Last Man Standing
Projects > Last Man Standing

''LMS was completed in December 2020, A unique project that identified collected and recorded the songs TravellerCommunity in the UK; a cultural phenomenon hitherto unrecognised and neglected in the wider arts and cultural world.
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In the course of the project we learned that the scope and depth of what exists within the Traveller tradition is far greater than first anticipated.
As storytelling is also a major part of the travelling community.It is on this basis that we wish to develop along with current partnerships the next phase; this will include storytelling and associated songs and explore, document and record the relationship between them. Working title is Travellers’ Tales, with a view to begin in 2021.
The potential for combining storytelling and associated songs is an exciting creative challenge, with the added dimension of being developed with the Travelling community and spread more widely by digital media.
Go to lastman-standing.co.uk for more information.''
Thomas McCarthy
Traveller and Storyteller Last Man Standing
Purpose or aim
Funder
Heritage Lottery Fund
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.