A NEW film celebrates the life of an Irishman who collected thousands of traditional Irish folk songs.
During his lifetime, Tom Munnelly had the foresight to collect over 20,000 songs from the oral and aural Irish tradition.
Tom MunnellyMany of those songs are sung today by artists such as Lankum, John Francis Flynn, Ye Vagabonds and the late Sinéad O’Connor
Featuring music from Christy Moore, Thomas McCarthy and Lisa Lambe, a new TG4 documentary tells Munnelly’s story.
The producers describe Munnelly as “a remarkable man”.
Tom's wife Annette Munnelly features in the filmThe Dubliner, who was born in Rathmines in 1944 and died in 2007 following a battle with cancer, left school with a primary education but went on to leave an indelible mark on Irish song and culture.
Lisa Lambe and Tom Doyle perform in the programmeTom Munnelly: Fear na nAmhrán tells the story of his friendship with the traveller John Reilly, whose songs were popularised by bands like Planxty, as well as his friendships with people like Junior Crehan, Nora Cleary, and Tom Lenihan, whose songs and lore he collected for the Irish Folklore Commission and later for the National Folklore Collection in UCD.
Tom Lenihan, Tom Munnelly and Junior CrehanIt features contributions from Christy Moore, Thomas McCarthy, Lisa Lambe, Paddy Glackin and Maighréad Ni Dhomhnaill.
Paddy Glackin has contributed to the film“Tom Munnelly Fear na nAmhrán brings to life these forbearers of the song tradition in Ireland and illustrates how important the work of Tom Munnelly was to contemporary Irish culture,” TG4 explains.
Produced and directed by Sorcha Glackin for Get Reel Film, Tom Munnelly; Fear na nAmhrán will broadcast on TG4 on Christmas Eve at 8.15pm.
