FROM the producers of the award-winning The Bothy Band and Dolores at 70 comes a new documentary about one of Ireland’s most influential and renowned musical families: Tommy Sands – Clann an Cheoil.
Made by Big Mountain Productions, the film takes an in-depth look at the Sands family from Co. Down.
Anne, Colum, Ben and Tommy make up the world-renowned Sands Family band who, while growing up, were immersed in music and storytelling.
Tommy SandsTheir Co. Down home, outside Mayobridge, was an unusual place in the last century — a haven where Catholics and Protestants came together to share tunes and tales, because music united everyone, regardless of background. That remained true even during the worst years of the Troubles.
Their repertoire largely consists of their own compositions as well as traditional Irish songs.
From humble beginnings in their céilí house to appearances at the great concert halls of the world, the family carved out a notable niche in folk music. This documentary returns to where it all began in Co. Down and features music, craic and song from members of the Sands’ extended family.
Tommy Sands, known as The Bard of Peace, is recognised internationally for his songwriting and social activism, and was a pioneer of promoting peace through music.
His work drew global attention, with the late Father of Folk Pete Seeger and Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney among those who praised his songwriting — Sing Out! magazine once described Tommy as “the most powerful songwriter in Ireland, if not the rest of the world”.
On Sands’ 1995 album The Heart’s a Wonder, the track The Music of Healing — co-written with Seeger — became an anthem for a “Citizen’s Assembly” organised by Sands in Belfast in August 1986.
His song There Were Roses has been described as “certainly one of the best songs ever written about the Northern Irish Troubles” and has been recorded by Joan Baez, Kathy Mattea, Dolores Keane, Seán Keane, Dick Gaughan, The Dubliners, Cara Dillon and many others. It has been widely used in German secondary schools as part of the English-language syllabus, particularly in lessons on the Troubles.
Sands is also a playwright, working on one of his most ambitious projects, The Shadow of O’Casey, co-written with Shivaun O’Casey, daughter of playwright Seán O’Casey. He even composed an alternative anthem for Europe — performed at the European Parliament — centred on St Columbanus, “one of the first Europeans”, according to Sands. Yet he would likely accept that Ode to Joy, the official European anthem by Beethoven (music) and Schiller (lyrics), is a strong alternative.
That Tommy Sands has a creative literary side should not be a surprise — there is a family connection to the Brontës. Tommy’s mother had a family line through to Patrick Brontë from Rathfriland, Co. Down the father of the illustrious Brontë sisters.
Tommy Sands – Clann an Cheoil features interviews with Arlo Guthrie (son of Woody Guthrie), along with politicians, civil rights activists, peace campaigners, journalists and musicians from the Troubles era. The documentary highlights how, at home and internationally, the Sands family helped shape cultural and political conversations through song and storytelling.
Folk music is, by definition, an oral tradition — and this film celebrates the singers who keep it alive.
The Sands family has been at the forefront of Irish folk through key moments in history and politics. Tommy, often described as Ireland’s Woody Guthrie, is honoured here in a celebratory and insightful documentary — another jewel in the crown of RTÉ Gaeilge programming.
Tommy Sands - Clann an Cheoil is on Tuesday, December 30, RTÉ One at 6.30pm, and also on the RTÉ Player.
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