom and Jimmy Sweeney continue the family folk music tradition.
Makem died in Dover on 1 August 2007, following after suffering from lung cancer for some time, 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."[13]
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. Duringthe 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 "Four Green Fields", "Gentle Annie", "The Rambles of Spring", "The Winds Are Singing Freedom", "The Town of Ballybay", "Winds of the Morning", "Mary Mack", and "Farewell to Carlingford". Even though many people mistakenly believe that Makem wrote "Red is the Rose", it is a traditionalIrish folk song.[14][15][16][17][18][19]
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:
He received many awards and honours, including three honorary doctorates: one from theUniversity of New Hampshire in 1998, one from theUniversity of Limerick in 2001, and one from theUniversity of Ulster in 2007; as well as theWorld Folk Music Association'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.[11]
A bridge over theCochecho River on Washington Street in Makem's long-time home ofDover, New Hampshire, was named the Tommy and Mary Makem Memorial Bridge in 2010.[20]
In 2015 a new Tommy Makem Arts Centre was opened in his home town ofKeady.
Makem made dozens of recordings.[21]
Specific examples follow (solo recordings only).
A popular refrain at the time wasWhy do the Clancy Brothers sing? Because Tommy Makem
As a tribute to Makem, the Dover radio station, WTSN, broadcast two tributes to Makem, one on 2 August, and one on 9 August, the day of Makem's funeral. The tributes were aired on the Open Mike Show With Mike Pomp
Makem said he learned the song from his mother, Sarah, who was a well known singer and folk song collector from Armagh in Northern Ireland. ... A recording of Red is the Rose that was made in 1934 by Josephine Beirne and George Sweatman under the title, My Bonnie Irish Lass
Decca 39096 11/24/1934 My Bonny Irish lass / Josephine Beirne
