The funeral of folk singer Tommy Makem will take place in Dover, New Hampshire, next Thursday. Tributes to the singer and musician were led yesterday by President McAleese after his death following a long battle with cancer at the age of 74.
He was a distinctive voice within the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem and continued afterwards as a solo performer.
Long before the term "multi-media" entered common parlance, Makem had established a career that embraced singing, acting and storytelling.
Makem was born in Keady, Co Armagh, on November 4th, 1932, into a musical dynasty. He was the son of singer Sarah Makem, whose unparalleled song repertoire blossomed in the linen mills of Keady.
Like his mother Sarah, Tommy's father, Peter, was a much-admired fiddle player. He left school at the age of 14, and his innate affinity for the interleaving of lyric and music, along with his unique baritone voice, helped define Tommy Makem as a stage performer following his move to the United States in 1955.
Having originally met in Keady before his departure for the US, Makem encountered Liam Clancy while recuperating after an industrial accident while working in a printing works in New Hampshire. A shared love of theatre led to the two budding actors playing the roles of priests in an off-Broadway production of Shadow and Substance.
Unimpressed by the penurious existence they endured as thespians, the pair decided to explore careers in music in earnest. Makem was the quintessential Northern, flinty, straight-talker: the perfect yin to Clancy's colourfully effusive yang. His thin, spare frame was defined by his theatrical sideburns and his bluff, blunt style was frequently punctuated by witty asides.
Makem joined forces with the Clancy Brothers in 1956. Their 1961 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show led to a signing by Columbia Records where they secured an unprecedented advance of $100,000.
In 1969, Makem departed the group to pursue a solo career. Makem was an accomplished musician and a distinguished singer. A widely-admired five-string banjo and tinwhistle player, he brought a robust Northern song canon to the Clancy Brothers' repertoire: songs such as I'll Tell Me Ma and The Boys of the County Armagh, as well as one of his own compositions, the iconic Four Green Fields.
After a lengthy solo career from 1969 to 1988, Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy reunited as a duo.
There followed a 13-year period of success, during which time Makem and Clancy made famous Waltzing Matilda and Red is the Rose.
Leading the tributes, President Mary McAleese said: "In life, Tommy brought happiness and joy to hundreds of thousands of fans the world over. Always the consummate musician, he was also a superb ambassador for the country, and one of whom we will always be proud."
Minister for Arts Séamus Brennan said: "Tommy was truly a music legend in his own lifetime. Now, with his passing, he has left behind a rich and enduring legacy of music, song and story to be enjoyed and appreciated by this generation and generations to come."
Liam Clancy recounted his long history with Makem with fondness. "I learned from Tommy how to handle an audience. I can still see him sitting on a high stool, stilling a packed, noisy hall by tapping out the rhythms of a shoemaker and launching into The Cobbler. There was a great spark between us."
Belfast film-maker David Hammond was a life-long friend. Of Makem he said: "He was an inveterate performer. Wherever he was, he created a stage and an audience. There was a frankness about Tommy that was refreshing. There were no back doors to him."
Philip King, the film-maker and musician, admired the stand Makem made for the centrality of song in the tradition. "He was a song saver, a song receiver and a huge advocate for song. Like Frank Harte, he was always generous with a song, and with his passing, we are losing one of the last secure links with an oral tradition that had not been interfered with by technology. Without doubt he came from one of the most important musical families on these islands," King said.
Three weeks ago Makem visited Belfast when he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Ulster. His Chicago-born wife, Mary, died a number of years ago. He is survived by his four children: Kate, Shane, Conor and Rory.
Tributes: what they said
"In life, Tommy brought happiness and joy to hundreds of thousands of fans the world over. Always the consummate musician, he was also a superb ambassador for the country, and one of whom we will always be proud."
- President McAleese
"I learned from Tommy how to handle an audience. I can still see him sitting on a high stool, stilling a packed, noisy hall by tapping out the rhythms of a shoemaker and launching into The Cobbler. There was a great spark between us."
- Liam Clancy
"He was a song saver, a song receiver and a huge advocate for song. He was always generous with a song, and with his passing, we are losing one of the last secure links with an oral tradition that had not been interfered with by technology."
- Philip King
