Funder

Heritage Lottery Fund

Purpose or aim

The project was started in January 2019 to preserve the history of posterity songs and their origins unique to the Irish Traveller community in the UK.

Project description

It is run by Deafear Productions, in partnership with the Selby Trust and Barbara Lisicki of The Entertrainers. It became clear how crucial and needed this project was following a conversation between the Irish Traveller singer Thomas McCarthy and heritage-bearer Brian Despard of Deafear Productions.

Thomas himself is the ‘Last Man Standing’, performing songs and stories that have been handed down in the oral tradition for many generations. He has said that "when I'm gone it's gone" putting this heritage at risk of being lost forever.

Project outcome

To prevent the loss of heritage at risk and preserve and protect this invaluable cultural asset, this project has made high-quality recordings of 20 songs, which are being distributed to the wider community free of charge on CD, including an information booklet in the format.